Speech #1040056988

I have spoken elsewhere of the crisis afflicting civil society in this country. One of the effects of the decline of the institutions of civil society is the weakening of the lodges. clubs. churches. Scout troops. and other organizations which used to give immigrants entree into American society. As a result. we all too often see groups of teenage immigrants operating on the fringes of society instead of productive new members integrating into the heart of American society. We cannot realize the opportunity presented by our diversity if we lot frustration over the Federal Governments inability to control its borders spill over into action against those who are here legally. We must control illegal immigration in order to make our country safe for legal immigration. We must control illegal immigration if we are to make our country safe for diversity. There is no shortage of laws on the books to control illegal immigration. There are laws to punish employers and smugglers of illegal aliens. to deny illegal aliens most Government benefits and even to compensate the States for some of the costs associated with illegal immigration. The primary problem. however. is enforcement. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is underfunded and hindered by a history of incompetence that the current management is hard put to reverse. The INS cannot keep illegal aliens out of the country. track them once they enter. or remove them once they are identified. Its various databases are. frankly. a shambles. At the same time. certain economic interests benefit from the labor of illegal aliens. They profit from the general climate of neglect in which they can demand long hours of labor for low wages and few benefits. Madam President. sweatshops manned by illegal men. women. and children are a disgrace to America and a drag on the fortunes of legal immigrant and AmerIcan workers. These are the very inhumane labor conditions and practices we try to improve in countries abroad. but they are here. in America. today. American workers and honest American employers should not have to compete against this exploited labor force. That brings me. Madam President. to my bill. the Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act of 1995. This legislation contains three major provisions which can help end this gentlemans agreement and will enforce the laws that are on the books. The gentlemans agreement is: pass tough legislation. but do not enforce it. Talk about being tough on illegal immigrants. but allow certain economic interests to benefit from illegal immigrant labor. The first provision goes to. I think. the root problem. which is employment. Most illegal aliens do not come to the United States for health care or welfare or even education. They come to work. That means that the way to discourage them is not to punish their children by denying them medical care or education. as proposition 187 tries to do. but instead remove the employment magnet and remove the incentive that attracts them to the United States. Existing law. starting with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. contains provisions which would reduce employment opportunities for illegal immigrants if they were simply enforced. Before enacting fundamental changes in this bedrock piece of legislation. we should try enforcing the laws already on the books. Empty legislating is no substitute for enforcement. The place to start is employer sanctions. The 1986 act. better known as the SimpsonMazzoli Act. imposes civil penalties on employers of illegal aliens of up to $10.000 per alien for repeat offenders. There is also a criminal penalty of up to 6 months imprisonment and a $3.000 fine for pattern or practice violations. Madam President. enforcement of employer sanctions is a low priority at INS. In part. this is because the labor regulatory function is different from the policing function usually done by the investigative branch of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. As in any bureaucracy. "different" means "low priority." In addition. this branch has a mandate to focus on antismuggling and removal of criminal aliens. By implication. everything else has low priority.