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."
he won't want to hear from me...
Sure. They want them here. We have no say. And what say we have means squat. 
McCain. Figures.
Gee, isn't Sen. McCain one of the Republicans opposing the "nuclear option?" Why should any Republicans support this?
Absolutely. Start by enforcing the laws on the book, fining and locking up employers of Illegals...and with just that alone, it would solve most of the problem overnight.
Why won't our gov't enforce these laws?
sw
WTF?
Any Republican that votes for this will not be in congress in 2006.
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz.,
The last time President Bush worked with Teddy “The Swimmer” Kennedy was on the education bill and Kennedy and the Dems still haven’t quit complaining. I hope the Republicans learned something from that.
Before any talk about amnesty for illegals, they need to do three things.
1. Successfully enforce the border.
2. Pass laws fining companies and persons hiring illegals, and prison time for repeat offenders.
3. Pass laws requiring all law enforcement officers to enforce illegal immigration laws. As it is now, only the ICE folks are tasked with the job of rounding up illegals, and they won’t do the job.
Then and only then should we even think about amnesty for illegals.
You mean the 10 million+ households in Calif alone that hire gardeners, nannies, etc?
cut off all social programs to illegals
Illegals don't receive social payments - it's their US citizen kids that were born here.
deporting the ones caught not letting them go.
Who's an illegal? What is the proper ID?
While it sounds nice contemplating sending 10m illegals home packing, it just isn't going to happen. (If for no other reason than to avoid grainy black/white documentary footage being shown in the Nazi WWII propagana style of homes being raided, moms/kids being cuffed, etc.)
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.
After all, it's not just natives that want to get out of Calif. I'd bet your typical illegal would gladly return to their village if they had a monthly stipend coming in from their savings.
Senator McCainiac is not "right in the head."
It's difficult to understand why many liberals, including our president, fail to understand this fact.
Any rational discussion of this problem has to start here: with a decent security fence. Until we build one, our welcome mat is out.
Jim Kolbe is again being faced with a conservative pro-border security challenger in the Republican primary election. Randy Graf announced last month his challenge against the liberal extremist congressman who has betrayed his constituents in Arizona's 8th district. Since Kolbe took office 20 years ago his district has become one of the worst areas along the U.S./Mexico border in sheer numbers of criminal invaders coming across. Kolbe is complicit in this because he personally inserted language in appropriations bills to shut down the permanent Border Patrol checkpoints in Arizona - and Arizona only. The Border Patrol is very much against Kolbe's meddling and has said so publically. A week ago Kolbe lambasted the Border Patrol and threatened to pull their funding and take congressional action against the agency which would "sting" them. Kolbe has voted for every illegal alien amnesty to his the House floor and is currently one of the strongest proponents of amnesty for criminal invaders.
Kolbe is a well entrenched and well financed politician. He has a huge campaign warchest and was able to outspend Graf 10-1 in the last election and even spent $300,000 in the last two weeks to spread a campaign of lies and distortions.
Randy Graf is serious about bringing Kolbe down. He is starting his campaign a year before he started his previous campaign. Instead of starting about 6 months out he is starting 16 months out.
But to defeat Kolbe, Randy Graf needs all of the help he can get. Go to www.grafforcongress.com to find out more and to help the campaign any way you can. Kolbe can't continue to keep getting away with his betrayal of the people in his district, the Border Patrol, national security, and the citizens of the United States. Kolbe must be stopped and a message sent to Washington that the people are mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. YOU can make a difference right now.
Only 1/3 of them? What's to be done about the other 20+ million?
I've got a question. The Bill is to require a criminal background check for immigrants as a requirement for citizenship. How can you do a background check on someone who is not even registered in the system? We will end up granting citizenship and residency to rapists, child molesters, and cold-blooded killers because the "background check" protection offered by the government won't do a damn bit of good. And you know Mexico won't help. Why would they give us information on its citizens who don't want to be citizens anymore? This is all crap.
It won't. It will encourage it. Any talk of amnesty means my county is going to see an even larger flood of criminal invaders hoping to get in under the wire.
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