Posted on 05/02/2005 7:54:15 PM PDT by FairOpinion
WASHINGTON - Senate negotiators on Monday accepted a House plan to make states verify that driver's license applicants are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants but softened House-proposed changes in asylum laws.
The immigration measures are part of a bill to pay for continuing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still unresolved was how much more money to spend on border security.
Congressional aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said negotiators are still apart on provisions that would devote $4 million each to a Fire Science Academy in Elko, Nev., and environment cleanup of a former Energy Department site in New Mexico.
Also in dispute was about $600 million in the Senate version of the bill to hire 1,000 new border patrol officers and other immigration agents and provide 2,000 new beds for detainees.
Tentative deals have been reached to provide roughly $75 billion for defense-related costs and construction of a new U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
The legislation won't be final until the House and Senate vote on it. The House could take it up later this week but the Senate won't vote until after it reconvenes May 9.
The immigration restrictions have White House backing and could help President Bush win support for a temporary worker program that he has said should include illegal immigrants already in the country. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., had pressed for the restrictions, saying they would enhance border security and were needed independent of other immigration reforms.
Governors and state motor vehicle departments had opposed the driver's license provisions as too costly. They also complained state motor vehicle officials will be forced to take on the role of immigration officers.
Civil liberties and gun rights supporters opposed the measure on privacy grounds, saying they fear driver's licenses will evolve into a national identification card.
Under the legislation, Americans applying for driver's licenses will have to bring far more information with them to motor vehicle offices. They will be asked to show birth certificates, a photo ID, proof of their Social Security number and a document with full name and home address, according to a copy of the bill obtained by The Associated Press.
Motor vehicle departments will be required to verify the documents and the Social Security numbers. States still could give licenses to illegal immigrants, but they would have different designs or colors to alert security officers that they are unacceptable as IDs for boarding planes or entering federal buildings.
States will have three years after the bill becomes law to meet the standards or their driver's licenses won't be accepted by federal officers for identification.
All but one of the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had some form of U.S. identification, some of it fraudulent, the Sept. 11 Commission found. The commission recommended the federal government set standards for birth certificates and other identification documents, including driver's licenses.
Provisions that would make it easier for judges to reject asylum claims and force asylum applicants to meet a higher standard of proof also survived negotiations. However, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., persuaded colleagues to restore appeal opportunities for asylum seekers and to limit judges' discretion to reject an asylum claim based solely on the applicant's credibility or demeanor.
The asylum proposals have drawn heavy criticism from Democrats, some Republicans and several religious and human rights groups. Those groups - including the Southern Baptist Convention and churches in Bush's boyhood hometown of Midland, Texas - fear the proposals could hurt people fleeing religious persecution.
Negotiators also accepted a House proposal to allow the Homeland Security secretary to bypass U.S. laws to build border barriers, including the remainder of a fence on the California-Mexico border.
------
The bill is H.R. 1268.
It probably will -- law of unintended consequences.
Ping
Well, there is reciprocity among states with DL's...so there should be a uniform minimal standard, you know, THAT YOU ARE HERE LEGALLY!! HELLO!
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
They should also require that everyone in all the states show proof of citizenship, when registering to vote for the first time, and show picture ID to vote.
I'm not a fan of a national ID, but we will have one in the not too distant future.
Hey, Senator Reid... you still filibustering the judicial nominees? Yes? Then say goodbye to the $4M
One issue has absolution NOTHING to do with the other....
But why should that stop our legislators from boozing and snoozing on their yachts as they remain bored by the insidious invasion of Russian mafia, Al Qaeda, and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)?
"The immigration restrictions have White House backing and could help President Bush win support for a temporary worker program that he has said should include illegal immigrants already in the country."
Interesting the White House is backing this ONLY for the reason that they think it could (rightly or wrongly ) help illegal immigrants already in the country and NOT because it might help legal citizens...just proves which side of the bread (tortilla) the president wants to butter (lard).
There was no really good reason to put this into the bill for additional funding for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bush wanted Congress to pass that bill quickly, instead Congress is screwing around with this additional stuff. Since it passed both the House and the Senate, Bush just wants them to agree, so the MAIN bill gets passed.
how can we ask tax payers to spend money on securing foreign borders without addressing our own first, it is a very relevant issue in fact ...
Wait till Hillary comes around to redefine what security means.
How many terrorist attacks did we have in the US since 9-11-01?
NONE.
That means that Bush made the right decision to fight the terrorists "over there", instead of trying to catch them at our borders. He obviously made the right decision.
In the meantime a lot has been done to strengthen the US borders too, but people don't give any credit to President Bush.
The way to fight the terrorists is to go on offense against them, instead of sitting in fortress America, trying to catch them at the border -- and no matter how tightly you control the border, determined terrorists can slip through, unless they are dead -- killed by us in Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere.
And sub-contract it out to our friends from Israel
In LA, 75% or more outstanding warrants for criminal homicide are for illegal immigrants, many of these terrorists acts occurred since 9-11-01 and were committed by people who illegally crossed our southern border without proper ID.
According to the Senate record, H.R. 1268 passed as amended on April 21, 2005.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_109_1.htm
you forgot <-sarsasm off> In case you are serious, why not propose have an ID number etched in your arm at birth.<-ssarcasm off>
Not allowing ILLEGAL aliens to get drivers licenses = etching an ID # into your arm at birth?
Am I missing something?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.