Mr. President. if you believe that we are not really competitive. that we cant grow. that every job that one person takes of a skilled nature simply comes at the expense of another job already there. then of course you can support the amendments proposed by the Senator from Massachusetts and by the administration. and wreck a system that has already been so successful that we need to expand it in order to meet the expanding needs of a dynamic and growing American society and American economy. I find it particularly curious that these attempts to say that every recruiting company must follow rules set out by the Government in recruiting and in retention. detailed rules with major penalties for noncompliance. have made no such proposal with respect to the great bulk of American immigration. We get tens. hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year who come to the United States under the guise of family reunification. as seekers of political asylum. as refugees. the great bulk of which have few. if any. skills and over whom there has been a major debate lasting over the last 3 years as to their eligibility for various forms of welfare and who. when they get jobs in order to get off welfare. will be taking the lowest skilled jobs that the United States has to offer where there may well be a real displacement. Yet. these requirements. the requirements of the amendments we are about to deal with. do not deal with these immigrants coming in far larger numbers than the extra 30.000 skilled employees about whom we are speaking at the present time. Mr. President. the proposal of the Senator from Michigan is a proposal for a dynamic future for the United States.
Identified stereotypes
Immigrants coming under family reunification, asylum, or refugee status are portrayed as unskilled and likely to be on welfare.