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except for visits to installations of national security significance. Reciprocal travel restrictions on the movement of Soviet diplomats remain in effect.

The Department of State views this reciprocal elimination of travel restrictions as a positive step by the Governments of the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the United States to implement the provisions of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, especially those of basket III, to ". . . ease the regulations concerning movement of citizens from the other participating States in their territory, with due regard to security requirements."

78 Dept. of State Bulletin 32 (1978).

For the complete text of the Final Text of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, see 73 Dept. of State Bulletin 323–350 (1975).

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On January 8, 1977, the U.S. Department of Justice released its "Preliminary Report" to the President by the Domestic Council Committee on Illegal Aliens (December 1976), which concluded that massive deportation of illegal aliens is both inhumane and impractical, and that U.S. policy should continue to stress prevention of illegal entries. Attorney General Edward H. Levi chaired the Committee, which consisted of eight Cabinet members whose departments share responsibilities related to illegal immigration.

The "Major Recommendations" of the Preliminary Report included the following suggested changes in the legislation dealing with illegal aliens:

-penalties for employers who knowingly hire aliens not authorized to work;

-thorough revision of the labor certification provisions of the current law so that immigrants admitted for employment fall within prescribed quotas and individual certifications are eliminated;

-advancement of the eligibility date for establishing a record of admission for lawful permanent residence from June 30, 1948, to July 1, 1968; and

-increased penalties for persons who smuggle or facilitate illegal immigration.

In an address before the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund in San Francisco, California, on February 15, 1977, Attorney General Griffin B. Bell summarized the position of the Administration concerning the problem of illegal aliens in the following fashion:

This is a matter of major priority in our government. There are no reliable figures on the number of illegal aliens. Some esti

mates place it as high as eight million, others as low as 2.4 million. The Domestic Council Committee on Illegal Aliens recommended in December that there be no massive deportation of illegal aliens. I concur with the Committee's view that such a course of action would be both inhumane and impractical.

Many illegal aliens have built equities in our country by virtue of their long residence and their contributions here. They must be given particular consideration.

It goes without saying that in resolving this problem steps must be taken to reduce the influx of illegal aliens. One effective device is to curtail employment opportunities. I am inclined to support legislation containing civil penalties that would prohibit employers from knowingly hiring illegal aliens. There is much interest in such legislation.

If the employment ban were a reality, the number of persons trying to enter the country illegally would diminish sharply. Many of those already here illegally would return to their native countries.

Greater emphasis on more traditional techniques also is needed to prevent illegal aliens from entering the country. Prevention is more humane and effective than trying to apprehend persons after they blend into the cities and countryside.

Apprehension activities, however, must be conducted strictly within legal limits-with no denial of constitutional rights.

Dept. of Justice Press Release (Feb. 15, 1977).

Admission, Employment, and Status

On August 4, 1977, President Carter sent a message to Congress concerning undocumented aliens in the United States. In his remarks of that date on transmitting his message, he spoke of the need for action with regard to controlling U.S. borders, limiting employment opportunities for those illegally in the United States, registering and regulating the undocumented workers already in the United States, and improving cooperation with countries from which undocumented workers are coming. Portions of his remarks follow:

Within this last decade, the problem of undocumented aliens or illegal aliens or undocumented workers has become increasingly severe. It now comprises a total of literally millions of people who have come into our country against the law and who are still in the United States.

Last year alone, 875,000 undocumented workers were apprehended by the immigration officials, and the estimates are that only one out of three coming into our country are actually caught.

Last month alone, in San Diego County, 35,000 undocumented workers were apprehended, and this is a 25-percent increase over last year. So, the problem is not only severe but it's getting worse.

I'm today sending the Congress a message on this complex problem of undocumented aliens.

I'm proposing actions that would meet four major needs: first of all, to regain greater control over our own borders; secondly, to limit employment opportunities of those who are illegally in our country and who are competing with American workers for scarce jobs; third, the registration and the regulation of the millions of undocumented workers who are already here; and, fourth, improving cooperation with countries from which these undocumented workers are coming into our own Nation.

The proposals that I'm making to Congress fulfill each of these needs. First of all, border controls would be improved by adding at least 2,000 additional enforcement officers at the borders and by concentrating their presence where the crossing of our borders is most likely. Also, we will target our efforts against smuggling rings which now provide entry of undocumented aliens into our country. Secondly, the employment opportunities would be limited by prohibiting employers, with strong civil penalties, from hiring undocumented aliens. The Justice Department would be responsible for the enforcement of the laws against these employers who habitually hire undocumented aliens, and if they violated court orders, of course, they would also be subject to criminal penalties.

In the process, we must be fair to the Latin American, ChineseAmerican, and other citizens who are here legally, so that an employer might not discriminate against them simply because of their racial origin.

We want to get as many of the millions of undocumented aliens as possible registered. And the inducement for this and a step that would give us tangible benefits would be to give them status which they do not presently enjoy-legal status.

Those who have been in this country since before 1970 would be eligible for permanent resident status and might start their 5-year process ultimately to become United States citizens. Those who entered between 1970 and 1977 would be eligible for temporary status, permitting them to remain here and to work, but on a temporary basis only. Those entering since the beginning of 1977 would be subject to immediato deportation.

The last point-to increase employment opportunities in the home countries from which the undocumented aliens come. We will work with the Government of Mexico-already are-and with other nations involved, to develop economic and technical assistance programs so it might be more attractive for undocumented workers who are here to go back to their home countries and others to refrain from coming here illegally.

I hope that the Congress will move quickly on these proposals so that the actions can take effect very soon

13 Weekly Comp. of Pres. Doc. 1169 (Aug. 8, 1977).

President Carter's message to Congress detailing his proposed set of actions concerning undocumented aliens follows:

I am proposing to Congress today a set of actions to help markedly reduce the increasing flow of undocumented aliens in this country

and to regulate the presence of the millions of undocumented aliens already here.

These proposed actions are based on the results of a thorough Cabinet-level study and on the groundwork which has been laid, since the beginning of the decade, by Congressmen Rodino and Eilberg and Senators Eastland and Kennedy. These actions will:

• Make unlawful the hiring of undocumented aliens, with enforcement by the Justice Department against those employers who engage in a "pattern or practice" of such hiring. Penalties would be civil-iniunctions and fines of $1000 per undocumented alien hired. Criminal penalties could be imposed by the courts against employers violating injunctions. Moreover, employers, and others. receiving compensation for knowingly assisting an undocumented alien obtain or retain a job would also be subject to criminal penalties.

• Increase significantly the enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Federal Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act, targeted to areas where heavy undocumented alien hiring occur.

Adiust the immigration status of undocumented aliens who have resided in the U.S. continuously from before January 1, 1970, to the present and who apply with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for permanent resident alien status; create a new immigration category of temporary resident alien for undocumented aliens who have resided in the U.S. continuously prior to January 1, 1977; make no status change and enforce the immigration law against those undocumented aliens entering the U.S. after January 1, 1977.

Substantially increase resources available to control the Southern border, and other entry points, in order to prevent illegal immigration.

• Promote continued cooperation with the governments which are major sources of undocumented aliens, in an effort to improve their economies and their controls over alien smuggling rings.

Each of these actions will play a distinct, but closely related, role in helping to solve one of our most complex domestic problems: In the last several years, millions of undocumented aliens have illegally immigrated to the United States. They have breached our nation's immigration laws, displaced many American citizens from jobs, and placed an increased financial burden on many states and local governments.

The set of actions I am proposing cannot solve this enormous problem overnight, but they will signal the beginning of an effective Federal response. My Administration is strongly committed to aggressive and comprehensive steps toward resolving this problem, and I am therefore proposing the following actions:

The principal attraction of the United States for undocumented aliens is economic-the opportunity to obtain a job paying considerably more than any available in their own countries. If that

opportunity is severely restricted, I am convinced that far fewer aliens will attempt illegal entry.

I am therefore proposing that Congress make unlawful the hiring by any employer of any undocumented alien. This employment bar would be implemented in the following way:

• Enforcement would be sought against those employers who engage in a "pattern or practice" of hiring undocumented aliens, with the Justice Department setting priorities for enforcement.

• Penalties for violation of the employment bar would be both injunctive relief and stiff civil fines-a maximum of $1,000 for each undocumented alien hired by an employer. A violation of a court injunction would subject an employer to a potential criminal contempt citation and imprisonment.

•An employer would be entitled to defend any charge of hiring an undocumented alien by proving that a prospective employee's documentation of legal residence, as designated by the Attorney General in regulations, was seen prior to employment.

The Social Security card would be designated as one of the authorized identification documents; and we will accelerate the steps already being taken to make certain that such cards are issued, as the law now mandates, only to legal residents. Those steps include requiring personal interviews of card applicants and making the cards more difficult to forge. But no steps would be taken to make the Social Security card, or any other card, a national identification document.

• To further restrict job opportunities, criminal sanctions would be imposed on those persons who receive compensation for knowingly assisting an undocumented alien obtain or retain employment, or who knowingly contract with such persons for the employment of undocumented aliens. These sanctions are directed at the substantial number of individuals who broker jobs for undocumented aliens or act as agents for alien smugglers. It is not directed at those who inadvertently refer an undocumented alien to a job, such as an employment agency or a union hiring hall.

To make certain that all of these new sanctions are uniformly applied, they would pre-empt any existing state sanctions.

In addition to the creation of these new sanctions, efforts to increase enforcement of existing sanctions will be significantly increased. The Fair Labor Standards Act, which mandates payment of the minimum wage and provides other employee protections, would not only be strictly enforced, but its existing civil and criminal penalies would be sought much more frequently by the government. To date, the inability of the government to enforce fully this Act, due in part to a lack of resources, has resulted in the hiring of undocumented aliens at sub-minimum wages, thereby often displacing American workers. Two hundred sixty new inspectors will be hired and targeted to areas of heavy undocumented alien employment. Similarly, the Federal Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act, which prohibits the recruiting and hiring of undocumented aliens for farm work, would be tightly enforced. The Departments

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