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Posted on 05/18/2007 5:52:45 PM PDT by mdittmar
The fragile coalition that produced this week's immigration deal risks being picked apart by forces across the political spectrum as the measure begins moving through Congress.
Lawmakers want to revise key elements, such as letting millions of illegal immigrants stay in the U.S., favoring skills and education over families and setting out the terms of a new temporary worker program.
Any one of the changes has the potential to sink the whole measure, which was unveiled with fanfare Thursday but was still being drafted late Friday.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who helped negotiate the compromise, called it "very well-balanced," and cautioned against revisions that could upset the framework.
"You take something out and you're creating a problem throughout the system - you may think that you're only tweaking one part," Gutierrez said in an interview. "We've got to be very careful as to what is proposed to change."
As the White House and proponents in both parties began laboring to sell the agreement to the public, interest groups launched elaborate efforts to alter major pieces of the complicated proposal.
"We're going to fight like mad to fix the parts we don't like," said Tom Snyder, the national political director of UNITE HERE!, a service workers union comprised largely of immigrants.
Senate leaders huddled privately to plot strategy for next week's debate, which is likely to feature Democratic efforts to kill or substantially shrink the temporary worker program and Republican attempts to prevent illegal immigrants from staying indefinitely in the U.S. without applying for permanent residency or citizenship.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he doesn't know whether the measure can make it through the Senate.
Liberal activists who call the measure a good start but object to major parts have "a couple of bites at the apple" to change it as it makes its way to President Bush's desk, said Frank Sharry, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum.
"It's been hatched in the backroom at the eleventh hour; it's now going to be debated in the light of day," Sharry said.
If they don't succeed in reshaping it, the groups that have been among the strongest proponents of an immigration overhaul might desert the deal.
"We're not sure that our support for moving forward will continue to be support if the bill that approaches the finish line has these kind of problems in it," said Cecilia Munoz of the National Council of La Raza.
There's broad agreement on some elements of the plan, such as improving border security and workplace enforcement and allowing some way for the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants to earn a path to citizenship.
But the plan's cornerstones are among its most controversial elements.
It would allow the millions of undocumented immigrants already here to gain legal status virtually immediately and keep it indefinitely through a new "Z visa" that could be renewed repeatedly. Those seeking permanent legal residence or eventual citizenship would face long waits and have to pay fees and fines, and their household heads would have to return to their home countries.
Some conservative Republicans want to limit the amount of times Z visas could be renewed.
The deal also proposes a fundamental reordering of the nation's immigration priorities, moving the system from one based on family to one primarily designed to meet the needs of U.S. employers. While spouses and minor children of legal residents and citizens could still get green cards under the new system, other relatives would have to qualify under a point system that rewards advanced skills, education, English proficiency and experience in high-demand occupations.
This has drawn fire from both sides, with conservatives arguing that the system should not reward low-skilled workers or extended family at all, and liberals saying it devalues family.
"The merit-based point system that was promised is just a shell of what it could have been and what it should have been," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who wants to guarantee that a larger percentage of future green cards are awarded purely based on employment criteria.
On the other side, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) plans to offer an amendment that would exempt the spouses and children of lawful permanent residents from the measure's visa caps, guaranteeing that families receive a higher priority.
The guest worker program, which would provide 400,000 visas yearly for immigrants seeking temporary employment, has come under criticism from conservatives and populists who think it's too expansive and immigrant advocacy groups who say it creates a working underclass with few rights.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) wants to strike the temporary worker program, arguing that it harms American workers and depresses wages.
Workers could come for two-year stints and renew their visas twice, with a year home in between each time, but would ultimately have to qualify for green cards based on the point system.
The system "is skewed against them," La Raza's Munoz said. "We don't consider that to be a meaningful path to citizenship."
The Bush administration, cognizant of the deal's vulnerability, is already toiling to line up the votes needed to push it through Congress.
"We're going to work as hard as we need to," Gutierrez said.
Don’t be mislead — the pro-amnesty lobby is well organized and highly effective
Keep pushing until it splinters.
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sw
Welcome to FR.
I hope this is correct. I want to see this go down in FLAMES!
Carlos M. Gutierrez is the 35th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the voice of business in government. The former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Kellogg Company, Secretary Gutierrez is a core member of President Bush’s economic team.
He played a key role in the passage of CAFTA-DR, a landmark agreement that strips away trade barriers, expands export opportunities and boosts hope and opportunity throughout Latin America.
Secretary Gutierrez is also one of the President’s point men working with Congress to pass comprehensive immigration legislation, an issue he sees as one of the greatest domestic social issues of our time. He believes a successful immigration solution must focus first on securing our borders, but must also address immigrants contribution to our economy and the importance of American unity.
Secretary Gutierrez studied business administration at the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Queretaro, Mexico.
Seems like it would be cheaper in the long run to just send them back. But, OMG, what would the business community ever do?
There’s no use my getting in touch with Patrick Leahey, Bernie Sanders, or my representative in congress, because it could only make things worse.
But if any of you have a vulnerable congresscritter in your district or a senator who can be embarrassed for voting for this atrocity, by all means turn up the heat on them, and get your family and friends to do the same. Consider emailing contact information to anyone who might help.
If this passes, it will be a killer. We already tried a massive amnesty once, and it only encouraged more illegals to come in. And if this bill is passed in ANY form, it will be tweaked and modified, and liberal judges will find parts of it unconstitutional, until every illegal in the country and all their relatives get free citizenship, and welfare benefits better than any long-time citizens enjoy.
Moreover, the Democrats will benefit from the extra votes and will please their constituents, while probably a lot of Republicans will be thrown out of office. As Rush has said, this bill is a Republican Party killer.
Selected as one of the most powerful Hispanic-Americans in business by Fortune magazine earlier this year, Gutierrez never graduated from college and has previously told reporters that he learned English from "bellhops of a Miami Beach hotel."
Gutierrez's relationship with Kellogg began in Mexico City at age 20 when the son of a pineapple merchant took a job driving a Kellogg's truck selling Zucaritas (Frosted Flakes) to mom-and-pop stores.
Ten years later, he had worked his way up to general manager of Kellogg's operations in Mexico. Gutierrez was transferred in 1982 to Kellogg's corporate headquarters in Battle Creek, Mich., as a supervisor of Latin American marketing services.
In 2003, he received about $7.4 million in compensation, including salary, bonus and incentive payments, according to a Kellogg proxy statement. He owns or has option rights to 2 million shares of company stock.
Don’t take that attitude! Call, write, keep calling. I am from MA but that hasn’t stopped me! If anything it annoys them and keeps them busy answering the phones! They all need to hear from us no matter how Socialist/Communist they are.
EVERYONE NEEDS TO MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD!!!
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! TILL YOU RUN OUT OF INK IN YOUR PEN!
Even if you know that your congressman can’t be turned call anyway.
Maybe they can be scared out of this lunacy.
Duncan Hunter on the Senate Immigration Bill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf_TCdzryD8
Duncan Hunter on the Border Fence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNGCZ2LoYhU
SC Debate: Hunter on Illegal Immigration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3Jmmxg90IA
MEGABUMP!!!
The same thing they did before the invasion of illegal aliens? Hire U.S. citizens as employees?
Yeah, but they wouldn't be rolling in the dough and they might have to pay a fair wage and benefits. There wouldn't be as much for them in it.
Question is, once all these illegals are legal, they will have to let in more illegals to continue rolling in the dough.
So when will the next big amnesty come about?
Open borders is the next step.
Open borders has been a reality for years.
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