Posted on 03/23/2002 12:25:55 AM PST by sarcasm
WASHINGTON -- In the weeks leading up to President Bush's trip to Latin America, including a stopover in Mexico, the White House was aggressively pushing Congress to approve a bill allowing undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States while applying for green cards.
The bill passed the House but never made it to the Senate floor for a vote.
The failure to get the bill signed into law in time for the trip abroad was a disappointment for Bush, who wanted to show Mexican President Vicente Fox that his administration was serious about helping the estimated 3 million to 4 million undocumented Mexican immigrants who live in the United States.
Bush, speaking to reporters the day before his Latin American trip, insisted that congressional approval of the measure is a friendly gesture to its southern neighbor.
"I want to show our friends, the Mexicans, that we are compassionate about people who live here on a legal basis, that we don't disrupt the families for people who are here legally," he said.
Passage of the bill would, in fact, allow certain undocumented immigrants to file residency applications without having to leave the country. Current law, covered by Section 245(i) of the U.S. immigration statute, requires such immigrants to return home for as long as 10 years.
To qualify, immigrants would need a family member or employer as a sponsor and need to prove the relationship existed before Aug. 15, 2001. They also would have to pay a $1,000 fine and prove that they were in the country on or before Dec. 21, 2000.
The Mexican government claims between 300,000 and 500,000 Mexicans could be eligible under 245(i).
But immigration experts said passage of 245(i) is a minor issue between the United States and Mexico, affecting a small number of immigrants.
"I think some people in the White House had hoped that this 245(i) bamboozle might fool Mexicans into thinking it was an extraordinary gesture, but the Mexicans understand this one is a minute gesture," said Demetrios Papademetriou, co-director of the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute. A change in 245(i) change "is to pretend as if we were doing something."
If the debate over 245(i) is any indication, that kind of legislation would be doomed.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said objections to the 245(i) provision by Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va, and some Republicans made it difficult to bring the measure to a vote before the Senate left town.
Byrd is chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, which has a major say in how much the administration can spend each year.
In an angry speech on the Senate floor this week, Byrd said he opposed the measure because he thought it would encourage more illegal immigration and would reopen "another crack in the system through which a potential terrorist can crawl."
"Section 245(i) acts as an incentive, a lure, for illegal immigration by suggesting that it is quicker and more convenient to enter the country illegally than to wait outside the United States to complete the visa application process," he said.
This is a great suggestion and is the kind of practical politics most Freepers should be practicing routinely. I've already done it on this issue and will keep the pressure on. I'm proud to say the representative from my California district, Elton Gallegly, voted against the bill and is a leader in the fight to strengthen our borders.
We often forget to say thanks. Self included. This has a positive reinforcement and helps prevent more Reps. from slipping into the RINO column on issues of importance!!
They are citizens, which is why they can vote.
In the eyes of the law, they are entitled to everything that you are entitled to, if YOU are an American citizen that is.
Not only that, but a good number of them have been on American soil since long before the Irish etc, set foot here.
Thanks for telling me where your coming from.
Anyway, I think it's clear the issue and our problem is not w/Mexicans, it is w/ federal lawbreakers, who we already know from statistics come from all over the place, despite the fact many happen to come from Mexico. I'll agree with you that MeCHA doesn't deserve the time of day.
Have fun on your other threads, friend.
Very True. And we have been second-cass citizens for a long time.
The INS is presently expected to process a ridiculous 8 million applications each year!
We need an immediate moratorium on all immigration until the INS digs itself out from under and we determine just how many more immigrants, if any, are in the best interest of our nation.
That is a good idea.
William Flax
If the INS was run like the BATF, every illegal in America would be arrested, deported or shot in one month.
If the BATF was run like the INS, I could keep howitzers in my backyard and fire them across San Diego morning noon and night.
I just want to know from the president, which laws will they put me in jail for, and which laws "don't really count"?
Glaringly obvious double standards which favor illegal foreign invaders over American citizens and selective enforcement of laws just leads to cynicism, disrepect for ALL laws, and eventually to anarchy as we pick which laws we will obey. This is very dangerous to our Constitutional Republic, or what's left of it.
You are absolutely correct.
My point is that if, as the "Bush is always a genius" crowd believes, these Latinos will swing their vote toward Amnesty, that is not a good thing in the long-term for the GOP. or America..
I think that outreach on the basis of Amnesties for Illegals is condescending and insulting to Latinos, and hypocritical to a party that has portrayed itself as dedicated to upholding the Rule of Law.
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