Posted on 05/27/2005 8:12:42 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
WASHINGTON -- Members of the Minuteman Project stood guard along the Mexican border in Arizona and then patrolled the halls of Congress last month, clamoring for tighter borders to stanch what they call a national security threat.
Then Congress passed national standards for driver licenses -- a move rooted in security arguments since 2001. It was also a response to states that, without regard for legal status, issue identification that can be used to board airplanes and enter government buildings.
That's a step back for illegal immigrants.
But 31/2 years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress is debating legislation that would entice illegal immigrants to step out of the shadow economy, where fear of deportation may allow abuse. The proposal echoes ideas President Bush floated early in 2001 that the terrorist attacks sidelined.
"My sense is that you have to find a way to create an incentive to become taxpayers, to be contributing members of society in an open and legal way," said U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, a Bartow Republican with a largely agricultural district.
Republicans face a battle within their ranks between enforcement-first advocates and lawmakers like Putnam, who want borders sealed and support the driver license initiative but also say it is time for existing illegal immigrants to be accepted. The threat of terrorists entering the country illegally and getting by under the current system is a driving force on both sides of the debate.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., recently introduced legislation that would crack down on employers hiring illegal immigrants while allowing up to 400,000 of them in the first year to pay fines and obtain visas that would allow them to work legally after a background check. The bill, also introduced by several House members, is based on Bush's plan and was embraced by many advocates for immigrants.
"The simple fact is America's immigration system is broken," McCain said. "For far too long, our nation's broken immigration laws have gone unreformed, leaving Americans vulnerable."
SEEKING A REMEDY
However, two Republican senators, Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas, are writing legislation that is expected to allow illegal workers to gain legal status as guest workers but would require them to leave the country after a certain, undetermined period.
Their bill promises to be much more enforcement-oriented than the McCain-Kennedy legislation. Kyl and Cornyn on Thursday outlined a slew of border and employment provisions in their bill, which has not been fully unveiled or introduced in the Senate. The debate comes amid rising tension over jobs and health care in a tight economy, as well as ongoing security questions.
Nonetheless, some states are considering such measures as giving illegal immigrant children in-state college tuition rates despite the ongoing backlash against illegals. Eleven states -- not including Florida -- give driver licenses regardless of legal status.
The Real ID Act, as the driver license measure is known, passed over objections from many Democrats, labor groups and civil rights organizations. President Bush signed the bill May 11.
States are bracing for big ex-penses to verify identities and delays at local motor vehicle offices. Advocates of the law said it will make it harder for illegal immigrants to open bank accounts and generally get along in the United States.
McCain and Kennedy propose allowing illegal immigrants to identify themselves, obtain status as guest workers, and then get in line for residency and citizenship. Opponents call such programs "amnesty" for people who broke U.S. laws to get here, although Republicans such as Bush and McCain say they don't support "amnesty."
Whatever it's called, it would be a tough fight in Congress.
"If it walks, talks or smells like amnesty, I could never vote for it," said Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, a Crystal River Republican representing a large agriculture sector and who is also a member of the congressional Immigration Reform Caucus.
The legislation that Kyle and Cornyn are writing is expected to push illegal immigrants into a temporary guest worker program by cracking down on employers and documentation.
But supporters of a less enforcement-based approach see signs of hope.
In response to the Real ID Act, which the House attached to a bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Sen. Larry Craig, R- Idaho, offered a guest worker program for illegal agriculture workers that foreshadowed the McCain-Kennedy bill. It got 53 votes last month, including Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida among 15 Republicans. Though it did not receive the 60 votes required to overcome a procedural hurdle, some activists hailed it as a sign of inevitability.
"It's not a question of if, it's a question of when," said Douglas Rivlin, spokesman for the pro-immigrant National Immigration Forum.
Brown-Waite said a dairy farmer in her district told her he depends on immigrant labor, so she agrees some reform may be necessary. But she called Craig's bill "amnesty with hoops to jump through."
The agriculture bill would have made an estimated 500,000 illegal farm workers eligible for legal status as guest workers and put them on the path toward residency. But agriculture workers are a fraction of the estimated 8 million to 12 million illegal immigrants.
The Kennedy-McCain package would allow illegal immigrants already in the country to pay a $2,000 fine and obtain a three-year work visa that could be renewed once. After six years of work, an immigrant could apply for residency but would not get preferential treatment.
The bill also includes more border and labor enforcement measures, illustrating that loosening up on existing illegal immigrants must come with a tighter grip on the conduits for illegal immigration in the future if comprehensive reform is to stand a chance of passing.
President Bush outlined many similar ideas last year. His vision was to encourage guest workers to go home eventually but left open the possibility of extended stays and ultimately citizenship if desired.
CHANGING MINDS
Putnam said that even with the recent Senate vote on agriculture workers, "the prospects are dim" for passing meaningful immigration reform.
The parties are split on the far right and left, and passage of the Real ID Act on its own could remove leverage for more comprehensive reforms, he said.
But Putnam said minds tend to change when citizens find themselves depending on labor from illegal immigrants. Putnam, who comes from a family of citrus growers, said that is happening in Florida, where many more roofs still would be covered with blue tarps after last summer's hurricanes if not for illegal workers with hammers.
Supporters say dispelling the illicit culture and economies surrounding illegal immigrants not only would improve conditions for them, it would lift the camouflage that might make hiding in the United States easier for terrorists.
"The system is broken and needs to be fixed," said Rivlin, the immigrant advocate.
Don't tackle them. Just head-slap them.
That's why we're in this mess - selling out to get a few Mexican votes (and to stay or get in office).
Better title.
Lawmakers Unsure How to Make it Appear They Want To Tackle Illegal Workers
:~)
stevio
Do you speak English? Good
Ask:
Are all of your employees in the US legally? Please don't bring any who aren't to this jobsite because I will call the BP if you do. Understood, Sir?
Now if you want to be serious about it, add this to the contract.
"All employees hired for this contract must be American citizens or holders of current 'green cards' as proof of eligibility."
Speaking the truth is one method to make sure that you will never be elected. Impeachment is more than reelection, likely if you are a politician who has the need to speak the truth.
If you can't make it while paying decent wages, find another line of business, Farmer John.
I find that low, near the ankle, and slightly from the side will stop a 1st down yardage gain. </satire
These fools are all enabling the intentional destruction of our country. Both my Senators are in it up to their eyballs.
Massive LOL. Yes, aim for the waist!
You are, of course, posing a rhetorical question.
Not a bad idea, since he is clearly qualified to run as her VP.
First Directive – You must verify that a person is a legal resident of the United States and has the necessary paperwork allowing them to work in the country before you pay them to cut your grass.
Second Directive – The State may not ask a person about their legal residency status before they give them welfare, medical treatment, driver’s license or anything else.
Let me get this straight. I cannot pay an illegal alien to cut my grass. The State takes money from me at the point of a gun to pay illegal aliens.
I guess being the State has its privileges, doesn’t it?
I cannot pay for an illegal alien, so if they need money, they go to the State who can pay them, but only if they do not work.
Do you still wonder why we have a budget deficit?
Our government has a mental illness called liberalism.
Yes sir-ee. I feel that whenever I visit this issue, I enter the Twilight Zone.
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