Posted on 10/20/2003 4:10:59 PM PDT by Brian S
By Dana Wilkie COPLEY NEWS SERVICE 2:54 p.m. October 20, 2003
WASHINGTON – Speed citizenship for immigrants in the armed forces.
Give work permits to illegal immigrants who pay taxes and study English. Legalize tens of thousands of high school students who sometimes discover only when applying for college jobs that their parents brought them here illegally.
These ideas have been floating around Congress for years, promoted mostly by Democrats and immigrant advocates.
But now, some of Capitol Hill's most powerful Republicans are pushing them.
As politicians strive to appease Latino voters who will influence next year's elections, and placate powerful business groups that need immigrant labor, several efforts are gaining momentum in Congress to legalize millions of undocumented workers and students.
"The majority of these people are seeking the American dream, looking for a good paying job that will enable them to provide a better life for themselves and their families," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of several Republicans pushing immigration reforms. "We must recognize that as long as there are jobs available and employers in need of workers, people will continue to migrate."
One plan with a good chance of becoming law would legalize up to 500,000 agricultural workers, and trim the paperwork for hiring those workers from abroad. The plan, by Sens. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was negotiated for years between farm workers' unions and farmers, and has the support of Senate leaders and the White House. Immigrants who can show they did farm work for 100 days over the past 18 months would get temporary resident status. They would have to work another 360 days in the following six years to keep that status.
Normally, the bill's roughest ride would be in the House Judiciary Committee, immigration advocates said. But committee chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., seems to have warmed to some immigration reform ideas.
Some experts see that as a testament to how powerful farm interests have given new momentum to immigration legislation.
"The agricultural interests are really quite formidable in Congress, and many of them need workers at a price they can afford to pay," said Sidney Weintraub, who runs the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Kennedy is also working with another Republican – Chuck Hagel of Nebraska – on a plan that would, for a $1,000 fee, give work permits to all immigrants who have been in the country for five years, paid taxes for three, and taken English instruction. Their spouses and children would also get legal status.
McCain and Reps. Jeff Flake and Jim Kolbe, all Arizona Republicans, would give law-abiding undocumented workers in other industries – restaurants and hotels, for instance – a chance at getting work permits. Workers would have to wait six years for permits, and there is no provision for family. The lawmakers introduced the bill last summer, after 339 people died crossing the country's southern borders.
Immigration expert Riordan Roett believes Republicans are warming to legalization plans because Americans are warming to undocumented workers who have long contributed to the American economy and paid taxes.
"I think there is now a growing sense that the Latino population is spread across this country, and that they're seen as good citizens in more and more congressional districts," said Roett, director of the Western Hemisphere Program for the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies
Others, however, believe Republicans recognize they must appease Latino voters before next year's elections.
In August, a New York Times/CBS poll showed that only 21 percent of Latinos would vote for Bush, though the president carried 35 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2000. Experts believe this disenchantment arose after President Bush failed to keep a promise to help undocumented immigrants gain legal status by reducing the waiting periods for naturalization.
"Democrats, having allowed Bush to gain the initiative, now have seized it back," said Robert Leiken, director of the Immigration and National Security Program at The Nixon Center, a foreign policy think tank. "Republicans are trying to regain it."
Not all Republicans are on board. Conservatives say many of the plans moving through Congress reward people who broke immigration laws, while costing American citizens jobs.
In general, immigration advocates dislike the strictly Republican plans – such as McCain's – because they leave out family and lack worker protections.
"We're very happy Republicans are looking at immigration reform, but (the McCain bill) won't solve any problems," said Katherine Culliton, an immigrants' rights attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).
Immigrant advocates are happy, however, with a plan by GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah that would give conditional residency to as many as 70,000 teens who have been in the country five years, graduated from high school, and have no criminal record.
Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, expects the committee to pass his plan on Thursdayoct.23.
"Often, these students don't find out – until they fill out financial aid forms – that their parents stuck them in this immigration limbo," said James Ferg-Cadima (cq), legislative staff attorney for MALDEF.
A plan by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, would speed citizenship for the 37,000 immigrants serving in the U.S. armed forces. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., has a similar plan that is likely to move faster than Cornyn's.
Do tell.
Impossible. They broke federal law by their trespass. They have been criminals from the day they crossed the border without permission.
It's funny how the truth always surfaces. The argument used to be "they do jobs Americans won't do." Here, the argument changes to the real truth - "they do jobs Americans won't do for the low wages being offered."
Illegal aliens are being allowed into America to depress labor costs and rob American citizens of a chance to work for a living wage. It is also the worst kind of exploitation of poor, uneducated people who are in no position to challenge any mistreatment.
It explains alot to see Ted Kennedys fingerprints all over this bill. And GWB said he was a nice guy. Makes me sick.
The only recourse is to write letters, make calls, and otherwise let your congresscritters know you don't want any amnesties or legalizations. Deport the illegals and make them take their turn, behind those who have obeyed the law.
If there are enough letters, maybe it will do some good.
What a McCainiac crock! Most countries (including Canada) require that employers first make an attempt to hire the natives (even the unemployed, even those over 50) before they can import foreign workers.
Yes, foreigners who are serving in the U.S. armed forces should get a smooth track to U.S. citizenship, but not economic migrants who simply want to undercut American workers..
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