In general, Roybal's bill includes more civil rights related provisions, reflecting a concern for his constituency, which includes a large population of Chicanos and Asians who are more than familiar with INS.
His bill prohibits the participation of state and local officials in raids and immigrant checks and calls for special training for INS officials as to the civil and human rights of illegal immigrants. Additional innovations in immigration control include the creation of a committee to study immigration, considering both worker and employer incentives for remaining outside the law and identifying possible ways to eliminate those incentives.
But the most of the bill focuses on the enforcement of current labor law's rather than the implementation of employer sanctions. This gets to the root of the problem by eliminating the incentive for employers to hire undocumented workers, rather than threatening them with fines after they have hired them.
Employers exploit illegal aliens who don't demand their rights because they fear deportation. Employers, therefore, get away with violations of laws ranging from the minimum wage to OSHA regulations in the workplace. A 1979 GAO study showed that overtime violations by business resulted in $11.2 million in underpayments. Savings of this magnitude make hiring illegal aliens worth the risk. Roybal's critics argue that, although such violations exist, they are impossible to prosecute. They point to a similar DOL attempt in 1977 which failed to lead to major reforms.
But this proposal differs from the previous attempt in three key aspects.
The old program relied on worker complaints to spur investigations. Also the DOL had no mechanism for verifying worker accusations because employers did not face penalties for not keeping accurate records. The newly proposed bill imposes a $10,000 fine for failure to keep good-records, making the detection of violations more likely. This proposal would more than double the enforcement staff, working up to a $30 million increase in the budgets of the DOL and National Labor Relations Board d(NLRB) specifically for cases involving the exploitation of undocumented workers.
Rep. Roybal's bill will not solve America's immigration problem. It would, however, set immigration reform in a new direction, without the serious threats to civil rights of Hispanic Americans and Mexicans the Simpson-Mazzoli proposal represent Rep. Roybal's bill may be less ambitious than Simpson-Mazzoli, but it is more feasible. Unlike Simpson-Mazzoli it does not count on employers and undocumented workers to come forward of their own accord. Rather than view this bill as an obstructionist ploy by a Hispanic congressman--as one senator referred to it--Congress and the President must address the issues it raises in legislation. Immigration reform should constitute more than a political football; its complexity makes quick congressional action impossible.
Americans will not get immediate gratification on this issue. In fact, the dilemma will surely grow as the populations of Latin and Central America double while their economies shrink. Congress, the President, labor, Hispanic groups--all the involved parties--must begin to see immigration in the context of larger international dynamics. And closer to home, each of us must realize that we eat cheap fruits and vegetables largely on the backs of underpaid, undocumented workers.