Immigration bill won't come easy in new Congress

sacbee ^ | 12-25-04

[LouAvul]

WASHINGTON - Everyone considers immigration reform a top priority when Congress reconvenes next month. But no one agrees what "reform" means.

"I fully understand the politics of immigration reform," President Bush assured reporters this week. Many lawmakers, including the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, call tougher enforcement the centerpiece of reform. Many others interpret reform as a code word for a guest-worker program that puts illegal immigrants on track toward a green card.

This apparent contradiction could doom legislation. Or perhaps Capitol Hill's long immigration stalemate could be broken by some deft combination of getting tough and giving hope.

"A lot of people have said that could be a good compromise," Mariposa Republican Rep. George Radanovich said. "It depends on who you want to please to get a bill passed."

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Dubbed AgJobs, the bill would give several hundred thousand illegal immigrants working in agriculture the chance to attain legal residency and, in time, U.S. citizenship.

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Following the lead of the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Wisconsin Republican James Sensenbrenner, Radanovich was one of 67 House Republicans to vote against a big intelligence overhaul bill because it failed to take a tough enough line against illegal immigration.

"Immigration reform and border security are paramount to ensure American safety," Radanovich said. "Why were those massive issues not factored into this (intelligence) legislation?"

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In particular, conservatives denounced the immigration bill because it dropped a provision banning states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and another provision limiting appeals for immigrants facing deportation. Sensenbrenner now promises to revive the proposals first thing next year.

"Denying illegal aliens driver's licenses is the right thing to do," Sensenbrenner said on CNN.

[FITZ]

Imagine if the inner city folks were being shipped to Mexico inside locked box cars and unventilated semi-trailers --- and then we demanded that Mexican taxpayers provide them benefits there --- so they wouldn't think about coming back home.

[monkeywrench]

I don't know how mc cainiac and kennedy are going to "fix" what they helped break. (And continue to obstruct on) http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=5833 "Naturally, Sen. Teddy Kennedy, D-Afghanistan, wants to stop the Bush administration from using NSEERS to catch any more criminal aliens and illegal aliens who pose law enforcement threats to America."

[grania]

Fine every BUSINESS $500,000 for every ILLEGAL ALIEN they employ.

You're too kind. That fine will pay for the jail time for employers who knowingly hire illegals, or hire them without background checks.

Also, charge the businesses for the supportive services the government paid for to subsidize the cheap labor.

[JustAnotherSavage]

The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave

Police commanders may not want to discuss, much less respond to, the illegal-alien crisis, but its magnitude for law enforcement is startling. Some examples:

• In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.

• A confidential California Department of Justice study reported in 1995 that 60 percent of the 20,000-strong 18th Street Gang in southern California is illegal; police officers say the proportion is actually much greater. The bloody gang collaborates with the Mexican Mafia, the dominant force in California prisons, on complex drug-distribution schemes, extortion, and drive-by assassinations, and commits an assault or robbery every day in L.A. County. The gang has grown dramatically over the last two decades by recruiting recently arrived youngsters, most of them illegal, from Central America and Mexico.

• The leadership of the Columbia Lil’ Cycos gang, which uses murder and racketeering to control the drug market around L.A.’s MacArthur Park, was about 60 percent illegal in 2002, says former assistant U.S. attorney Luis Li. Francisco Martinez, a Mexican Mafia member and an illegal alien, controlled the gang from prison, while serving time for felonious reentry following deportation.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1304362/posts?q=1&&page=451
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http://www.immigrationshumancost.org/text/crimevictims.html
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Hispanics wanted by the law?


Vargas, Victor
Reyes, Ramon
Perez, Demecio Carlos
Nistal, Cesar
Monarrez, Jesse Enrique
Contreras, Byron Adolfo
Colby, Kirk Lamont*
Campos, Fausto Adalberto
Bonilla, Pedro Antonio
Akopyan, Vahagan*

Why, because they comprise 8 of the 10 Most Wanted by LAPD?