Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. (left), and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.,
are working together on an immigration plan.
Posted on 05/12/2005 8:46:37 AM PDT by Scenic Sounds
Sweeping measures face an uphill fight
WASHINGTON – Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate will introduce legislation today that could grant legal status to an estimated 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants now in the United States.
The bills, which would dwarf previous programs to provide legal status to foreign workers, would give illegal immigrants work permits and the opportunity to apply for permanent residence and eventually citizenship once they pay a fine and fees.
The legislation is certain to raise the temperature of a national debate already simmering over the Minuteman Project's volunteer border patrols and just-passed legislation to deny driver licenses to undocumented immigrants.
The legislation is expected to face an uphill fight in Congress. But it would be a landmark event if enacted.
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., will introduce the bill in the Senate. In the House, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., will team with Arizona Republicans Jeff Flake and Jim Kolbe to introduce the measure.
The sponsors have scheduled a news conference today to kick off a publicity campaign. It will be coordinated with immigrant advocates and church groups as well as business and farming organizations that want to stabilize their work forces.
Flake said the bills seek to bring immigration law in line with job markets that have become increasingly dependent on illegal immigrants because legal workers aren't filling the jobs.
"The bottom line is we're going to have a need for foreign workers in the foreseeable future," Flake said.
He said Congress has not provided federal officials with the tools to enforce the law because it doesn't want to cut off the flow of workers.
"We can make it legal through some mechanism or we can keep it illegal and keep on pretending we are going to enforce it," he said.
While details are still being negotiated, according to the Denver Post, major provisions include:
After a criminal background check and medical examination, most of the illegal immigrants now in the country would be allowed to apply for a new visa legalizing their status. They would have to pay $2,000 in fines and processing fees for having entered the country illegally. After six years, these workers and their families could apply for permanent residency.
A guest-worker program would allow employers to bring in 400,000 foreign workers in its first year. After that, the cap would be adjusted annually based on demand. The cap could change no more than a fixed percentage a year, sources said, and those workers could eventually apply to permanently reside in the United States.
A new system would be designed to require employers to electronically verify whether their workers are in the country legally and eligible to work. Fines for employers caught hiring illegal workers would double.
"Once a program is in place for employers to get workers, there's no excuse for them not to cooperate," Flake said. "You get a good program and you enforce the heck out of it."
But Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, said the program must provide enough foreign workers to meet labor needs and enough enforcement to win the support of a public increasingly skeptical about the government's ability to manage immigration.
"Any proposal will rise or fall on whether the legal channels are wide enough and the enforcement effective enough," Sharry said. "In the past it was, 'Let's keep legal channels small, but let's not enforce them too much.' "
The bills' advocates hope that the $2,000 fine will soften the angry reaction that has accompanied past amnesties, such as the sweeping 1986 measure that gave legal status to 2.7 million immigrants, most of them Mexican.
Almost 20 years later, the illegal immigrant population is expanding by nearly 500,000 people a year, according to Pew Hispanic Center demographer Jeffrey Passell.
In 1986, amnesty meant a green card for immigrants who were eligible, either because they had lived in the United States several years or – in a major concession to California farmers – because they had worked 90 days in the fields.
A fight to update that definition has already broken out.
"An amnesty is an unconditional pardon for a breach of law," Flake said.
"That's semantics," said Jack Martin of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which wants to clamp down on illegal immigration. "Any program that gives legal status to people who entered the country illegally or have stayed here illegally after being admitted is an amnesty."
Both sides will eagerly await reaction from President Bush, who last year proposed a program to provide temporary legal status for undocumented workers already here and to match "willing workers" from around the world with "willing employers."
Although the president said he rejected amnesty, he left open the possibility that some of the workers could get in line for a green card. That coveted document confers permanent residence status and the eventual opportunity to apply for citizenship.
Yesterday, White House spokeswoman Maria Tamburri responded carefully to a question about the Kennedy-McCain bill.
"The president will work with Congress on enacting legislation that is consistent with the principles he announced last year," she said.
Mark Krikorian, who directs the Center for Immigration Studies, said the White House was stunned at many conservatives' furious reaction at Bush's proposal.
Krikorian, whose organization favors restrictive immigration policies, predicted that Bush will wait to gauge public reaction to the legislation before announcing his position on it.
"There is already a match burning because of the Minuteman program," he said, referring to the volunteer patrols in Arizona near the Mexican border. "They should be afraid that this would throw gas on the fire."
"hmmm, a rather cheap price for citizen. Now we know we are worth only $2,000. Perhaps that's all the taxes we should pay."
The article doen't state that they are paying $2000 for citezenship, it states that they are paying $2000 for a guest-worker visa.
"Actually, it sould like he is right. Illegal immigration can be stopped can be stopped by making all immigration legal. Doesn't stop the immigration - just the illegal part."
Good point. I hadn't thought of it like that. It's an old fed trick: define the problem out of existence. Saw that a lot when I worked for the federal government.
"You must jump in the lake" eventually becomes, "Lake? What lake?"
FR is a great place to vent - it would be nice to wish (or type) away all of our problems. The solution to the illegals is the guest worker program. Regardless of whether anyone at FR agrees with my opinion is beside the point - amnesty is the way it's going to go down.
So the only real issue open to FR denizens is whether they want to be part of the solution. The question to those interested in affecting public policy is what types of controls/assurances will we be able to implement as part of the amnesty program?
For example, sealing the border is an obvious (and visually appealing) solution; however, untold thousands fly in on visas and never leave. How are these recorded/blocked? Another example is employer fines - what types of ID should be required? What types of questions can be asked (without being sued under existing laws)?
There are lots of issues to be worked out. It will be interesting to see if FR mounts an effective means of participating in these policy decisions or just stews away ranting & raving.
"It will take getting Senator Quislings booted from office to cause the rest of our congress critters to "see the light."
Unfortunately, it'll be another 5.5 years before that happens.
Please tell me that you don't depend on reading comprehension for your means of support. I'm not comparing our actions to Nazis, I'm merely stating the obvious: Michael Moore and other enemies of the US would have a field day with any deportation program.
I beg to differ. The problem is even worse than this.
We need to regain control of our politicians, judiciary and bureaucracies!
"There are too damned many Spanish radio and TV stations as it is. Just exactly how does this facilitate assimilation? They don't, because they appeal to illegals who do not assimilate, have little interest in learning english, and prefer to live with other illegals."
I did it 12 years ago, there wasn't the huge illegal problem then, it was a great investment but in hindsight you are quite right. I don't even think having a few illegals is bad, if they have the gumption to get here. But we are talking Tsunami now, and they aren't paying their way (I have lotrs of personal stories).
All I'm trying to point out is that I'm not anti-hispanic, I am however highly anti-illegals at this point.
Not necessarily Sen. McCainiac. Any Quisling Congressmen will do.
And what will the solution to the Guest Worker program be??????????????
You know, you pro-guest worker bots have jumped the shark and aren't even believable there are so many holes in your theory. You are sort of like the Democrats, at this point their ideas are derisable, laughable, not just silly. nd they are dangerous too. If your plan fails and inundates America with even more illegals, what are you going to call for then? A Guest-Guest-Worker program? A white flag? A co-presidency with Vincente Fox? We ALREADY have an immigration policy, the problem is that it isn't being enforced. Now you want more crapola spread on top?
"Not necessarily Sen. McCainiac. Any Quisling Congressmen will do."
I've suggested all along that we should simply place McCain's address on Central Avenue in Phoenix on signs in Spanish, turned south, with an invitation that says "Come on up for sandwiches and water. John"
Excellent!
I remember when they had those on the SAT... :-)
Here's a serious effort...
After we secure the border and start punishing employers for hiring illegals I am going to be willing to talk about this and in principle I believe "wisely" is the operative word.
Rather than amnesty I think we should punish them. They should face a steep fine. Rather than sending $50 billion in remittances home they should be coughing up maybe $10 thousand a piece payable in installments of $1000 per year.
They should also work a couple thousand hours of community service.
They should also plead guilty to a felony and receive a 10 year suspended, non-appealable automatic deportation order to come into force if they committ any further crime more serious than a speeding ticket or if they fail to pay their fine or perform their community service.
They should be given permanent residence but never be given full citizenship or the right to vote.
We need to send the message to the world that the worst way to come to America is illegally. I would probably treat children who were brought here as minors a little less harshly but we need to be careful not to offer benefits that become an incentive for parents to break our laws.
John McCain has retired the 'Tin Ear' award for all time.
What it says that they pay a $2,000.00 "fine" and are eligible for permanent residency in 6 years. The point is the illegals get to buy their way into legal status. That's simply not acceptable.
Again, your opinion. The only way a "guest worker" program is going to fly is if it contains all of the safeguards and enforcement measures previously posted.
"...amnesty is the way it's going to go down."
Add wishful thinking to your opinion. For that to happen means the GOP is ready to toss its conservative base over the side (30%+). No matter how much "hispandering" the White House and its co-conspirators do, that loss will be fatal to many political aspirations. Anyone supporting an amnesty, or a sham amnesty, can kiss his/her political career goodbye.
"The question to those interested in affecting public policy is what types of controls/assurances will we be able to implement as part of the amnesty program?"
No kind of controls/assurances will be an acceptable tradeoff for rewarding 20+ million law breakers with an amnesty.
"There are lots of issues to be worked out."
Most of which would not have been necessary had our Washington crapweasels not decided to ignore enforcement of our immigration laws.
"It will be interesting to see if FR mounts an effective means of participating in these policy decisions..."
What you see is what you get. It won't be pretty if the unindicted co-conspirators in Washington continue on their present course.
By the way, your comments come across somewhat similar to what one might anticipate from a political flack paid to beat the pro-illegal drums. And don't bother with the "I'm just an interested citizen" defense.
Here's the bottom line for you. FR is a conservative site for conservatives. Most of us, clearly a very substantial majority, believe strongly in: American sovereignty; protected, secure and controlled borders; and the preservation of American culture, customs, traditions and language. These are our values.
What are yours?
If you want to be effective in battling the pro-illegal lobby, you have to learn to drop politically correct concerns like "Gee, if I speak out against the illegal aliens someone will call me a racist." Of course they will--since they have no valid arguments to defend their position, the race card is all they have. The good news is this has lost its earlier impact and is no longer effective. It is now employed by only the desperate, but can be used as a reliable tipoff that you are dealing with someone who is a pro-illegal apologist/enabler.
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