Penalties Urged for Those Who Hire Illegal Aliens

The head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service called Sunday for penalties against those who hire illegal aliens.

“Illegal aliens come to the United States for jobs. That’s what draws them. That’s what we have to deal with,” said Alan C. Nelson, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

“A lot of illegal aliens do get on welfare and unemployment. We must cope with that,” Nelson said on the ABC-TV program “This Week With David Brinkley.”

“We need border enforcement, job market enforcement, entitlement enforcement and, of course, continued and better working relations with our foreign neighbors, particularly Mexico,” Nelson said.

Cooperation Improving

Cooperation between the United States and Mexico has been improving, he said, particularly in efforts to reduce border violence, stop narcotics smuggling, and track down immigrants from other Central American nations.

“Immigration is good for this country . . . but it must be done legally and we must stop the illegal flow, which undercuts our legal heritage of immigration,” Nelson said.

Nelson recommended expanding the ranks of the U.S. Border Patrol from the current 3,000 officers to 4,000.

For each of the 1.2 million aliens caught at the frontier last year, another came across, he said. The number caught could grow to 1.8 million this year, he said.

Overhaul of Law

Congress has been grappling with immigration law overhaul for six years, and two members of a Senate committee dealing with the issue said chances are good for agreement by the end of the year.

Senate Judiciary Committee members Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.) and Paul Simon (D-Ill.), both appearing on the Brinkley show, agreed that there should be penalties for employers who hire illegal aliens, although Simpson said the implications required study.

But great disagreements remain between laws now being worked on in the House and the Senate.

Last September, the Senate passed a bill that would allow 350,000 guest workers into the United States at any one time, and grant amnesty to those who entered the country before Jan. 1, 1980. Under the House version, illegal aliens who arrived before 1982 could become legal immigrants.

New Mexico’s Democratic Gov. Toney Anaya, who has declared his state a sanctuary for those fleeing political persecution in Central American countries other than Mexico, said there is a demand for illegal aliens “primarily from growers, who want to use slave labor.”