Tom Tancredo at the Mexico border
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.
Knowing ole Jorge, it would only apply to new entrants, not the 20 million already here.
If Frist has the balls to use parlimentary procedure to get it through, does it have the votes to pass?
Would that not be the biggest kick in the rear! GWB uses his first veto on an immigration bill to hard on illegals???
I can't wait till he is out of there. I prefer the gridlock of the late 90's to this.
ping
Yep, you got it. Same old politics at its usual worst. They'll probably sneak in their payraises too.
When some of the bots claim that GWB is not at fault on this, I really have to laugh. He is. After 9/11 he could have easily tightened everything up and everyone would have applauded. Instead, he is back to his usual garbage and bilge. Honestly, he has only his self to blame for his low approval numbers.
Even though I volunteered for him twice, were someone to ask me right now, I would dissaprove of his performance. Its embarassing in fact that a GOP president would do some of things he has done thus far. CFR anyone??? Drug bill anyone???
WTF???????????????
GWB is worse than Clinton on this issue. In fact, this is the one issue he seems most ardent about. What a joke!
And we should remove this crazy law of anyone born in this country, even if the mother was passing through or is an illegal alien, is automatically a citizen
Whatever the case may be, I am disgusted with what it has done to this country.
GWB to me has ZZZEEERRROOO credibility on this issue as he showed his true alleginances after 9/11 and doing absolutely nothing about this invasion.
Its so bad that everytime I go shopping or out, it is like being in a foreign nation. It was NEVER as bad as it has been in the past few years.
Were it FEDERAL policy to get rid of these people on the spot and send them home to THEIR country, the cities and states could not get away with the safe harbor policies you speak of.
Additionally, were you to engage in any of the crimes so often committed by illegals, you yourself would be jailed.
Tom Tancredo at the Mexico border
I agree with what you said. I'm in the process of legally immigrating to the U.S. and it is an expensive, time consuming affair where a single, little mistake on a form can have you removed from the U.S. The rules are strict and the consequences serious if you try to do things legally, but illegals are virtually ignored by the system. In my personal opinion, Immigration enforcement is tough on the legal immigrants because they are easier to catch.
Come on, Senator Byrd. Do your stuff!
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.