Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. (left), and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.,
are working together on an immigration plan.
Posted on 05/12/2005 8:46:37 AM PDT by Scenic Sounds
Sweeping measures face an uphill fight
WASHINGTON – Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate will introduce legislation today that could grant legal status to an estimated 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants now in the United States.
The bills, which would dwarf previous programs to provide legal status to foreign workers, would give illegal immigrants work permits and the opportunity to apply for permanent residence and eventually citizenship once they pay a fine and fees.
The legislation is certain to raise the temperature of a national debate already simmering over the Minuteman Project's volunteer border patrols and just-passed legislation to deny driver licenses to undocumented immigrants.
The legislation is expected to face an uphill fight in Congress. But it would be a landmark event if enacted.
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., will introduce the bill in the Senate. In the House, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., will team with Arizona Republicans Jeff Flake and Jim Kolbe to introduce the measure.
The sponsors have scheduled a news conference today to kick off a publicity campaign. It will be coordinated with immigrant advocates and church groups as well as business and farming organizations that want to stabilize their work forces.
Flake said the bills seek to bring immigration law in line with job markets that have become increasingly dependent on illegal immigrants because legal workers aren't filling the jobs.
"The bottom line is we're going to have a need for foreign workers in the foreseeable future," Flake said.
He said Congress has not provided federal officials with the tools to enforce the law because it doesn't want to cut off the flow of workers.
"We can make it legal through some mechanism or we can keep it illegal and keep on pretending we are going to enforce it," he said.
While details are still being negotiated, according to the Denver Post, major provisions include:
After a criminal background check and medical examination, most of the illegal immigrants now in the country would be allowed to apply for a new visa legalizing their status. They would have to pay $2,000 in fines and processing fees for having entered the country illegally. After six years, these workers and their families could apply for permanent residency.
A guest-worker program would allow employers to bring in 400,000 foreign workers in its first year. After that, the cap would be adjusted annually based on demand. The cap could change no more than a fixed percentage a year, sources said, and those workers could eventually apply to permanently reside in the United States.
A new system would be designed to require employers to electronically verify whether their workers are in the country legally and eligible to work. Fines for employers caught hiring illegal workers would double.
"Once a program is in place for employers to get workers, there's no excuse for them not to cooperate," Flake said. "You get a good program and you enforce the heck out of it."
But Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, said the program must provide enough foreign workers to meet labor needs and enough enforcement to win the support of a public increasingly skeptical about the government's ability to manage immigration.
"Any proposal will rise or fall on whether the legal channels are wide enough and the enforcement effective enough," Sharry said. "In the past it was, 'Let's keep legal channels small, but let's not enforce them too much.' "
The bills' advocates hope that the $2,000 fine will soften the angry reaction that has accompanied past amnesties, such as the sweeping 1986 measure that gave legal status to 2.7 million immigrants, most of them Mexican.
Almost 20 years later, the illegal immigrant population is expanding by nearly 500,000 people a year, according to Pew Hispanic Center demographer Jeffrey Passell.
In 1986, amnesty meant a green card for immigrants who were eligible, either because they had lived in the United States several years or – in a major concession to California farmers – because they had worked 90 days in the fields.
A fight to update that definition has already broken out.
"An amnesty is an unconditional pardon for a breach of law," Flake said.
"That's semantics," said Jack Martin of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which wants to clamp down on illegal immigration. "Any program that gives legal status to people who entered the country illegally or have stayed here illegally after being admitted is an amnesty."
Both sides will eagerly await reaction from President Bush, who last year proposed a program to provide temporary legal status for undocumented workers already here and to match "willing workers" from around the world with "willing employers."
Although the president said he rejected amnesty, he left open the possibility that some of the workers could get in line for a green card. That coveted document confers permanent residence status and the eventual opportunity to apply for citizenship.
Yesterday, White House spokeswoman Maria Tamburri responded carefully to a question about the Kennedy-McCain bill.
"The president will work with Congress on enacting legislation that is consistent with the principles he announced last year," she said.
Mark Krikorian, who directs the Center for Immigration Studies, said the White House was stunned at many conservatives' furious reaction at Bush's proposal.
Krikorian, whose organization favors restrictive immigration policies, predicted that Bush will wait to gauge public reaction to the legislation before announcing his position on it.
"There is already a match burning because of the Minuteman program," he said, referring to the volunteer patrols in Arizona near the Mexican border. "They should be afraid that this would throw gas on the fire."
Might be a little older than you, but my first job (stocking shelves and unloading freight) in a grocery store, paid all of $1.00/hr.
Worked 20/hrs/wk during last 2 years of HS and 60/hrs/week during summer months.
NO minimum wages in late 50's - early 60's.
Joined AF in 62. Don't even want to try and figure out what my hourly pay was for my $87.00/month pay. LOL
Would someone from AZ please start a recall petition for McCain? He MUST go!!! HE'S A TRAITOR!!!
I mean anyone and anybody that knowingly hires Illegals.
" Illegals don't receive social payments - it's their US citizen kids that were born here."
What a crock, Illegals get Free Medical care and social services in many states. Guess that +1 Billion dollar theft from the US taxpayer to cover Illegal's medical costs was all a figment of our imagination.Or how about the Billions of dollars that it costs to house their criminal element.
We need a system in place to legalize guest workers - both those already here and those coming in the future. If illegals had a way to bank their savings and then return to their homeland, they'd do it in a heartbeat.
Personally I don't give a rat's tail what illegals want, let them change their own country instead of thinking it's their right to sponge off America and our Citizens. America and Americans first, period!!
Spot on. Kids today think they are entitled to start life at the level of comfort enjoyed at home. They have no concept of hard work. They don't understand that it takes time and demonstrated ability to get those promotions and pay raises.
My first home was an 880 sq ft, 2br, 1ba condo over the top of 4 carports. It cost me $32000 in 1978. I sold in in 1983 and took the meager appreciation as a down payment on a 4 br, 2ba 1334 sq ft house. That was home until 2001 when I sold it and purchase a 3 br, 2 1/2 ba 3900 sq ft house. It doesn't happen overnight.
After grad school, I studied for a First Class Radiotelephone license and RADAR endorsement. That license allowed me to work for $4.75 per hour on tuna boat electronics and base stations. Not great pay for a college grad. I even had to join IBEW Local 569 for the privilege of working in the ship yard. I earned pay raises that ended up at $9.10/hr in 1980. I had 180 tuna boat owners who specifically requested my assignment to do the work on their equipment. As the "dolphin safe" attack took its toll on the tuna fleet, the owners had trouble paying bills. I moved on to Pacific Telephone. It took 2 years of persistent application and repeat calls to Pacific Telephone to get that job. The CPUC forced hiring freezes on Pacific Telephone in those days. You had to be patient and ready to make the jump when the money was available to hire. The happy day was April 21, 1980.
Pacific Telephone took me on for $19,000 per year in 1980. I stayed with them until 1991. I left making $60,000 plus bonuses after 4 promotions. My current employer hired me at the same level in 1991 and has more than doubled my annual income since that time. Working 50 to 80 hour weeks is part of the reason they don't mind paying me at that level today.
Opposing it completely is the only way to get teeth in it. I will oppose anything that amounts to a sham amnesty, that fails to penalize employers who hire illegals, that fails to provide stiff financial penalties for states which fail to cut off all social services for illegals, that fails to provide for secure borders, and that fails to provide a plan for the deportation of illegal aliens.
My dad was in the Navy from 1952 until 1977. The pay compared to hours worked on a deployment doesn't look too good on an hourly basis. If not for having a place to sleep and 3 squares, it would be much worse.
Am going to check this out and Graf will more than likely be receiving a contribution from me.
WE need to be doing much the same thing in ALL other similar such races throughout the country.
Needs to be a "central clearing" place which will outline all those running in House and Senate, their positions on conservative issues (such as this one); their records if incumbents as well as their opponents and their views.
WE NEED TO START VOTING WITH OUR POCKETBOOKS!!
We don't have to accept anything of the sort. All that is required is the will to enforce our exisiting immigration laws (remember those?). No rewarding of law breakers. Ever.
"Just enough Republicans are drinking Tancredo's koolaid"
It appears that it's those individuals that are consuming the "BushBerry" Koolaid that have a problem with upholding our nation's immigration laws. Allowing "guestworker" (amnesty) status to law breakers doesn't make sense to law abiding citizens.
Quote: 8 to 10 million people are just too many to punish or deport.
I hate to sound crass but Hitler did way more than that quite easily. I mean on the deportation level. Just think it would realy help out Amtrack.
This bill sucks. I hear our american dream being sucked down the drain every day.
Your views attract only a tiny (and declining) minority around here.
Even The Senate doesn't want to deal with an amnesty, becasuse Frist is planning to run for President and if he even tries to pass an amnesty, he can kiss the primaries goodbye.
And Frist is already on the Grassroots' shitlist for bungling the Senate majority.
Any suggestions for getting rid of that psycho RINO, McCain?
There is. Go to Tom Tancredo's Team America PAC at www.teamamericapac.org. Randy Graf is their first endorsement for the 2006 elections.
What we need to regain control of is Washington. This is the kind of pant-load we deserve for electing so many fence straddling neo-cons (I'm guilty of voting the R ticket). Aside from a few "key" issues that the two parties foist on us as their rasion d'etre there is little that distinguishes one from the other.
All that this cheap labor, rising tide, global economy crap does is provide able bodies for companies with poor business models that cant succeed legally. Meanwhile, the surplus of imported, minimally educated workers has created a slump in wage increases for our minimally educated citizens.
/rant
I know how you feel, but the INS/ICE is merely doing (or not doing) what they are told to do. Far more appropriate to direct our displeasure at those who really deserve it, starting with President Bush and all of the other Washington crapweasels supporting this insanity.
War on Terror, indeed. How serious can this be while allowing (in fact encouraging) millions of illegal aliens to flood into our country every year?
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