Posted on 03/06/2006 7:00:24 PM PST by Dubya
WASHINGTON - The Senate’s main immigration bill would enable most illegal immigrants now in the United States to remain indefinitely as long as they stay employed, but it wouldn’t put them on a glide path to U.S. citizenship.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin debating the measure Wednesday under a three-week timetable aimed at producing a final version for the full Senate by March 27.
Sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the committee chairman, the legislation is designed to strike a middle course between a bill passed by the House of Representatives calling for tougher immigration enforcement and pro-immigration advocates who call for permanent legal status - and eventual citizenship - for the estimated 11 million aliens now in the country illegally.
President Bush, defying objections from conservatives, has called for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws and the creation of a temporary guest-worker program to ensure a steady source of labor for U.S. business. Under Bush’s plan, qualified workers, including residents now here illegally, could stay in jobs for up to six years, then would be required to return home.
Senate Judiciary Committee staff members who explained key provisions of Specter’s bill on Monday said that the measure would create a "gold card" program for illegal immigrants who entered the United States before Jan. 4, 2004. It also would create a guest-worker program to bring in more foreign laborers.
Applicants for the gold card would undergo a background check by the Homeland Security Department, then be eligible for two-year work visas that could be renewed indefinitely, committee aides said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid upstaging their boss. The workers wouldn’t participate in the Social Security system but would contribute to future savings through worker investment accounts.
One top committee staffer described the gold-card proposal as "a reasonable compromise" in dealing with illegal immigrants, many of whom have lived in the country for decades. The undesirable alternative, he said, would be an unworkable massive roundup, which administration officials have said would cost billions of dollars.
Unlike other proposals, Specter’s bill wouldn’t require the immigrants to pay a fine to step forward, aides said. They also said that the proposal isn’t a form of amnesty since it wouldn’t offer an automatic track toward citizenship. However, they noted that the measure wouldn’t preclude applicants from eventual citizenship.
Under the separate guest-worker program, which would be based on U.S. labor needs, foreign applicants could work for three years, then could apply to work for another three years before returning home. They’d be required to remain in their home country for a year before reapplying.
Advocates on both sides of the immigration debate criticized Specter’s proposal as an inadequate attempt to placate opposing groups.
"Some people are going to say it’s amnesty, and others are going to say it creates a second-class caste of workers," said Tamar Jacoby of the Manhattan Institute, a New York-based think tank that leans right. "It’s a non-starter for both sides."
Tensions between opposing groups escalated on the eve of the committee’s deliberations, underscoring the passions surrounding the immigration issue. The National Capital Immigration Coalition announced plans for a Capitol Hill rally Tuesday afternoon to demand eventual citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Specter’s 305-page bill included elements from two other major bills, one co-sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the other by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
Many pro-immigrant groups, as well as a number of business organizations, have lined up behind McCain-Kennedy, which has a guest-worker program that would put undocumented residents on a path to eventual citizenship.
The Cornyn-Kyl bill also creates a guest-worker program, but illegal immigrants would first be required to return to their home countries after a five-year grace period before they could participate.
For more information, go to www.immigrationforum.org or www.fairus.org
Memo to GW Bush, John McCain, and Ted Kennedy:
HELL NO! NO AMNESTY for law-breaking ILLEGALS!
Won't happen....just wishful dreaming....deport them, its really simple if you are willing to crack down on employers and landlords.
Why does it seem to me that the Republicans are throwing in the towel on this issue. The certainly are not listening to their base.
If they allow these illegals to stay under an amnesty of any kind I think the base will be staying home come November.
"If they allow these illegals to stay under an amnesty of any kind I think the base will be staying home come November."
For sure. I am done voting for pro-amnesty, pro-abortion RINOs.
According to Black's Law Dictionary amnesty is "the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of persons who are subject to trial but have not yet been convicted"
How can any sane person with a slight grasp of the English language not consider this amnesty? I guess Congress can just redefine words as they please: since amnesty is unpopular, this isn't amnesty. We're being given a choice between Specter's amnesty plan and President Bush's amnesty plan.
A pox on all their houses. Except Tancredo, of course.
Thanks, McCain and Specter, you traitorous little b*st*rds, for allowing CRIMINALS who BREAK THE LAW to stay in our country.
At least the House of Reps has taken something of a stand on this issue. The House bill could be stronger, but it certainly isnt bad. It's a step in the right direction.
"If they allow these illegals to stay under an amnesty of any kind I think the base will be staying home come November."
Me too. Not that it matters. My pinko-commie illegal-loving Congressman won reelection with 75% of the vote in 2004.
The senator who's up for election this year, well, we might have a chance, but even his challenger is a RINO. (though where I live, even a RINO is world's better than a Dem)
It's odd, considering that one of the most conservative congressmen in the nation represents the district right next to mine. E Scott Garrett is rated 100 by the American conservative Union.
"Our leaders are asking our own sons to die in a war so these pieces of crap can take their places."
It's infuriating >:(
It's going to happen, considering the vast majority of Republican and Democrat politicians are for it.
As are Karl Rove and Grover Norquist, two of Arbusto's top advisors.
these guys want them, they can take them into their own house
Bush doesn't listen to his base.
He listens to Rove and Norquist, who are 1000% pro-illegal immigration (and Norquist is an Islamist as well).
I agree with you.
How many times do we have to say, HELL NO!!
What's the matter, CO - waiting for a bill that requires them to be flown home, so you can fly them?
Anything is better that this proposal. Forget the base, forget the cash, forget the vote come November.
Deja Vu...we did this in 1986 with the PROMISE by the government liars that 1) it would stop illegal immigration and 2) they'd enforce the laws against those that employed them.
Total lies. All we got was the I-9 form along with a wink and a nod.
Now they are requiring we post government information in the workplace in English AND Spanish.
"as long as they stay employed"
Minute they lose a job there's a Immigration agent at their door? LOL. Could run a truck through this."
""It also would create a guest-worker program to bring in more foreign laborers.""
Wage costs that can't be outsourced overseas, insource laborers from abroad.
"The workers wouldn’t participate in the Social Security system but would contribute to future savings through worker investment accounts."
Would? Not could? Backdoor "privatization", there'll be much money from banks and brokerages on this. And it takes money out of the Social Security "account."
"Why does it seem to me that the Republicans are throwing in the towel on this issue. The certainly are not listening to their base."
They're listening to the cash from the Cheap Labor lobby and the liberal guilt trip groups funded by them. You know the ones that say Repubs will gain Hispanic votes, etc.
The House repubs are going to run against Bush on this in November and will pick up seats. Bush might hurt the cause by tainting all repubs as weak on security with the Dubai deals and his outsourcing cheerleading.
What part of step 1, cut illegal immigration at the border by 99.99%, don't these people understand?
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