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Simpson pushes immigration accord

By NOELLE STRAUB
Star-Tribune Washington bureau
WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., who sponsored the last major congressional immigration reform 20 years ago, remains very much at the heart of today's debate and is proposing compromises to his former colleagues.

With the two houses of Congress at an impasse over immigration, some House Republicans bring up Simpson's 1986 effort and argue that the current Senate-passed bill will duplicate its mistakes.

A field hearing of the House Judiciary Committee today in Dubuque, Iowa, will examine whether the current Senate bill "is a repeat of the failed amnesty of 1986," the measure Simpson championed.

But Simpson outlined his thoughts on the earlier bill and what he sees as a workable compromise now, and submitted it in written testimony for the hearing.

To deal with the 11 million or so illegal immigrants already in the country, Simpson proposes a "triggered amnesty." That means some illegal aliens could eventually become citizens in certain circumstances, but only after policymakers determine that both border enforcement and worker verification measures have been put in place.

Simpson says that although arguments over illegal immigration have evolved somewhat over the past two decades, in some ways they haven't changed at all.

"It's the same because it's filled with controversy," he said. "Anyone who has learned the issue and is really speaking honestly on it will be accused of being a bigot, a racist, a xenophobe and all sorts of other marvelous things. And that's how you keep defeating it."

20 years ago

The bill Simpson helped push through Congress had a legalization measure allowing illegal aliens in the country since Jan. 1, 1982, to apply for a new temporary legal status and eventually permanent status. About 2.9 million people came forward under the legalization program.

Simpson noted that they came from 91 countries.

"And that pleased me. I still have people come up to me on the street of New York or wherever when I travel and say, 'I'm one of those guys."'

But the illegal immigrant population has grown since then. Simpson says the bill never worked properly because Congress, driven by the House, stripped out language for a "secure identifier" that would be issued to all Americans and used by employers to verify that workers had legal status.

Simpson said it could have taken the form of a "slide card like when you go into the grocery," or like a Social Security card that could have perhaps used the maiden name of the person's mother. But he emphasized that it would never have been used as a national ID, and would only be used at the time of a new hire or when applying for government benefits.

"We said right in that bill in essence that whatever it was that was developed would not be carried on the person, would not be used for law enforcement, but would be somewhere in your possession and it would be used twice in your life," Simpson said. "You never carried it, the cops didn't ask you for it."

But critics objected to the measure, fearing it would infringe on civil rights and privacy rights. The idea brought out the "cuckoos" on both sides of the aisle, Simpson said. "The far right was saying it was the mark of Cain. The left was saying this was the slippery slope to Nazi Germany," he said.

"It would have been possessed by not just people who looked foreign, but by bald emaciated guys like me, too," Simpson said. "That was totally distorted, totally not even comprehended. That was the saddest thing of all for me, to watch the House rip it out."

Without the identifier provision, a whole industry sprang up to make forged passports and forged green cards, Simpson said, and employers continued to hire illegal aliens in great numbers.

The debate today

But feelings about the need for a better system to verify legal status have changed over the years, especially since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Simpson said.

"I think for the first time in 20 years, I don't see editorials, I don't hear the cry, because it's a whole different ballgame after 9/11," he said. "You can't just let people freely cross the border and not know who the hell they are."

Both the House and Senate immigration bills contain provisions that would establish secure databases that employers could use to verify job applicants' Social Security number or legal status.

The big question remains over what to do about the approximately 11 million illegal aliens already in the United States. The House passed a bill that would strengthen border security but does not allow a path to citizenship for those already here illegally, as the Senate bill does.

As a compromise between the two, Simpson argues for triggered amnesty.

"You cannot possibly grant amnesty before you put in place the enforcement and security of the border and the modern verification system," he said.

In his testimony, Simpson also said that lawmakers should not listen to bureaucrats who say that such a verification system cannot work.

Consequences

Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress. If the House and Senate can't return from their August recess and forge a compromise in the next month, Simpson said, voters will hold the GOP accountable at the polls.

"I see this very clearly, that if a Republican Senate and a Republican House can't come up with some thoughtful piece of immigration reform in these times, I think they're going to pay a heavy penalty on Nov. 7," Simpson said. "I think people are going to say these guys can't function. Unfortunately that would be my view, too."

Rather than pass no bill, Americans at least want a border security bill, Simpson said, but that it would leave a "big gap."

"The basic core of the American people would be much more pleased rather than see nothing done, see the border enforcement, the fences and that sort of thing," he said. "I understand that, but I still think you leave an undigestible 11 million without dealing with them."

But he understands that compromise will be tough.

"It's an issue filled with emotion, guilt, fear and racism," he said. "And then toss the Statue of Liberty in there with it, and the golden door and the huddled masses, and it all overpowers common sense."