[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 63 (Friday, May 7, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONCERNS ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION AND FOREIGN LABOR ON DOMESTIC 
                               EMPLOYMENT

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                         HON. PAUL E. KANJORSKI

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 6, 2004

  Mr. KANJORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address an issue about 
which many of my constituents are increasingly concerned: namely, the 
effects of immigration and foreign labor on our domestic job markets.
  It is no secret that the American economy has lost 2.6 million jobs 
since President Bush first took office in 2001. My home state of 
Pennsylvania has been one of the hardest hit in this area, losing over 
135,000 manufacturing jobs in the last three years.
  This destructive trend has also begun to expand into other sectors of 
our economy as companies seeking to cut costs have started shifting 
engineering, technology, and other service-related jobs to places such 
as China, India, and the Philippines. Moreover, my constituents are 
increasingly troubled by the decisions of many American employers to 
bring foreign workers to the United States in record numbers. As a 
result of these developments, many Americans are either losing their 
jobs to cheap foreign labor, both at home and abroad, or are accepting 
lower wages due to the huge influx of domestic foreign workers, both 
legal and illegal.
  In these matters, I am very concerned about the failure to enforce 
effectively our immigration policies and prevent illegal immigration. 
In addition to the millions of legal immigrants already residing in the 
United States, experts now estimate that ten to fifteen million 
additional illegal immigrants now live here with roughly another 
500,000 added yearly. The huge increase of foreign workers moving to 
the U.S. in recent decades has occurred because of our weak and short-
sighted immigration policies.
  Mr. Speaker, our immigrant heritage, in my view, has helped to make 
the United States the greatest nation in the world. It is, however, at 
least equally, if not more important, that we do all we can to protect 
American workers, citizens, and taxpayers from the costs and potential 
security risks associated with illegal immigration. The President's 
recent proposal on immigration unfortunately falls considerably short 
of achieving real reform. Consequently, the Congress needs to rethink 
our immigration policies and develop a long-term, workable plan for 
addressing these important matters.
  While I support keeping an appropriate level of legal immigration, we 
must put an immediate halt to our tacit approval of those who flaunt 
our laws and come here illegally. We must also ensure that a sufficient 
number of temporary work visas are available in selected areas, such as 
nursing, agriculture, and tourism, but only where an adequate supply of 
domestic workers is not available. Finally, we must ensure that current 
American workers are not losing their jobs or being forced to survive 
on depressed wages because we are voluntarily importing far more 
foreign workers than we need through legal and illegal immigration.
  In sum, Mr. Speaker, we need to restore the balance between 
protecting American workers and promoting effective immigration policy. 
We must also correct our flawed immigration policies in order to 
protect national security and promote economic growth at home for the 
benefit of both current U.S. workers and future generations of 
Americans.

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