Speech #1030031505

The bill mandates that "Each State shall designate as voter registration agencies * * * all offices in the State that provide public assistance * * *" in addition to motor vehicle departments in each State. It requires that an applicant decline in writing at these welfare agencies if he or she is unwilling or ineligible to receive a voter registration form. I ask: In the case of noncitizens. what illegal resident would take the unusual step of declining to receive a registration form and thereby bring attention to him or herself? The House Agriculture Committee estimated that 1 million noncitizens receive food stamps. 300.000 illegally and 700.000 legally. Why would these noncitizens call attention to this status by declining at the public agency? Further. since a voter stub or voter registration card is one of the documents that may be presented to an employer to prove citizenship. what prospective undocumented worker would decline the opportunity to be documented? After all. isnt that the reason that the undocumented worker is here in the first place? So. the bill creates a situation which actively invites fraud. On the one hand. declining to register brings attention to the applicantthis is the last thing an illegal immigrant wants--and on the other. creates an incentive to register in order to obtain documentation for employment. According to the 1990 census. there are 11.770.318 noncitizens in the United States which were counted. One study by the Center for Immigration Studies conducted in February 1991. estimated the number of illegal immigrants residing in the United States as 4.2 million people. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that an additional 300.000 permanent illegal residents enter the United States per year.