Posted on 07/04/2006 11:48:04 PM PDT by garbageseeker
Bringing San Diego to the forefront of the immigration debate, House Republicans will hold field hearings on the issue Wednesday at an Imperial Beach border patrol station.
Two opposing immigration bills from the House and Senate will head for negotiations after the hearings senators and representatives are holding across the country this summer. San Diego area representatives have been heavily involved in the debate, some authoring sections of the House bill.
Measures proposed in the House bill, H.R. 4437, include: making illegal presence in the country a felony, building 698 miles of fencing along the border, requiring employers to use a database to verify the Social Security numbers of employees and increasing penalties for employers of illegal immigrants.
The Senate bill differs from the House proposal, increasing border enforcement but also creating a guest-worker program affecting an estimated 1.5 million immigrant farm workers who could eventually earn legal permanent residency.
Also under the Senate proposal, illegal immigrants who have been in the United States for five years or more could become legal residents after learning English and paying at least $3,250 in fees and back taxes. Those who have been in the country between two and five years can go back to a border crossing and submit an application to return, while those who have been in the U.S. for less than two years would have to leave.
President Bush supports a guest-worker program and path to citizenship similar to measures in the Senate bill.
The House passed its version of the bill in December, and the Senate passed its bill in May. Now, House Republicans plan to hold several hearings on the issue. The hearings began in Washington last week, and will continue with San Diego and other border states throughout the rest of the summer. Critics have said the hearings are an attempt to delay negotiations and the passage of an immigration bill. Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter has planned a competing hearing in Pennsylvania, also scheduled for Wednesday.
The hearing, called Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism, Part I, will start at 9 a.m., Wednesday, at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station, 1802 Saturn Blvd., Imperial Beach. Border Patrol agents and law enforcement officials, including San Diego Sheriff Bill Kolender, are scheduled to testify at the hearing, according to the Associated Press.
San Diego representatives have contributed their own voices to the debate. Though they split along party lines when it came to voting on the House bill, their individual thoughts and priorities vary on the topic of immigration.
Darrell Issa, 49th District
Rep. Darrell Issa (news, bio, voting record), R-Vista, voted for the House bill, but said he would also be in favor of a guest-worker program as long as it was adequately enforced. Issa wrote a section of the House bill that would establish mandatory minimum sentences for illegal immigrants who return to the United States after already having been removed.
Issa also worked on border security-related provisions in a bill approved by the House Thursday that would increase funding for federal prosecutors. Issa and the Appropriations Committee worked on a section of the bill that would require about $4.5 million of the $84.8 million increase go toward "prosecution of human smugglers referred to as 'coyotes' and other criminal aliens, methamphetamine traffickers and identity thieves." Issa said his office had read a memo from the Department of Homeland Security that said only 6 percent of those apprehended for smuggling immigrants were actually prosecuted.
The Senate bill would not deter illegal immigration and in its path to citizenship would provide an amnesty, Issa said, calling it a "nonstarter."
"There'll be no incentive to play by the rules," he said.
He said a "considerable isolation of Senators" from the public had resulted in a bill that did not follow constituents' wishes.
He also said his job as a congressman was not to look out for businesses that say they need the cheap labor of illegal immigrants to operate.
"Businesses are part of our consideration as congressmen, to the extent that they hire Americans and add to the American economy," he said. "Our mandate is not to make a business profitable, it's to make a nation profitable."
Issa said he will be involved with the San Diego field hearings and expects to be on the conference committee that will try to negotiate between the House and Senate bills, as he has been involved in the issue and is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims.
Issa said the history of the recent immigration debate started with the broad amnesty declared in 1986. That released the pent-up immigration demand for a time, until the government revisited the issue in 1996 with the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, an immigration bill that included adding more border agents and establishing pilot programs for employee eligibility verification. The government allowed the provisions of that bill to take their course and was about to begin anew on the issue when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks shifted the government's priorities, Issa said.
"Realistically, getting back to it four years later is pretty good," he said.
Brian Bilbray, 50th District
Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Escondido, elected in the special election last month, was not yet a member of the House when the immigration bill was voted on, but said he would have voted for it.
He said he would have liked to add provisions embodied by H.R. 98, a bill introduced in January by David Dreier, R-Calif. The resolution proposes developing Social Security cards encrypted with electronic strips that employers could check against a national database to verify potential employees are authorized to work in the United States.
Bilbray has long been involved in the immigration debate. In 1997, as representative for the 49th District, he introduced a bill to end birthright citizenship. He has also served for the past three years as co-chairman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR states on its Web site its goals are to end illegal immigration and to set legal immigration at the lowest feasible level.
The Senate bill is tantamount to an amnesty, Bilbray said, and allows people to buy citizenship. He said he expected it to be "drawn and quartered in the public arena" at the hearings this summer.
"The Senate bill is the most well-intentioned and most naive disaster I've ever seen," he said.
Bilbray said it was important to crack down on "illegal employers" and criticized the "brazenness" of businesspeople that claim they need the cheap labor of illegal immigrants, saying this was the same argument used to justify slavery. Illegal immigration costs the country more, he said, because illegal immigrants are a financial burden on institutions such as schools and jails.
Passing the Senate bill would lead to more illegal immigration, he said, and more of these kinds of costs.
"The Senate doesn't understand that once you start rewarding someone for being here illegally, it's a downhill spiral," he said.
The issue of immigration arose in the House because "people are finally raising hell," Bilbray said, and representatives were hearing a lot on the topic from their constituents. He said the immigration debate was "essential" in his recent campaign against Democrat Francine Busby, who supported the Senate's bill.
Bob Filner, 51st District
Rep. Bob Filner (news, bio, voting record), D-Chula Vista, voted against H.R. 4437, but did add an amendment to the bill that put the distribution of fraudulent immigration documents on the list of criminal offenses.
"This is a crime that we ought to be going after," Filner said on the House floor on Dec. 16, 2005. "We should go after the real criminals who are profiting by the sale and distribution of these documents ... While we might disagree about broader immigration policy, we all agree that the selling of fake and fraudulent and illegal documents should be stopped."
Filner's Web site says he "plays a key role in injecting common sense into the sometimes hysterical debates about border security."
He believes investing in technology and the border patrol are more effective than deploying the military to monitor the border.
Filner supports expanding the SENTRI program, which gives screened applicants electronic transponders that allow them to cross the border through more efficient SENTRI lanes. Filner sponsored a June 2003 amendment to increase funding for the program by $5 million, but it failed.
Filner's border efforts often involve infrastructure in the region, and he has worked to clean up the border's air and water.
Last June, Filner introduced the "PAY UP! Act," which would require the government pay hospitals and other emergency services for the cost of uncompensated care for illegal immigrants. Rep. Susan Davis (news, bio, voting record) co-sponsored the bill, which was sent to committee.
"The federal government is responsible for immigration and therefore must take responsibility for the costs imposed on hospitals by a broken immigration system," Filner wrote in a July 2005 newsletter. "As Congress continues to debate the best approach to reforming our immigration programs, we must act now to shore up these hospitals and secure the health of communities throughout the country."
Duncan Hunter, 52nd District
Like the other Republican San Diego representatives, Rep. Duncan Hunter (news, bio, voting record), R-El Cajon, voted for the House resolution. He also added the amendment to H.R. 4437 that would require the building of 698 miles of fencing along the border. The resolution mandates the construction of 22 miles of fencing in Tecate, 361 miles from Calexico, to Douglas, Ariz., and 88 miles from Columbus, N.M., to El Paso, Texas.
Hunter has been active in several pieces of legislation regarding border fencing, working since 1990 to complete construction and add layers to the 14 miles of fencing along the San Diego border.
According to a press release from Hunter's office, crime in San Diego County dropped 47.3 percent between 1989 and 2000, and apprehensions of illegal immigrants in the area of the fence dropped from more than 202,000 in 1992 to about 9,000 in 2004. Hunter attributes these statistics to the fencing.
"The San Diego border fence continues to serve its primary function with unquestioned success," Hunter said in a December 2005 press release. "There is no doubt that its duplication at specific locations along our southern border will be equally successful and bring us one step closer to a border region that is no longer overrun by illegal aliens."
Hunter was one of 140 co-sponsors of the REAL ID Act. The act, which passed in May 2005, sets federal standards for issuing state drivers' license. It also mandated completion of 3.5 more miles of the San Diego border fence.
"It's understood that if you want to get into this country illegally, you come across our land border with Mexico," Hunter said in a spring 2006 newsletter. "Today's security threat mandates that we implement a strategy that prevents illegal entry into our nation and identifies who and what is crossing our border."
Susan Davis, 53rd District
Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, voted against H.R. 4437. She said it increased penalties for laws that aren't currently being enforced anyway.
"It seems to me that what we need to do is put pressure on agencies enforcing immigration laws," she said, suggesting that those agencies need more manpower.
She said she supports many aspects of the Senate bill, saying it was more comprehensive and with its provisions for a path to citizenship created a better policy for illegal immigrants already in the United States.
Those already here need to be brought "out of the shadows," Davis said, or it creates a security risk.
However, she was less supportive of the guest-worker program currently being discussed, saying Congress needed to be a "little more selective" about such a program. Many industries rely on unskilled labor, she said, but reliance on illegal workers could be decreased. Incentives like raising the minimum wage and creating better apprenticeship programs could attract more legal workers, she said.
When Davis ran against Bilbray in 1998, immigration was not a central issue like it was in the Bilbray-Busby campaign. In the six years since, events like the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina and the "incompetence" of the Bush administration have led to a less secure environment, which has made the American public more concerned about immigration, Davis said.
She said she hopes the particular needs of San Diego are addressed at the hearing today, though she considers the hearings a delaying tactic and does not think it will help the House and Senate move toward a compromise.
"Every day that we don't pass something is a day that we're letting this problem slide, and I think that's irresponsible," she said.
She said that if a conference committee were started, it would ultimately result in an immigration bill.
"I think people need to sit down in a room and start hammering this out," she said.
Post #11 - BTTT
"Thank you for Muth's post. Until then, I had no idea why Jacob had polled so badly."
If you got Muth's newsletter you would see that he was backing Jacob sll the way and 100
100% against Cannon.
I would say that that particular letter was a damn that man for opening his big non political mouth.
In many prior letters he was soliciting money for Jacob.
I don't doubt that.
I would say that that particular letter was a damn that man for opening his big non political mouth.
At this point, Muth apparently thinks Jacob is expendable compared to the need to discount the magnitude of Cannon's win. That's one heck of a calculation. Hopefully it won't adversely impact Muth's ability to solicit prospective candidates.
Lets Party
No Problem
Judging by how active Pence's staff has been today, I'd say the Pence amnesty is a done deal.
I do not think so. If Tom Tancredo has something to do about it.
I'd say he's probably outgunned. Plus, it's fun to play pretend that the Pence "not amnesty" is not amnesty.
I doubt that. Tom Tancredo has 100 House Republicans on his Immigration Reform Caucus
ab so lutely!
Guinness B U M P !
You know less about me than you do about politicians.
I'm sixty years old and have been involved with politics since I was old enough to vote. That includes many many hours of volunteering and many dollars invested in support of both parties.
It also includes many years of watching politicians in Washington lie to their people and sell our country to the highest bidder whether it be,big business, special interest groups,or foreign governments.
I have never seen the Washington crowd as out of touch with the people as the last two administrations are and it gets worse daily.
They could care less what you, I and large majorities of the American people do, say, or want for our country.
That's why I say they are going to pass this amnesty bill in one form or another regardless of what you, I, or the majority of Americans want.
You say I'm a pessimist, maybe you're right, I like to think of myself as a realist.
At least I know that some slick talking lawyer/politician cannot piss down my back and tell me it's raining, at least not more than once.
Some dreamers can't seem to get enough and I don't see how they can keep from drowning.
If you are buying what they are shoveling out of Washington in the last two administrations then you've certainly got the right screen name.
An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”Winston Churchill/UK Prime Minister-Orator
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