Speech #1040204746

I should rather respond to arguments primarily made earlier by the Senator from Michigan and. to some extent. the Senator from Ohio relating to the problem of verification of employment status. I wish to go back in time to set this issue in proper context. In 1990. 6 years ago. the Congress increased the limit on legal immigration to the country by 37 percent because we thought the laws that imposed serious sanctions for hiring illegal immigrants would have the effect of reducing that illegal immigrant population. that making it harder to employ illegal immigrants would in effect remove that magnetemploymentthat was drawing many people across the border. particularly from Mexico. Unfortunately. it has not worked out that way because the system just has not worked very well. Unfortunately. between 300.000 and 400.000 illegal immigrants are now entering the United States every year. many of them people seeking these job opportunities. In fact. in my own State. the INS estimates that about 10 percent of the States work force is made up of illegal immigrants. I hope Members of the Senate believe that it should not be acceptable to have so many illegal immigrants taking jobs here in the United States. The question. then. is what we do about it. We have a system that is not working. and we need to do something about it.