Hemisphere persons and to intensify their efforts to adjust their status (c) support for Commissioner Castillo's effort to increase naturalization services for all immigrants. Immigrants and undocumented aliens have the same needs as native workers, we should guarantee that they have the same rights.

5. I am oppsed to propaganda and terrorists campaigns and mass arrest and mass deportation tactics directed at undocumented persons. We must be guided by a policy aimed at legalization not criminalization of migration.

6. I favor the collection of more data, better and fuller usage of statistics and the timely and easier access to existing data collected by the government.

7. I favor the United Nations assuming a greater role in monitoring international migration. We must be prepared to join the international community in supporting the Helsinski Accords and other measures that defend the rights of immigrants, workers and that protect human rights in general.

The President and the Congress should be in the forefront in defending the reality and image of the United States as a nation of immigrants. In light of our historical experience and our international image, it would be a tragic mistake to respond to the immigration question by merely militarizing our national borders.

STATEMENT OF HON. ABELARDO L. VALDEZ, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN, AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Subcommittee,

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this Subcommittee

to discuss the issue of undocumented workers. Frequently only the symptoms

of the problem are examined. I am pleased that this Subcommittee recognizes that in examining the undocumented worker phenomenon, the root causes of the problem must also be understood.

I know other witnesses have provided you with information on the undocumented worker problem in the U.S., but I believe it would be useful to begin by summarizing briefly what we know and don't know about this problem. I will try to concentrate on a description of the problem and the conditions that cause it. I understand that the Subcommittee will look at alternative proposals for dealing with the problem at a future date. In examining the problem, however, I believe several solutions may become

apparent.

Estimates of the size of the undocumented alien population vary considerably. Last week, one of the witnesses from the State Department cited a range of estimates from five million to seven million. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) currently estimates the population at between three and six million. Other U.S. Government sources indicate that the undocumented Mexican population in the U.S. ranges from two to six million. It is currently estimated that one to two million undocumented aliens per year are entering the U.S. Whichever of these varying estimates one accepts, it is evident that the size of this population is considerable.

32-006 - 78 - 20

As my colleagues from the State Department pointed out last week,

illegal migration to the U.S. is from a variety of countries in the developing world, primarily in Latin America and Asia. The notion that the undocumented worker problem is only a Mexican problem is mistaken, although Mexico is the largest single source. INS estimates that 60 percent of the undocumented workers are Mexican, 20 percent from Caribbean countries, and the remaining 20 percent from other Western and Eastern Hemisphere

countries.

Fifteen countries comprise the major undocumented worker source countries. They are Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, Greece, India, Iran and Nigeria. Other estimates also include El Salvador and Honduras as major source countries.

neighbors.

The eight leading countries are among our closest Western Hemisphere Thus, to a large extent, the problem is an inter-American problem: its root causes lie in the lack of economic opportunity in the sending countries, and its symptoms are manifested largely in those countries throughout the hemisphere which offer these opportunities.

U.S.

The level of outmigration to the U.S. reflects the enormous gap between the living standard and employment opportunity for the rural and urban poor in Latin America and the opportunities available to them in the The proximity of our southern neighbors means that their economic problems inevitably will affect us because of the ease with which labor and capital can move across our national boundaries. This mobility of labor into the U.S. and capital flows in both directions are leading to increasing

de facto economic integration of North and Central America and the

Caribbean.

Unless and until economic opportunities and living conditions for the poor improve, the flow is going to continue in the direction of

In terms of skill level and areas of origin, the inflow from Latin America can be divided roughly into two categories. Low skill levels characterize most Mexican and Dominicans who emigrate largely from rural areas, whereas higher levels of skills are characteristic of the largely urbanized immigrants from most of the Caribbean countries. Central and South American countries provide both skilled and unskilled workers.

Survey evidence indicates that a large proportion of undocumented entrants, particularly those from rural areas, have, upon arrival, every intention of returning home once they have achieved a certain goal of 1/ savings accumulation.

An alternative pattern to temporary entry is the recent tendency of skilled, middle and higher income people in the Caribbean to leave situations in which they feel they cannot advance economically or

professionally. By visa jumping or island hopping, they work their way into skilled jobs in the U.S. The recent economic and political problems in Jamaica and Guyana have been cited as one cause of large-scale emigration from those countries.

The typical undocumented migrant from Mexico is young, male and from the rural areas. His initial employment in the U. S. is most likely to be in "bracero" type agricultural work. In contrast, a recent study

reports that a large number of Central and South American newcomers are women and that they typically head for the bigger cities of the North

to find work. 2/

A review of migration patterns throughout the world reveals movement from low to high income regions

typically a rural to urban phenomenon. Survey after survey finds that the economic factors are the predominant reason for moving. There are both "push" factors in the poor areas and "pull" factors in the more prosperous areas. Both forces work in the same direction to produce undocumented workers.

Inter-country migration is not just a U.S. phenomenon. Other higher income countries in the region and throughout the world are also experiencing large inflows of workers from lower income neighboring countries. It is estimated that there are over one million Colombians working in Venezuela, the majority in the rural areas. As a proportion of total population, the Colombians are more significant in Venezuela than all undocumented aliens are to the U.S. population. Further south, large numbers of Paraguayans and Bolivians move into Brazil and Argentina. Latin American countries also have experienced considerable migration from neighboring countries. There have been significant movements of Salvadoreans into Honduras and Guatemalans into Mexico. In Europe the temporary migration of southern Europeans and North Africans to the booming labor markets of northern Europe have added 9 percent to the economically active population.

Other

With regard to the so-called "pull" factors in the U.S., I believe that all of us have some feel for these factors the things in this

-