The Demographic Impact of Immigration on the United States

Testimony was given on a 1982 GAO report concerning the enforcement of laws regarding employment of aliens in selected countries. GAO compiled information on foreign countries' laws and policies concerning guest workers, national identification documents, employer responsibilities, illegal alien workers, and law enforcement in 19 countries. Four countries were visited to gather more detailed information on sanctions for employers who illegally hire aliens. The governments of most countries have become increasingly concerned with illegal alien workers due to growing unemployment and alien population growth. GAO found that, although each country has laws penalizing employers of illegal aliens, such laws are not an effective deterrent to stemming illegal employment because employers are able to evade the responsibility for illegal employment or, once apprehended, are penalized too little to deter such acts. In addition, GAO found that the laws were not being effectively enforced because of strict legal constraints on investigations, lack of communication between government agencies, lack of enforcement resolve, and lack of personnel. In the four countries GAO visited, employers had some degree of responsibility for ensuring that aliens were legally entitled to work, and each of the four countries had some form of sanction for employers who hired aliens illegally; however, the penalties for such actions were usually light. Since 1982, France has tightened border controls and will institute heavier fines; Germany has decreased its alien worker population by giving cash incentives to leave the country; and in Switzerland and Canada there have been no legislative changes.