In Mexico, Daschle, Gephardt give strongest support yet to more open borders, immigration reform

Associated Press ^ | 11/17/2001 | Associated Press

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WIRE: 11/17/2001 8:49 pm ET

In Mexico, Daschle, Gephardt give strongest support yet to more open borders, immigration reform

The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt said Saturday that they would forge ahead with immigration reform early next year, including some kind of legal residency for Mexican migrants already living in the United States. Such reforms "are very consistent with fighting against terrorism," Gephardt, D-Mo., told a news conference after meeting with President Vicente Fox during the congressmen's three-day trip to Mexico.

"If you are regularizing status, you are also understanding the people you are dealing with are not terrorists," Gephardt said, noting that those who would benefit are "people who have been in the United States for a long time, paid taxes, obeyed the laws and been very good citizens."

Daschle said discussion on the reforms could be held during the next congressional session early next year. He said legalization would not be equivalent to a broad amnesty, and would require a background check and investigation.

"The opportunity for us to investigate and expel those who ought not be there is something we want to deal with, too," he added.

The two lawmakers also said they were interested in a European Union-style program of public investments and a more open border.

"I think that it ought to be our goal that we have a free pass border at some point in the future," Daschle said.

Daschle's office later said he was not endorsing any particular program, but rather supported having the same freedoms on the Mexican border as those that exist on the Canadian border. Canadians do not need visas to enter the United States, but Mexicans do.

"I think it's unlikely that we will obtain that goal anytime in the short term," Daschle said. "(But) if the United States and Canada have a border like that, we ought to have the opportunity to have that kind of border with Mexico as well."

Fox, facing trouble at home on both economic and political fronts, desperately needs to make some headway on gaining better treatment for Mexican migrants to the United States, a central policy goal of his administration.

Daschle and Gephardt said Mexico's concerns hadn't fallen from the U.S. agenda in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"Our commitment (to bilateral issues) is every bit as strong as what it was on Sept. 10," Daschle said, noting that Congress is expected to vote in the next few days to suspend "for at least one year" an anti-drug certification program that has angered Mexicans.

The certification procedure required the State Department to judge other countries' anti-drug efforts and threatened the loss of financial aid for nations that failed the test.

Mexicans, and many other Latin Americans, considered that an affront to their sovereignty.

[MistyCA]

Not only do the illegals come over here and work under the table paying no taxes, but they then send the money they earn back to Mexico to support their interests and families there. What they are in fact doing is draining our system. And this says nothing of the cost of having them here. Our town recently upgraded the area where illegals stand each day to wait for day work. It is packed with people from mexico who do not speak english and work for cash. These laborers are a great resource for businesses that need unskilled labor and do not want to bear the burden of employment taxes and insurance. This is not a winning situation for Americans.

And when their kids come over as well, those kids are enrolled in our public schools and further drain the system. Medical services must be provided to them by hospitals, most of the time without being compensated for their services. Or they break the law and wind up in jail where we already have overloaded facilities. This is a further drain on our system.

OK, granted....they buy something to eat during the day and ride the bus. Big deal. That isn't much benefit to our economy.

[PRND21]

Let's be clear. Mexicans and others live here as colonists and parasties.

Thank you, Mr. Hitler.
Why can't you stay to facts? ken had all of you in a tizzy, calmly with logic.
read #113 and others.

As soon as your article is debunked you all break out the propoganda and racist crap.

This is a Democracy and you aren't getting your way, period.
BTW, Bush played this perfectly, as usual.

[NaturalizedBlonde]

Daschle and Gephardt are wimps....

[WRhine]

Why is LEGAL immigration too much to ask? And why is it too much to expect OUR government to ENFORCE those laws?

That has been the BIG question. I guess we all know the answer. The application of Immigration laws and the deportation of illegals are not to be followed in practice because of the race card known as PC. The best we can do is keep on harassing our congressmen for action on this. That they have yet to respond to this brewing crisis only shows how insular they have become with their good life in the beltway. Is it true that congress voted themselves a $1,000 a month pay increase a month ago while the nation was distracted with the fallout from 9/11?

[WRhine]

This is a Democracy and you aren't getting your way, period.

No, this is an INVASION but yes we aren't getting our way. And our way is that weird notion that maybe, perhaps, we should apply the federal LAWS against ILLEGAL immigration. How racist for anyone to suggest that we should uphold the law. Is your little PC rant another way of saying you are FOR illegal immigration? I ask this because the Mexicans are not coming here in the numbers they are under our legal immigration system.

[MistyCA]

I agree, Daschle and Gephardt are wimps. I would go a step further, however....Dashcle and Gephardt are wimps who are acting against the best interests of our country, imo. They are whinners and they are liars.

[Z-28]

Evading the U.S. Selective Service System: All male U.S. citizens and all male non-citizens including all illegal alien males in the U.S. who are 18 through 25 must register with the Selective Service Administration (Draft Board) upon entry into the United States. If you do not register, you can be prosecuted for a felony and fined up to $250,000 and/or be put in jail for up to five years and/or deported. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (I&NS) makes registration with the Selective Service a condition for U.S. citizenship if you first arrived in the U.S. before your 26th birthday. See the Selective Service System chart of all male persons who must register.

[PRND21]

Is your little PC rant another way of saying you are FOR illegal immigration?

No. I am against the use of seminar terms that shed a poor light on the RNC and FR.
Who would benefit from turning Hispanic away from the Republicans?

[PRND21]

Then that makes about 73% of Americans

Sorry, it was less than %1.

[PRND21]

A. CNN
B. Elections are fact, polls are slanted guesses.

[PRND21]

Source

That quote is not mine, you've made a mistake.

[brat]

"6 BILLION American dollars a year go back to Mexico from Mexican immigrants." And that's $6,000,000,000 that isn't circulating in our economy per year! Could keep alot of small businesses afloat!