Mr. Speaker and colleagues. today I am introducing legislation to attack one of the most critical problems facing the residents of San Diego Country and Californiaillegal immigration. The Eliminating the Magnet for Illegal Immigration Act gets at the root of the problem. It will stop people from trying to cross the border in the first place by eliminating the illegal jobs that attract people to the United States. My bill finally clamps down on employers that encourage illegal immigration by violating our laws and knowingly hiring undocumented workers. In San Diego. I represent the district that runs along the border and has the most border crossingboth legal and illegal--in the world. I am acutely aware of the strain illegal immigration puts on communities in my district. and I have always been a firm believer in gaining control of our borders. In the last 2 years. we have made significant progress. We have increased the number of Border Patrol agents and have begun to give them the tools and technology to get the job done. But these changes have had limited success in stopping illegal immigration. The critical next step in the fight to stop illegal immigration is to eliminate the magnet and enforce our laws against the hiring of illegal immigrants. In 1986. Congress underscored the need to eliminate the job magnet and made it illegal to hire undocumented workersbut these laws have been largely ignored. The INS simply has not had the resources to do its job. Some employers hire undocumented workers because their status makes them easy targets for exploitation and abuse. These employers know they can force them to work in substandard conditions. These employers know they can get away with paying them substandard wages. It it any wonder that we have this problem? My legislation gives the INS the resources it needs to aggressively enforce employer sanctions and gives the Department of Labor the resources to aggressively enforce wage and hour laws. And most importantly. it directs the two agencies to combine forces and target those industries notorious for hiring undocumented workers and forcing them to work in unacceptable conditions. My bill gets tough on employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers by imposing stronger sanctions and doubling those penalties against employers also caught violating labor laws. It also helps employers by reducing the number of documents workers can use to verify their eligibility. I want to fully acknowledge that there is an inherent danger that this kind of approach could lead to discrimination against workersand evidence shows that this has indeed been the case in some instances.
Identified stereotypes
Undocumented workers are easy targets for exploitation and abuse by employers.