Posted on 03/23/2004 4:45:06 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Cornyn conceded today that immigration reform and a proposal to extend the length of stay of Mexican visitors to the United States are receiving opposition in Congress during a heated election year.
Cornyn, R-Texas, told border business leaders that changes to current laws face an uphill battle because "political extremists" dominate the debate.
"We are having to educate people in Congress and elsewhere," Cornyn told the Border Trade Alliance conference at the Watergate Hotel.
The senator's comments came an hour before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on immigration policy and U.S.-Mexico relations.
"Mexico's importance to U.S. national security has been underrated – particularly during this era of global terrorism," said Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., chairman of the committee.
Lugar said the United States must reform its immigration laws, and he said those proposals should include "realistic mechanisms through which illegal immigrants can regularize their status."
President Bush has called on Congress to create a guest worker program and streamline legal immigration to provide a more orderly, humane flow of people from Mexico to willing labor markets in the United States.
A half-dozen proposals in the House and Senate include those that would create guest worker programs, and some that would reward workers with citizenship.
The president's proposal has received opposition from House Republicans who have characterized citizenship and guest worker programs as amnesty to undocumented workers.
Democrats say the president's proposal falls far short of providing significant protections for immigrant laborers and workers, and accuse Bush of using the issue as an election-year pitch to Hispanic voters.
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., argued that if Bush were serious about immigration reform, he would use the White House to push his proposal through the House over Republican opposition.
Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have cast doubts over passage of immigration reform during an election year.
And border business leaders say they are frustrated with measures to strengthen security after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
They are calling for relief from Bush administration proposals that would further tighten the flow of people and commerce.
"The problem we have is the decision makers, the policy makers in Washington have no idea about life on the border," John David Franz, Hidalgo mayor, told Cornyn at the conference. "We know who the enemy is in the war on terrorism, and it is not Mexico," Franz said.
Bush administration officials told the border business leaders earlier this week that they would temporarily suspend enforcement of entry and exit checks at primary border inspection stations for laser visa holders.
A new entry/exit system to track visitors to the United States is part of the US-VISIT program and must be implemented at 50 land ports by Jan. 1, 2005.
Border business leaders are concerned the new program will bottleneck traffic for Mexican nationals who own property in the United States and shop at American retail stores.
Cornyn has urged the administration to complete technology and infrastructure requirements, and to make sure the program will not harm border economies, before implementing US-VISIT.
"It is bad policy, it is a mistake, to implement a program before we know how it is going to impact the economy," Cornyn said. "That is what we are risking if we implement US-VISIT on our border before we know what we are doing."
Cornyn said the Department of Homeland Security has yet to determine specifications, plans and costs for implementing the program at most border ports of entry.
"That worries me a great deal," Cornyn said. "I can assure you we are not going to implement the US-VISIT program in such a haphazard way."
Cornyn also told the group that his legislation to extend visa stays from 72 hours to six months for Mexican nationals with border-crossing cards is still before the Senate for consideration.
The bill would give Mexican visitors parity with Canadians, who are granted six-month stays by treaty.
Sam Vale, president of the Starr Camargo Bridge Co., told Cornyn that business leaders are having a difficult time drumming up support on Capitol Hill for the proposal.
"We are struggling to get co-signers for your legislation," Vale said, citing confusion with the senator's guest worker proposal also floating in Congress.
gmartin@express-news.net
He sounds like a good man then, we need plenty more like him.
:^)) And he was probably faking it!!
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