Speech #1020081599

President. I am pleased to join Senator HATCH and Senator KENNEDY as a cosponsor of the Employer Sanctions Repeal Act of 1991. Employer sanctions represents a failed. albeit well intended. experiment in illegal immigration control. But the facts are clear. the experiment has failed. It is now time we corrected our mistake. In 1986 Congress sought to control the flow of illegal immigration into our Nation. We passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act [IRCA]. The results of this law have in many cases been laudable. However. one specific strategy of IRCA. employer sanctions. has not resulted in success. Employer sanctions placed a new and onerous burden on employers. For the first time ever. the employer was to be responsible for enforcing immigration policy. Under IRCAs regulations. business owners and managers must verify and document their employees eligibility to work. This is a task our Nations businesses are neither prepared to do nor able to accurately complete. Employer sanctions have simply not served our Nation well. They have punished and burdened employers while not significantly curbing the tide of Illegal immigration into our Nation. Americas businesses have tried most admirably. I believe. to fulfill their mandate under IRCA to the best of their ability and without prejudice.