LAWMAKERS - October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
Paul Duke intro report on immigration policy. Cokie Roberts reports on Reagan initiative to get tough on immigration after arrival of 100,000s of Cuban and Haitian illegal immigrants. Charges by Senate that Reagan administration is hypocritical, welcomes Mexican migrants to work in agribusiness in West.
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
Senator Alan Simpson (R - Wyoming), in committee hearing, arguing that the message of Statue of Liberty, U.S. in danger of being "overwhelmed" by illegal immigrants. The name on the statue in the harbor is Liberty Enlightening the World. It is not send us your huddled masses . And it will be difficult to enlighten the world if we are truly overwhelmed by illegal immigration.
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) station in South Texas. People wading across a river in desert area. Border Patrol agent searching a car. Lines of cars at INS border station. Vo - discussion of pressure on Congress to stop illegal immigration.
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
Malcolm Lovell, United States Deputy Secretary of Labor, announcing Reagan administration intent to stop illegal immigration. The Reagan administration is determined to regain control of our borders and to work closely with the Congress to enact into law an immigration reform program that is fair, effective and humane. The cornerstone of the proposal to curtail illegal immigration is legislation prohibiting employers of 4 or more employees from knowingly hiring illegal aliens. Senator Alan Simpson (R - Wyoming), arguing for border patrols and deportation. Other critics of employer s sanctions claim that simply the increased border and interior enforcement would be adequate to control illegal immigration. Malcolm Lovell, United States Deputy Secretary of Labor, says that there is no way to physically bar illegal immigration. It just seems to me that you would need two or three Berlin Walls around the whole country to deal effectively with the problem if you deal only at the borders. Doris Meissner, acting INS Commissioner, argues for "border and interior" enforcement. Our view is that one needs strong border enforcement and one needs strong interior enforcement. And the tools that we have available to us at the present time to bring about a strong interior enforcement program are simply not sufficient.
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
Senator Ted Kennedy (D - Massachusetts) sitting in committee meeting, expresses doubt that Reagan Administration is really committed to protecting American workers. I might say as one who has been sitting in on a variety of hearings and seeing where the administration on issue after issue, back off in terms of enforcement - whether it has been in OSHA, or whether it has been the Office of Contract Compliance, or whether it is the discrimination against women. It seems to me on the one hand you may very well be encouraging us to pass into law some kind of criteria and then not enforcing it
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
Representative Harrison Schmidt (R - New Mexico), argues that the law will hurt business without stopping illegal immigration HISPANICS. In my opinion this proposal will not stop illegal Mexican migration, but it will cause economic chaos for thousands of American businessmen, small businessmen in particular. And will certainly foster continued discrimination against minorities. Mr. Chairman, as I ve said before, the issue is not pay for these workers. The issue is the availability of labor.
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
Rudy Oswold, AFL-CIO, says that illegal immigrants do take jobs that American workers want. Illegal workers take jobs away from American workers and they undermine US wages and working conditions. Many employers will hire illegal workers because illegal aliens are willing to work hard for long hours for little pay. Shots of various people in the hearing chamber. VO - Organized Labor wants stronger laws and more coverage. Rudy Oswold, AFL-CIO, arguing against exemptions. We see in the exception for employers of less than 3 illegal aliens, the creation of a double standard, which could easily lead to a new slave culture in which wealthy families could get away with the exploitation of an illegal immigrant
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
Perry Ellsworth, representative of agribusiness employers, cites problem of 50 percent of farm workforce going into hiding when "la migra" comes around. Argues that illegal workforce sustains agricultural industry. Employers would rather have legal workers of whatever kind, especially in agriculture they have the problem of the border patrol car driving through the area and 50% or 60% of their crew disappear into the woods. The present illegal alien workforce in this country, if granted amnesty, if they accept that amnesty, will disappear in large measure from the agricultural labor workforce. They ll move to other jobs where they may get 12 months out of the year employment.
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
Shot of John Huerta, of Mexican - American Legal Defense Fund, skeptical of Reagan administration commitment to protecting legal Hispanic-Americans from discrimination. Our community is somewhat cynical about the lack of enforcement of Immigration laws, Civil Rights laws, of Labor laws and we re fearful that Employer Sanctions laws which will cover the potential for discrimination in our community will not be adequately enforced. And therefore we ll be running the risk of being denied jobs in certain sectors of the economy.
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
Arnoldo Torres, of League of United Latin American Citizens, argues that the laws will be used in a discriminatory way. We heard from Miss Meissner that it would be 75% compliance on good faith. I don t know what would lead anybody to believe that there s going to be good faith compliance because we have a number of labor laws on the books now and there doesn t appear to be an extreme high percentage of good faith compliance there.
LAWMAKERS - October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
Maudine Cooper of the National Urban League discussing problems for African American workers posed by illegal alien workers, higher black unemployment. "Our primary concern stems from the fact that illegal aliens in large numbers do indeed find employment in the US. The results is, we believe, an adverse impact on the American labor market exemplified by displacement and acerbated unemployment rates among legal residents seeking entry level jobs. There are 30 million American citizens living below the poverty level. When these realties are juxtaposed against the fact that millions of those employed in the United States are undocumented workers, we must wonder how much of the world's poor this nation can absorb while its own poor become poorer." U.S. Senator Alan Simpson (R - Wyoming) presides over hearing.
LAWMAKERS October 22, 1981 - Illegal Immigration
Paul Duke and Cokie Roberts studio. Discussion of illegal immigration. Action by Congress result of Caribbean "Boat People" creating publicity, tension over jobs high during a recession. Reagan wants power to selectively bar Caribbean illegals but allow agribusiness to benefit from Mexican migrant workers. Partisan concerns are not a big part of the debate.