Posted on 05/18/2007 7:48:14 PM PDT by neverdem
Here’s the section-by-section breakdown of the just-announced Senate deal on illegal immigration given to us by a Senate source. We haven’t had the time to analyze it yet, but we’ll be back with the fast, concise and hard details on what appears to be an horrifically bad deal.
Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2007
Title I Title I requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to certify that the triggers are met before the Title IV (Guest Worker) and Title VI (Z visa ) programs can begin, with the exception of probationary status for Z workers and the programs for agricultural workers.
• Triggers include: o 18,000 (CBP) Border Patrol hired o Construction of 200 miles of vehicle barriers and 370 miles of fencing o 70 ground-based radar and camera towers along the southern border o Deployment of 4 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and supporting systems o The ending of catch-and-release o Resources to detain up to 27,500 aliens per day on an annual basis o The use of secure and effective identification tools to prevent unauthorized work. o The receiving and processing and adjudicating of applications for Z status.
• Title I also includes authorities and resources to augment border security including: o physical infrastructure along the border o additional field and investigative agents o comprehensive plans and studies of the border region o revisions to law enforcement techniques and enhanced authorities.
Title II Title II provides for interior enforcement of immigration laws.
• The stiffening of laws and penalties relate to: o the detention of criminal aliens o the definition of aggravated felony o gang violence o passport, visa, and immigration fraud, including marriage fraud o the streamlining of background checks for immigration status
• Other provisions include language regarding: o Increased penalties for illegally entry and reentry o encouraging aliens to depart voluntarily o prohibiting aliens to possess firearms o alternatives to detention o state and local law enforcement reimbursement and training
Title III Title III addresses workplace enforcement by increasing penalties, revising and making mandatory a system of electronic employment verification, and promoting information sharing.
• This Title designs a worksite enforcement system that relies on electronic employment verification and a reduced list of documents that may be presented to employers to prove identity and work eligibility. o Also increases penalties significantly over current law for unlawful hiring, employment, and recordkeeping violations.
• Verification of employees: As of the date of enactment, employers in national security-related industries, industries involving critical infrastructure, and federal contractors to electronically verify employees, including new hires and/or current employees may be required to verify individuals, with additional employers or industries added after 6 months. o All employers would be required to electronically verify new hires within 18 months of enactment, or on the date on which the Secretary certifies that the system is operational. o Once the system is implemented, all employers would be required to verify all current employees within by 3 years after enactment.
• Structure of the EEVS: After the date of hire but no later than the first day of employment, the employer must transmit to the EEVS via the Internet the data that the employer has taken from the worker’s identity and work eligibility documents.
• Inconclusive determinations: Where the EEVS cannot conclusively determine the status of a worker’s eligibility, a further action notice is issued and the individual must contact the appropriate federal or state agency to initiate resolution of status and the individual continues to work while the agency resolves his or her status.
• Final nonconfirmation: If the employer has received a final non-confirmation regarding an individual, the employer must terminate the employment of the individual, unless the individual files an administrative appeal of a final non-confirmation notice within 15 days.
• Data and Information Sharing: The Commissioner of Social Security must provide the following information to the Secretary of DHS regarding data contained within the Social Security database as in relates to employment verification.
• Fraud and tamper resistant social security cards: Not later than 180 days after date of enactment, the Commissioner is required to begin work to administer and issue fraud-resistant, tamper-resistant Social Security cards.
Title IV Title IV establishes a new temporary Y worker program to address future labor needs of temporary foreign workers and discourage future illegal employment of undocumented individuals. The title also includes measures to protect the rights of U.S. and foreign workers and prevent the U.S. employer from abusing the program.
• Structure of new visa programs: This title creates a new future temporary worker program for workers who are coming to the U.S. to perform temporary job that the U.S. employer is unable to fill. It provides for: o non-seasonal Y temporary worker (Y-1 visa) o seasonal temporary worker
Y-2A for agricultural workers, sheepherder, goat herders, and dairy workers
Y-2B for non-agricultural workers; and
o their spouses and minor children (Y-3 visa).
• Matching Willing Workers with Willing Employers: All Y workers must be matched to a “willing employers” through an electronic database in order to qualify for a Y worker visa.
• Families of Y visa holders: can only accompany Y workers if the worker can: o show proof of valid medical insurance and o demonstrate that the wages of the principal Y nonimmigrant(s) are 150% above poverty level for the household size. o Spouses and children who do not qualify for Y-3 visa may be admitted under other nonimmigrant status.
• Period of admission: A Y-1 worker can be admitted for a two year period that can be renewed twice if that worker spends a period of one year outside the United States between each admission. o A Y-1 accompanied by dependents are afforded a single two year visa, non-renewable. o Workers with Y-2A and Y-2B visa qualify for 10 month visas; no extensions may be granted.
• Permanent Bar: Y worker who fails to timely depart is permanently barred from any future immigration benefit.
• Wage: The employer must attest that the Y worker will be paid not less than the greater of the actual wage paid by the employer to all other similarly situated workers or the “prevailing competitive wage.”
• Numerical Limitation: The Y-1 visa program has an initial cap of 400,000 with yearly adjustments based on market fluctuations. o There are no numerical limitations for Y-2A while the Y-2B visas are initially capped at 100,000 with yearly adjustment based on market fluctuations. o The market-based fluctuation is adjusted every 6 months during the fiscal year. o The Y-3 visa for spouses and minor children limit may not exceed 20% of annual limit for Y-1 visas. o A newly created Standing Commission will make recommendations to Congress regarding the Y visa numerical cap for each fiscal year following the initial year of the program
Title V Title V restructures and rebalances the current system by which green cards are distributed.
• Rebalancing of Immigrant Visa Allocation: Resets the number of family-based, family backlog, merit-based immigrants, and eventual Z immigration green cards. o The family categories are less than under current law since several of the extended family categories are reduced, while the merit-based is increased over the current employment-based levels after the processing of the family-based backlog. o An annual total of 440,000 visas are allotted to process the backlog of family-based categories eliminated. o It is estimated that the family backlog cases can all be processed in 8 years. o An annual total of 10,000 visas are set aside for exceptional Y workers.
• Merit Based Points System: The current employment based green card system will be replaced by a merit based points system.
• Reducing Chain Migration and Permitting Petitions by Nationals: Elimination and reconfiguring of the following family-based preference categories: o First: Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Citizens o Second: Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent Residents other than spouses and minor children of permanent residents o Third: Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens o Fourth: Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens o Sets cap of 40,000 per fiscal year on category for parents of U.S. citizens. o Sets cap of 87,000 per fiscal year on the second preference category for spouses and children of permanent residents.
• Elimination of Backlog: If the family-based visa petition in the eliminated category is filed before May 1, 2005, the petition can be processed under the prior law within 8 year.
Title VI This title provides a new visa for most individuals currently living within the U.S. illegally.
• Creates a new four-year, renewable “Z” nonimmigrant visa to address the undocumented population within the U.S. The visa is split up into three groups: o a principal or employed alien (Z-1), o the spouse or elderly parent of that alien (Z-2), o and the minor children of that alien (Z-3).
• Cut off Date: In order to be eligible for this visa, one must have been illegally present within the U.S. before January 1, 2007.
• Fees and Penalties: To apply, an alien seeking Z-1 status must be currently employed and pay fees and penalties totaling $5,000 (less for derivative Z’s) to be eligible for a green card under the merit-based system.
• Probationary, the Permanent Z Status: Once an applicant submits a completed application, fingerprints, and is cleared by one-day background checks he will receive probationary benefits which can eventually be converted to a Z nonimmigrant status after all background checks are clear and the triggers set forth in Title I are achieved.
• LPR Status: A Z-1 nonimmigrant may adjust status to lawful permanent residence after the family backlog under Title V is eliminated if the Z applicant: o Satisfies the merit requirements in the points schedule set forth in Title V. o files the application for adjustment in the Z-1’s country of origin and o pays a penalty of $4,000.
• DREAM ACT: Individuals under the age of 30 that were brought to the United States out of their own control as a minor are eligible to receive their green card after 3 years rather than 8.
Title VII Title VII includes a number of miscellaneous provisions involving assimilation, including increased funding for the office of citizenship and integration ($100M)
Mr. Babbin is the editor of Human Events. He previously served as a deputy undersecretary of defense in President George H.W. Bush's administration. He is the author (with Edward Timperlake) of "Showdown: Why China Wants War with the United States" (Regnery, 2006) and "Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe are Worse than You Think" (Regnery, 2004). E-mail him at jbabbin@eaglepub.com.
I’m not interested in taking advice from a newbie who wants to stop the support of the troops and impeach the President...and put Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office.
YOU need to get a better idea.
please share your idea so we can hear it.
We already lost the War of the Reconquista here in California.
Where were you when we were voting for Prop 187 thirteen years ago? Voting for Bill Clinton?
I was getting my green card then. I guess I could have voted but I wanted to law-abiding person.
Ping...
Conservatives don’t drink latte.
What country do you hale from?
Well, that’s the idea of this bill, to make them all get in line with everyone else.
The dirty little secret is that the American economy can’t grow without increases in population and a worker class.
A lot of Americans bought into the zero population growth idea as a way to save the planet, so we are having to import other people’s children to fill the lower jobs that our citizens have worked their way up and out of and into the middle class.
P.S. We try not to swear on this web site. It offends those who believe in G_d.
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Oh yeah, The deeper you dig the harder it will be to get out.
Do you grasp the difference between 'this candidate does not share ALL of my views' and 'this candidate does not share ANY of my views'?
In 2006, many chose ideological purity as a higher priority than keeping Nancy Pelosi and her gang of outright raving lunatics away from the reins of power. As a result, we now have Queen Nancy and her lunatics holding the reins of power.
You may not believe it, but there is a demand for noneducated lower skilled workers.
This bill makes a visa for temporary lower skilled workers, who have to go home. The employer can hire them if he has advertised the jobs at a fair wage.
And there is the high tech ID card they are supposed to carry to prove they are legal.
Now, whether all that will make a whit of difference has yet to be proved. There will always be sweatshops bringing in illegals to pay them dirt. The question is whether the illegal flow will be lessened to the extent that ICE can handle it and that American citizens and legals will turn in the illegals they learn about.
This is the most important piece of legislation of our lifetime. It must be stopped. House can be shut down, public pressure applied but congress tries to pass this within a few days. There may not be enough time for a real campaign. Last resort is to _force_ Bush to veto this (or face total revolt and active anti-Bush campaign). I’m sure Bush has to veto it then.
If this bill passes, there will be permanent democratic super majority in congress and dems win WH every time. That should teach people a lesson. Republican party is finished forever if this passes.
I don’t require that candidate support all my views. However, amnesty is the litmus test. It is even more important than WOT.
I'm guessing it'll be "No" on all counts.
What if both parties combine delegate support from two candidates to create a ticket no-one wants? And it's the battle of the traitors?
If it's not that, it'll be either candidates with no track records on these disgusting votes of the past few years (Governors, ex-mayors, military, appointes, movie stars, etc.) or HOR members.
I would hope both parties could get HOR members in there....we know where most of them are at.
On Rush’s program Friday, he said, “ Hugh Hewitt on his blog today at Townhall.com said something really, really good, and I want to share this with you. He wrote: “GOP Leader McConnell has got to recognize the spreading disaster and call a very public halt to it, and do so with transparency, something along the lines of ‘Well, we tried, but it is clear that our party is opposed to the only bill the Democrats would allow to get to the floor, so it is shelved until after 2008. The presidential candidates will have to debate it as will our respective parties, but the GOP is for border security first.’”
This sounds doable and workable. This is a Kennedy/Democrat plan. Put it back on their shoulders and not the Republicans.
I’ve letters from my Senators and Rep stating an opposition to any form of amnesty. I’m sending them a copy of their “promises” - just to remind them of their positions...
“Deportations are going on at the rate of over 700 a day, but that can’t solve the problem as there are too many here now.”
700 a day is at best a half ass effort. Why not a 2,000 per day or more? At the same time DO NOT legalize those that are here and seal the border?
Its just a simple solution that has never been tried. A REAL effort to seal the border and a REAL effort to send as many back per year as we can. Not amnesty. We do not have to send all of them back at once, but we cannot throw up our hands after at best a half ass effort and buy the illegal alien lobby mantra “it can’t be done”.
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