Posted on 04/11/2006 11:20:59 PM PDT by FairOpinion
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Following huge nationwide protests, Republicans on Tuesday moved to possibly change two key provisions in a get-tough immigration bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
One would turn millions of illegal immigrants into felons and the other has raised concerns that people who provide them humanitarian relief would be punished. Top Republicans insisted that neither is their intent.
Their verbal commitments to revisit those provisions came a day after hundreds of thousands of people held demonstrations nationwide, provoked by the bill that would also erect a fence along much of the U.S.-Mexican border.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, issued a joint statement, saying: "It remains our intent to produce a strong border security bill that will not make unlawful presence in the United States a felony."
They said an effort had been made earlier to change the bill to make "unlawful presence" a misdemeanor, but it was rejected mostly by Democrats in the Republican-led House.
They also blamed Democrats for stalled legislation in the Senate, which would bolster border security and provide most of the estimated 11.5 million to 12 illegal immigrants in the United States a path toward citizenship.
A spokeswoman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said, "clearly Speaker Hastert and Leader Frist are feeling the heat from the hundreds of thousands of people around the country rallying against the (House) bill that Republicans supported."
Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said, "Actions speak louder than words, and there's no running away from the fact that the Republican House passed a bill and Senator Frist offered one that criminalizes immigrants."
Millions of people have made their voices heard in support of a comprehensive immigration reform plan and now it is time for action, not empty rhetoric," Kennedy said.
Earlier on Tuesday, senior Republican aides told reporters it is not the intent of the House bill to crack down on humanitarian assistance to illegal immigrants.
They said key House Republicans were prepared to try to revise language in the measure to eliminate such concerns -- if and when the bill is sent to a House-Senate conference.
"We don't want to arrest nuns and priests," said one aide.
The aide cited a letter sent last week to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has voiced concerns that the bill could make them a target for prosecution.
The bill reads, in part, "whoever -- assists, encourages, directs or induces a person to reside in or remain in the United States (illegally) -- shall be punished ...."
The letter to the Catholic bishops was signed by Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King of New York and International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde of Illinois.
In it, they wrote, "We can assure you, just as under current law, religious organizations would not have to 'card' people at soup kitchens and homeless shelters under the House bill's anti-smuggling provisions.
"Nonetheless, we stand willing to work with you and other persons of good will to ensure humanitarian assistance efforts are not mistakenly ensnared in this moral effort to end suffering at the hands of human traffickers," who bring illegal immigrants into the United States for a profit, they wrote.
Arlen Lord Specter already told us they're going to cave. His Scottish Majesty said they were going to allow us two weeks to "cool off", and then they're gonna ram this sucker home. He's tired of waiting. Got more important things to do.
Sometimes it takes a real hard slap in the face to wake people up. You know, something like a fast-track citizenship program for tens of millions of criminal aliens -- slipped under our noses as a "guest worker program", only to morph into the citizenship monstrosity once they finally managed to get the camel's nose under the "Big Tent."
They're saving that for campaign season. Then, they'll flame us within an inch of our lives, if we so much as hint at holding their feet to the fire, as they present us with RINO party hacks to "support". If we balk, they will laugh in our faces, and say, "What are you gonna do, elect Hillary?"
They figure they OWN "the base" and its votes, just like the DNC owns "the Black vote." We can go screw ourselves, as they go a-panderin' after every Democrat faction on earth. Why should they do anything for US? Remember, they own OUR votes. It's the liberals they need to woo. So, it's the liberals they suck-up to.
Some things never change -- although I suspect this time, one thing that will change is the "ownership issue." I think a lot of "owned" voters have just about had it up to here, and are NOT gonna take it anymore.
But, maybe I'm wrong. I guess we'll find out after the coming elections.
"fire in the belly"
"They're saving that for campaign season."
Maybe Zell Miller Redux?
Yup.
The sad... tragic, really -- and scary -- damned scary part, is that there are some things that can be done to a country, that it simply cannot recover from.
The push is on, to SHOVE the country past that marker, beyond which there's no turning back. No turning back to the country we were, the culture we had, the legacy we hoped for. We are being dragged -- kicking and screaming, with voices that will NOT be heard -- into the "NEW" America.
All we can do is grit out teeth and cope with it. Our only consolation is that other defeated peoples have endured far worse fates than we are likely to face.
Still, it sucks. It really, really sucks.
BRAVO
bttt
I've been mad about illegals since '77 when I started construction work. I wasn't political then but who was there to complain to? I wasn't political when Reagan gave them an amnesty but I thought it was a crock.
What do you expect?
The bastards are selling us out.
Illegal immigrants are felons, and so should those be that have not upheld the USA laws.
"The more this happens, the more Tancredo rises in stature."
Amen to that.
And that is a GOOD thing.
"If you start penalizing empoyers, you can probably lock up 90% of the US population, because virtually everyone employed an illegal at one time or another as a gardener, as a nanny, as a roofer, etc. Did you do a full background check on YOUR gardener?"
Maybe 90% of Californians break the law, but speaking for myself, I didn't even HAVE a gardener, and if I did, I can promise you I wouldn't hire an illegal to do it.
We can't live without illegals.
What a load of crap that is.
Less than a quarter of them work in the agricultural industry-bear in mind, we've been told for the past month that agriculture did not exist until we began to import scads of illegal, scab labor aliens from Mexico-so I can't imagine the American economy collapsing overnight if we were to actually start enforcing those dead-letter provisions of the last immigration "reform."
Give me a break.
-good times, G.J.P. (Jr.)
For someone whose INS Commissioner was the despicable political hack-and Clinton lickspittle-Dorris Meissner, and approved the Citizenship-for criminals-USA program, that's saying something.
Amen to that, brother!
BTW, RE: your tag line, have you heard anything about the winner of the Iranian 'joo-toon' contests? That whole stupid Persian idea sort of just faded away.
ping
No, no, the IRANIAN toon contest. That's an Israeli one done to make the Iranians look like the fools they are.
Some things never change -- although I suspect this time, one thing that will change is the "ownership issue." I think a lot of "owned" voters have just about had it up to here, and are NOT gonna take it anymore.
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