Political Quotes

“I will begin by stipulating that I do not purport to represent business here. I understand that a lot of businesses do not like this amendment. A lot of businesses, unfortunately, like to hire people who are here illegally. They find them easily exploitable. That is why there was, for many in the business community, opposition to what is really the central point here, whether or not we have employer sanctions. In fact, during this debate people have been blaming a verification system, when in most cases they should have been complaining about sanctions. It is logical to say we should not have employer sanctions. Understand that that is a decision we made in 1986. We said, and by the way, people should understand, there is a universal recognition here in this debate that people come to this country, whether legally or illegally, to get jobs. We recognize that. That is the magnet. It is not illegal welfare, and so forth, it is jobs. We have said that when people come here illegally and get jobs, they jeopardize our ability to maintain rules and laws that maintain occupational safety and health, minimum wages, et cetera. When you are here illegally, you cannot claim your rights. In 1986, this is when business got the mandate. In 1986 Ronald Reagan signed the law that said, ``You cannot hire people who are here illegally.'' It set up the verification system. That was set up in 1986. The difference now is that we believe we have a more rational verification system.”