Immigration Act’s Employer Sanctions Likely to Stay : Illegal aliens: Lawmakers seek ways to reduce discriminatory impacts. A worker card and public information campaign are possibilities.

Members of Congress are unlikely to repeal the employer sanctions contained in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 because they fear repeal would open the borders to job-hungry illegal immigrants, congressional sources said this week.

Lawmakers, however, are considering ways to reduce the discrimination caused by the law, which mandates penalties against employers who fail to verify that their workers are legal residents. Among the suggestions being discussed are the establishment of a national worker authorization document and a public relations campaign to inform employers about how to comply with the law.

“If we were to have a vote up or down on employer sanctions, there would be no support for repeal,” said Jerry Tinker, staff director to the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on immigration and refugee affairs. “The message we’re hearing now (from lawmakers) is to try and fix it before repealing it.”

In 1986 as the bill was making its way through Congress, supporters of the measure pledged to immediately reconsider employer sanctions if there were proof that a three-year test caused widespread discrimination.

In March, a General Accounting Office report concluded that the law contributed to employer discrimination against job applicants who looked or sounded foreign. But on April 28, the 30-day period for an expedited legislative repeal of the law expired--without congressional action.

“The votes weren’t there to repeal employer sanctions,” said John Trasvina, an aide to Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.), who serves on the immigration subcommittee.

Under a provision in the immigration reform law, the judiciary committees of both houses could have passed a resolution calling for repeal within 30 days of the GAO report. The resolution would have been rushed ahead of other business to the floor for votes. A successful vote would have bypassed the usual series of committee hearings and the need for a presidential signature.

Instead, the Senate conducted a pair of hearings on the GAO report, and bills calling for repeal were introduced in both the House and Senate. Within 48 hours of the report, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), introduced his bill calling for repeal under the expedited procedure. But during the second Senate hearing on the issue, Kennedy--chairman of the immigration and refugee affairs subcommittee--acknowledged that his bill never had much chance of passage, and only a few supporters.

The reluctance of Congress to repeal the sanctions has disappointed Latino groups and civil libertarians, who had hoped that the GAO finding of discrimination would be enough to persuade lawmakers to act.

“We felt all along that sanctions would lead to discrimination against Hispanics and others. But then we didn’t have the proof,” said Mario Moreno, regional counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “The GAO report was our proof and they still haven’t acted to remove employer sanctions.”

Opponents of sanctions were apparently stunned by congressional reluctance to act and were unprepared to push an anti-sanctions measure through in the 30 days allowed under the expedited process. But they are beginning now to organize themselves for a long and intensive lobbying effort to win legislative support for repeal. That effort will have to wind its way through the normal channels, without the special benefits offered under the 30-day provision.

One handicap in the push for repeal so far has been a lack of grass-roots support in the wake of the GAO report, said Tinker. “On something as serious as this issue, you would expect a huge groundswell of letters,” he said.

“We were prepared to begin to answer thousands of letters . . . but thus far, we’ve only gotten eight,” including three from major Latino organizations and five from other individuals or organization officials.

Irene Bueno, legislative assistant to Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles), who is sponsoring the only active bill in Congress calling for repeal of employer sanctions, said that lobbying groups have begun recently to press legislators about repealing sanctions.

“There seems to be a lack of education about the issue,” she said. “A lot of the groups have been lobbying, and we’re seeing some of the momentum beginning to pick up.”

But congressional aides said that the moment for repeal of sanctions--if one ever existed--would have been on the day the GAO report was released. They said that two days later, by the time U.S. Comptroller General Charles A. Bowsher testified before a Senate panel, all hope was lost. Bowsher is responsible for government review of the immigration act.

During his Senate testimony, Bowsher persuaded Congress that the sanctions could be salvaged and discrimination decreased if more employers understood the law and if there were fewer documents available for work authorization. He argued that because employers were confused, some took the easy way out by not hiring anyone who looked foreign.

Trasvina said that the sentiment in Congress now is to consider the options Bowsher proposed. He said those options include extending the period for the GAO to monitor the impact of the immigration reform law and declaring a temporary moratorium. Bowsher also suggested mounting an aggressive employer education campaign and expanding the office that hears discrimination complaints related to the implementation of the law.