Posted on 12/07/2005 9:40:00 AM PST by Smogger
WASHINGTON -- Setting the stage for a bitter pre-Christmas fight, top House lawmakers introduced legislation Tuesday that would make it easier to deport legal -- as well as illegal -- immigrants and mandate a $360 million employee verification program. But despite insistence from President Bush that any immigration measure must also create a way for America's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to temporarily live and work in the United States, the bill does not include such a provision. And while Democrats and some Republicans assailed the bill -- by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., and Peter King, R-N.Y. -- as impractical, they acknowledged the House will likely pass it.
Meanwhile, the Senate is expected to pass its own immigration legislation -- including a guest-worker provision that would address Bush's demands -- virtually ensuring an even more acrimonious debate next year when the House and Senate try to mesh legislation.
"The House may very well pass a totally unworkable proposal that will make some people feel good and give them a platform to demagogue on," said Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys.
But immigration-control advocates hailed the measure -- particularly its employment verification provisions -- as long overdue.
"This bill is actually worth talking about because it's not a smoke screen," said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that advocates a reduction in immigration.
"If it didn't have this but it had increased penalties for things like alien smuggling, it would be irrelevant, a cover for amnesty," he said.
"This bill does all the right things," added Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks.
Under the House bill, all business owners would be required to verify the eligibility of every employee.
Federal, state and local government employers -- as well as the military and private employers at critical infrastructure sites like power plants -- would have three years to check the eligibility status of their employees.
All other businesses would have six years. Verification would be done through the Department of Homeland Security.
Gallegly said he will introduce an amendment that would force employers at critical infrastructure sites to start verifying within six months.
Sensenbrenner aides said creating mandatory employee verification, which now exists as a voluntary pilot program, would cost about $60 million a year over six years.
The bill also contains several provisions that would make it easier to deport illegal immigrants, including making illegal presence in the United States a felony.
Currently, while entering the United States illegally is a crime, merely being in the country illegally is only a civil offense. Aides said approximately 40 percent of all illegal immigrants entered legally and overstayed visas.
The House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the bill Thursday. But advocates on both sides of the issue are questioning why GOP leaders are insistent on pushing through legislation now on an issue that has raised hackles for decades.
"The leadership wants Republican congressmen to go home over Christmas break and be able to say they're doing something about this," Krikorian said.
Let's do it the right way. Pass this bill and THEN consider additional legislation that can deal with guest workers. They should only be granted legal status with significant background checks and monitoring.
"The party's over
It's time to call it a day
They've burst your pretty balloon
And taken the moon away
It's time to wind up the masquerade
Just make your mind up the piper must be paid"
- Nat King Cole
So, let him veto it.
Under the House bill, all business owners would be required to verify the eligibility of every employee.
Federal, state and local government employers -- as well as the military and private employers at critical infrastructure sites like power plants -- would have three years to check the eligibility status of their employees.
All other businesses would have six years. Verification would be done through the Department of Homeland Security.
A Guest Worker program should NOT even be discussed until the end of these 6 yrs given to businesses. Let's see if this law is enforced before implementing a Guest Worker program of any kind.
President Bush has failed the Amerian People. Defense of our borders is a JOKE! I once hoped actually he cared for the saftey and security of the USA.
His constant forcing of Israel to accept terrorism by Sec. of State C. Rice who supports the terrorist palestinians shows his true colors.
BUSH IS A FAILED President -- and yes sadly I voted for Bush. I no longer believe his lies.
I would like to see a sense of the Congress passed that closes the anchor baby syndrome. Babies born here should not have citizenship if the mother is breaking the law to be here.
Because they have read the handwriting on the wall and want to retain their elected positions.
If illegal presence in the US becomes a felony, does that mean that anyone who has entered the US illegally or remained here illegally would be ineligible for citizenship or legal residence?
But despite insistence from President Bush that any immigration measure must also create a way for America's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to temporarily live and work in the United States...
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I would be alot, that if this bill gets passed, it will be the FIRST BILL THAT BUSH PUTS A VETO ON. His rabid need to provide an amnesty for the illegal criminals in this country is sickening and very revealing as to his agenda.
This is a smokescreen designed to take immigration off the table as a political issue for a few more election days. If they were serious about it, they would want to put it in effect yesterday.
The House can't get a guest worker through. But the senate can.
So they're going to pass this warm and fuzzy "increased penalty" legislation in the house with no "guest worker" (amnesty) program.
On the Senate side, they're going to pass the "guest worker" amnesty program.
Then when the camera's are off and nobody's watching, the "conference committee" is going to axe the penalties and include the amnesty and viola, it's done.
It's all spelled out here.
We been stabbed in the back, we just haven't felt it yet.
It's all the same Sensennbrenner plan.
And what do we do with them after we arrest them?
We don't have the capacity now to hold them. HOw is making illegal immigration going to change that?
So President Bush finds his veto pen just in time for something really terrible, huh? CFR wasn't bad enough for a veto, but this is?
Sheesh. Read my tagline.
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.
GOP (Leadership) forms strategy to OK guest workers (Sneak In Amnesty???)
December 6, 2005 -- Republican leaders will try to pass President Bush's controversial guest-worker proposal without putting it to a direct vote in the House.
Observers say the new GOP strategy that begins today is for the House to deal only with the more politically palatable issue of increasing border security and clamping down on employers. Republican leaders then will let the Senate pass some form of a guest-worker plan.
After that vote, senators and House members will merge the House's border security bill with the Senate's legislation in closed-door meetings.
The House will then vote on the final package, which will include some guest-worker provision, according to a GOP aide familiar with the plan, a Colorado lawmaker and other observers.
The legislation that is likely to be the core of the House's immigration bill is expected to be introduced today. Sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., it tightens border security and forces employers to verify workers' citizenship. It does not address guest-worker issues.
Sensenbrenner's bill is expected to be voted on within the next two weeks. That allows House members to visit their districts for the Christmas break and say that they passed immigration reform, Tancredo and Jacoby said.
"The president's made it clear he wants both (border security and a guest-worker program)," Norquist said.
[snip]
And what do we do with them after we arrest them?
Well as someone said. We fingerprint and deport them. Of course they will never be able to achieve legal status as they have been convicted of a felony.
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