Meese Vows ‘High Priority’ for House Alien Bill

As a House subcommittee set out Monday on its third uphill effort to push through comprehensive immigration legislation, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III pledged that the bill would receive “a very high priority among (the Reagan Administration’s) legislative objectives.”

“This is the session of Congress where real progress should be made,” Meese told the House Judiciary immigration panel at its opening hearing.

Meese offered his assurances after several subcommittee members suggested that the bill’s fate could hinge upon how vigorous and vocal the White House is in supporting it. Republicans and Democrats alike complained last year that President Reagan did not do as much as he could have to build support for the measure.

Favors Wilson Plan

On the controversial issue of assuring a ready work force for farmers in California and other Western states where agriculture is heavily dependent upon illegal aliens, Meese said that the Administration would favor “something along that line” proposed by Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.). Wilson has proposed streamlining the procedure under which growers of perishable crops may obtain workers to harvest them at short notice.

But California Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) expressed concern at the hearing that such a system would simply make it easier for employers to exploit agricultural workers. He said that the unemployment rate among farm workers is twice as high as joblessness among workers in general--which he said indicates that employer fears of a worker shortage are groundless.

Legislation that would make sweeping changes in the nation’s immigration laws has sailed through the Republican-controlled Senate in the last two congressional sessions but has had tougher going in the heavily Democratic House. The proposed legislation is named for Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.) and Rep. Romano L. Mazzoli (D-Ky.), the sponsors.

Last Year’s Bill Scrapped

A version of last year’s Simpson-Mazzoli bill barely passed the House, then was scrapped when a House-Senate conference committee could not agree on an anti-discrimination provision.

The versions of the bill under consideration this year aim to control the flow of illegal aliens by imposing legal penalties on those who knowingly hire them. They also would offer legal status to illegal aliens who could prove that they were in this country before a certain date.

More Restrictive Offer

Meese told the committee that the Administration prefers the Senate’s more restrictive offer of amnesty to aliens who have lived in the United States since before Jan. 1, 1980, over the Jan. 1, 1982, date being considered by the House committee.

The more lenient 1982 date, Meese said, would be “unfair to those persons who have respected the legal immigration system.”

This week, the full Senate is expected to consider an immigration bill approved last July by the Senate Judiciary Committee. House hearings on its measure are scheduled through the rest of this month.