Speech #1050001850

Mr. President. last week I introduced a bill to control illegal immigration and protect U.S. jobs. I would like to take a few minutes to expand on that bill. Last year. Congress passed landmark immigration reform legislation intended to curb illegal immigration. But that Republican legislation addressed only half of the illegal immigration problem. Republicans did not get the job done. So today. with the support of our Democratic leader. Senator DASCELE. I introduce legislation to address the unfinished business of controlling illegal immigration. Immigration experts. policy think tanks. and blueribbon commissions over the past two decades all agree that effective enforcement against illegal immigration requires two steps. We must stop people from crossing our borders illegally. But. we must also combine our border enforcement efforts with effective workplace enforcement to deter employers who hire illegal workers. The Clinton administration should be commended for their aggressive enforcement strategy at the border. By the end of this year. the Clinton administration plans to have increased the Border Patrol from under 4.000 agents in 1993 to 6.859 agentsa 73percent increase. And last years immigration bill reenforced this increase by authorizing an additional 1.000 Border Patrol agents for each of the next 3 years. In addition. last years immigration bill contained new. stiff penalties against the crime syndicates that smuggle illegal immigrant workers into the United States. But Republicans neglected the second key element of a successful immigration enforcement strategy. which is workplace enforcement to deny jobs to illegal immigrant workers. There is one reason. and one reason only. that illegal immigrants come to America: to find jobs. Last years Republican Immigration bill did almost nothing to address this problem. We will never reduce illegal immigration significantly until we shut off the job magnet that draws illegal immigrants to this country. That was the conclusion of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy in 1981. the socalled Hesburgh Commission. And it was the conclusion of the Jordan Commission in 1994. The Jordan Commission stated. "Reducing the employment magnet is the linchpin of a comprehensive strategy to reduce illegal immigration." Consider the following fact. The Immigration and Naturalization Service says that at least 40 percent. and possibly half. of the illegal immigrant population in the United States actually entered the country legally. but stayed on and worked illegally after their visas expired. They came here originally as tourists or students. but overstayed their visas and are now illegally taking American jobs. No amount of border enforcement will stop this major source of illegal immigrant workers. They arrive at our airports and at our borders with genuine passports and visas. There is no way to know that their real plans are to stay and work illegally. The only way to deter this kind of illegal immigration is to deny jobs at the workplace. Rather than just beefing up our Border Patrol. we must also increase the capacity of the Immigration Service and the Department of Labor to protect .American jobs by finding illegal immigrants in the workplace and prosecuting unscrupulous employers who hire and abuse them. In 1986. Congress made it illegal for employers to hire illegal immigrant workers. But today it is far too easy for these workers to pose as legal immigrant workers or even U.S. citizens by using false documents. We must also find new and better ways of assisting employers to determine who can and who cannot work In the United States. Under the current failed system. employers often cannot distinguish a real green card and makes someone eligible to work from a good fake. Last year. the Senate adopted a proposal that Senator Simpson and I developed that contained aggressive pilot programs to test new and better ways of addressing this problem. Upon the completion of these programs. the President was required to submit to Congress a comprehensive plan that would enable employers to know with greater certainty whom they can and cannot hire. Without such a plan. illegal immigrants will continue to take American Jobs from working families by the hundreds of thousands each year. But Republicans in Congress. under pressure from lobbyists representing the employers. met in secret last summer and dropped this vital provision from the bill. They put in its place a weak requirement for only a single pilot program. And they stripped the bill of the requirement that the President present to Congress for its approval a comprehensive plan for denying jobs to illegal immigrant workers. Instead of standing up for working families and protecting their jobs. they chose to coddle unscrupulous employers who hire and abuse illegal immigrants to make a buck. Our Democratic message to working families today is that we will not tolerate the loss of hundreds of thousands of your jobs each year. Last years Republican immigration bill simply sets adrift the urgently needed workplace enforcement under our immigration laws to protect these jobs. Democrats say that working families need to be assured that their jobs will be protected under our immigration laws. The bill I introduce today: Provides the workplace enforcement we need to protect U.S. jobs. It increases the number of Department of Labor Wage and Hour investigators. These investigators will target employers who hire illegal immigrants to evade labor standards. And it provides funding for additional INS personnel to enforce our immigration laws in the workplace. It increases penalties for employers who hire illegal workers. And it allows judges to double an employers penalties if they have violated both immigration and labor laws. It mandates the President to fix the broken employment verification system. Currently employers have an obligation to verify whether those they hire are authorized to work in the United States. But. the verification system in place now does not work. My bill requires the President to propose a plan to Congress within 3 years for an improved employment verification system. It prevents employers from discriminating against American and legal immigrant workers by making some workers go through more hoops to get a job than others. just because they may look or sound foreign. Finally. my bill provides needed protections for battered immigrants. Many battered Immigrants are afraid to seek protection from their abusers because they fear they will be deported or cannot find work to support their children. This bill removes the hurdles for battered immigrants. and protects their ability to qualify for green cards and Jobs. Last years illegal immigration bill addressed only half the problem. The bill I introduce today will complete the picture and protect jobs for working families. And I look forward to working with our new Immigration Subcommittee chairman. Senator ABRAHAM. and the Republican leadership to see early enactment of this important measure. Mr.