Thread: Congress may balk at DHS push to oust illegal Salvadorans

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0806/083106j1.htm
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August 31, 2006
Congress may balk at DHS push to oust illegal Salvadorans
By Jonathan Marino
jmarino@govexec.com


Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's push for Congress to end a provision prohibiting the deportation of most illegal immigrants from El Salvador may become a hot-button political issue. Rather than reversing the provision before November's midterm congressional elections, lawmakers may instead seek to provide DHS with additional funding for detention facilities.

The provisions were enacted two decades during a civil war in El Salvador. That conflict, Chertoff has pointed out, ended in the 1990s.

DHS officials say they have spent nearly $250 million this fiscal year to detain Salvadorans.

"The average stay for El Salvador nationals caught at the border is 65 days, at an average cost of $95 per night," said DHS spokesman Jarrod Agen, compared to one- to three-week stays for other non-Mexicans. Mexicans are deported even more expeditiously.

Some Salvadorans are released back into the United States; others are sent to other nations, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs. The other countries must agree to accept them.

It's unclear where legislation of the type Chertoff is pushing would originate on Capitol Hill.


"That's probably our jurisdiction," said a source on the House Judiciary Committee, who added, "I've heard a lot of grumbling about this from the [Bush] administration" for the past six months.

However, the source said, despite Chertoff's call for the legislation to be passed before the November midterm elections, no action has been taken in the committee to have a bill ready when lawmakers return from summer recess.

Some members of Congress might balk at Chertoff's call to end the provision. There is still a lot of sympathy among Hispanics in the United States for the plight of Salvadorans -- who, despite the end of the civil war there, still face social strife in their homeland.

Rather than jeopardize Hispanic votes, lawmakers could seek to beef up funding for DHS' detention centers. Such funds could be used either to build new facilities or to rent additional space.

"We may construct some new detention facilities, but there is excess bed capacity in state and local facilities that is available to the extent we can afford it," said a DHS source who works regularly with lawmakers.

Rather than jeopardize Hispanic votes, lawmakers could seek to beef up funding for DHS' detention centers. Such funds could be used either to build new facilities or to rent additional space.

Why are law makers so worried about the hispanic votes? There's not enough of them to worry about. They should worry about the other 270 million of us!

Again, the fact show that over half of the LEGAL HISPANIC voters are AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.

This article is another false statement on the matter.

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Originally Posted by sippy

Rather than jeopardize Hispanic votes, lawmakers could seek to beef up funding for DHS' detention centers. Such funds could be used either to build new facilities or to rent additional space.

Why are law makers so worried about the hispanic votes? There's not enough of them to worry about. They should worry about the other 270 million of us!

You would think they would worry about the rest of the 270 million. It's all about cheap votes, and cheap labor. And as long as Bush is in office, and those like him, McCain, Kennedy,and H. Clinton this invasion will never end.
God help us all

There is still a lot of sympathy among Hispanics in the United States for the plight of Salvadorans

I think that is a figment of their imagination. I don't believe there is any type of widespread sympathy. It just doesn't make sense. They all seem to be out for themselves. And why should their opinion influence such types of decision making. That's just plain crazy! Does anybody matter except the Hispanics?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01572.html

Deadline Comes Today for Salvadorans To Renew Residency, Work Permits

Friday, September 1, 2006; B09



About 45,000 Salvadoran immigrants nationwide are in danger of losing their jobs and legal status today because they have not renewed the permits that allow them to live and work in the United States.

With the deadline at the end of today, about one-fifth of those eligible to renew the permits -- offered under the Temporary Protected Status program, or TPS -- still have not done so, the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services said.

The permits were granted to Salvadorans who were in the United States when two earthquakes devastated their homeland in 2001. If renewed, the permits would be extended for another year. TPS beneficiaries who do not renew could lose their jobs or be deported.

The agency estimates that 225,000 Salvadorans are eligible to renew the permits this year. About 180,000 had applied by yesterday, USCIS spokesman Dan Kane said.


-- Karin Brulliard