Congress Nears Deal on Illegal Immigrants (breaking on cable networks)

AP/Yahoo News ^ | 4-6-06 | DAVID ESPO

[STARWISE]

WASHINGTON - In a last stab at compromise, Senate Republicans and Democrats reported progress Thursday toward agreement on legislation opening the way to legal status and eventual citizenship for many of the 11 million immigrants now in the U.S. illegally.

"There's been tremendous progress overnight," said Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada, the Democratic leader, while Majority Leader Bill Frist also expressed optimism that a long-sought compromise might be at hand.

There was no immediate reaction from President Bush, who has made immigration legislation a key priority.

The developments occurred after Frist unveiled a new bill late Wednesday night on the subject as the Senate headed into a test vote on the most sweeping immigration bill in two decades.

In general, the legislation would provide for enhanced border security, regulate the flow of future immigrants into the United States and settle the legal fate of the estimated 11 million men, women and children already in the country.

It was the fate of the illegal immigrant population that proved hardest to legislate, and it has left the Senate on the verge of gridlock for days.

(snip)

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., as well as other key senators met before the vote to review terms of a proposed compromise.

In general, it would require illegal immigrants who have been in the United States between two years and five years to return to their home country briefly, then re-enter as temporary workers. They could then begin a process of seeking citizenship.

Illegal immigrants here longer than five years would not be required to return home; those in the country less than two years would be required to leave without assurances of returning, and take their place in line with others seeking entry papers.

[clawrence3]

Thanks ; )

[Revel]

You can always tell the ones who are getting payed to sit here and argue with us-telling us how great this is for America. You can tell because they have to much time on there hands. There posts make up half the thread. And they remind me so much of James Carvell.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

Being spurned by that nimrod Arlen Specter for a federal judgeship was the best thing that ever happened to Jeff Sessions.

Thank God he's in the U.S. Senate today.

One of the few with any guts or brains.

[FastCoyote]

"$1 million (a kilometer) to build. "

I'm an engineer, that was my eyeball guess estimate just based on the cost of building highways in the US. So, $8 billion for a really robust one isn't out of line. Still dirt cheap.

[clawrence3]

I wish I was getting paid to post here - that would be a cool gig - how you sign up for that?

[STARWISE]

Just turned it on .... I LOVE him. Cspan-2

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20050817-102626-3316r.htm

[onyx]

We have a live thread for Sessions!

He is right on!

[FastCoyote]

Thanks, that's what I suspected too.

[wardaddy]

God bless Alabama

[Jorge]

Good. It's not perfect but it's better than nothing. And I say it's about time.

I hope that those who have been hard working contributing members of our society for years get the chance to come out of the shadows and are given the opportunity to become legal tax paying citizens.

Let's face it..they're here...the huge majority will NEVER be deported anyway. Let's get them on the books.

And get a handle on the one's who are a threat, and build a wall to slow down this insanity.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

http://www.carryingcapacity.org/economiccosts.html

[JeffAtlanta]

Let's face it..they're here...the huge majority will NEVER be deported anyway. Let's get them on the books.

Getting them on the books will only make them unemployable and moved over to the welfare doles. In the meantime, more illegals will come over to take their place.

[nicmarlo]

I certainly am supporting the anti-ILLEGAL-immigration stance.

When confronted with information from the IRS, SSA, and MIT that blows away the "illegal" part of the argument; some circle right back to the economic argument.

Only in your mind.

[ozarkgirl]

I have noticed that, I imagine many others have as well. Did they pay Carville to get on this site or is this new?

The good thing is, the more they argue, the more Americans who stood in the sidelines will now become aware that their country is in peril. It is good to get this in the open.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

With the recent publication of the Rand Corporations long-awaited report Immigration in a Changing Economy: Californias Experience, a significant paradigm shift in economists thinking about immigration is complete. Traditionally, economists have taken a (mildly) benign view of immigration. But the new consensus is that this does not apply to the particular influx accidentally unleashed by the 1965 Immigration Act. The reasons: the paradoxes of the current selection system, which has produced an uncontrolled, largely unskilled, non-English-speaking flow; and the perverse incentives of massive transfer programs for health, education, and welfare. The solution, according to Rand: reducing immigration to "a moderate range around the 550,000 a year envisioned by the Jordan Commission in 1995 and embodied in the ill-fated 1996 Smith - Simpson bill. Instead, the influx is likely to be double or triple that range as far as the eye can see.

The Rand study comes four months after the equally devastating National Academy of Sciences report (see NR, "The Week, June 16). The NAS found that the infinitesimal macroeconomic benefits to Americans of the current immigration presence estimated at $1 to $10 billion in a $7.5-trillion economy were being swamped by a net fiscal cost estimated at $15 to $20 billion. In California, this net fiscal burden amounted to an astounding $1,174 tax for every native household. America had a revolution over less.

NR can modestly say that this new academic consensus represents a complete triumph for us and a fatal reproach to our numerous critics, including too many friends in the conservative establishment. We first reported the emerging paradigm shift in a June 22, 1992, cover story by Senior Editor Peter Brimelow, who developed this and other arguments in his 1995 book Alien Nation.

[Colorado Doug]

Oh, no if you do that then Hillary we get elected. We have bend over and compromise every bit of integrity we have if our party is going to survive as a viable entity.

If they do this to us, who cares if it's Hillary screwing us or the GOP?

[FastCoyote]

"When confronted with information from the IRS, SSA, and MIT that blows away the "illegal" part of the argument; some circle right back to the economic argument. Unemployment a 6 year lows, record corporate profits, solid expansion, and stable markets are "disastrous"? Stick with the "Mexicans are burdens on the healthcare system" approach. Healthcare is a mess, and you might be able to blame it all on a socioeconomic class or race."

So, I guess I will just have to stick with my personal experience of the ill effects of the illegals, living here in Las Vegas, where there are 200,000. And having started a spanish TV station and a Mexican restaurant, and speaking relatively fluent Spanish, I guess I would know nothing about the thieving and barrios and worker displacement and law breaking that are occurring. Yeah sure, just open up the borders so Tijuana can become our new urban plan. Don't believe me? Let me take you on a tour of Vegas barrios that have grown up. AND I'll let you off in one of the hoods to walk out on your own. Okey Dokey????

[Revel]

"Let's face it..they're here...the huge majority will NEVER be deported anyway. Let's get them on the books."

Why don't we just make drugs legal and get all those people out into the open? And we can keep going down the list.

[thoughtomator]

If it's Hillary doing it to us we won't have ratified it by having voted for her.

Listen to Sessions go through the bill... "Loophole #10:..."

http://www.c-span.org/watch/cspan2_wm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS2