Speech #1090129163

H.R. 4437. the Housepassed bill. would create a nationwide mandatory program. Unlike the watereddown language in the 1986 bill. the employment verification provisions in the Housepassed bill offers a genuine prospect for effective employer sanctions necessary to demagnetize the attraction of unlawful employment in the U.S. An effective employer sanctions regime. coupled with the need to fully fund the additional 2.000 Border Patrol positions authorized this year and in the out years. is essential if we are going to control illegal immigration. At the same time if we are to maximize the cooperation of employers with the implementation of an effective system of employer sanctions. it is necessary to ensure that in those cases where U.S. workers are unavailable. employers have the option of employing temporary foreign workers. Let me suggest that regulating the stream of workers which have crossed back and forth our southern border since the 1870s will facilitate the job of a larger Border Patrol and the implementation of an effective system of employer sanctions. By definition however. in a temporary worker program. the workers should be temporary. Along the lines of an amendment I offered unsuccessfully in 1986. workers could work in the United States for up to 10 months of the year.