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Kyl plan rules out migrant amnesty
Arizona, Texas senators work on reform measure
Billy House
Republic Washington Bureau
Apr. 13, 2005 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - Enhanced border security, stricter enforcement of existing laws that make it illegal to hire undocumented workers and a tough "no amnesty" stance for immigration lawbreakers would be preconditions to giving temporary legal status to foreign workers under legislation being drafted by two key Republican senators.

Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas, in remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday, announced they will introduce their immigration-reform bill by the end of summer to fix what Kyl described as "a broken legal system right now."

"Employers pretend that they're not employing illegal immigrants, but they know they are. But they (the employers) have documents that the government has called for," Kyl said. "And the government pretends to enforce the law. But it knows that the documents in many cases are counterfeit."

As a result, Kyl said, "We've got to come up with a structure that would permit us to take advantage of their (undocumented workers') desire to work here but to do so in a legal construct and not to reward them with any kind of amnesty."

Kyl's comments, among his most forceful yet on immigration reform, came as the debate on the topic has intensified during this congressional session.

A number of measures already have been proposed or are being developed. For instance, Arizona's other GOP senator, John McCain, is working on a bipartisan immigration plan with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Few details of that bill have been released, but it could have a better chance of passage because it is intended to appeal to members on both sides of the political aisle. Even though Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, any immigration bill likely would need significant support from Democrats to pass.

Immigration-reform advocates said Tuesday that they were disappointed by Kyl and Cornyn's description of their planned bill, while other interest groups said the senators are on the right track.

The idea of immigration reform got a boost from the White House in early 2004 when President Bush called for giving temporary legal status to foreign workers in jobs that Americans do not want. He repeated the call this year, saying such a program would benefit undocumented workers and employers and improve border security.

But Bush has declined to publicly go beyond the generalities of what he wants, saying he's leaving it up to Congress to write the bill.

"The president has not gotten real specific about several areas," Kyl said Tuesday. "We're going to have to fill in a lot of those blanks."

Cornyn added, "No discussion of comprehensive immigration reform is possible without a clear commitment to and a dramatic elevation in our efforts to enforce the law. That includes enforcement both at the border and within the interior.

"We must have strong border protection between ports of entry and a strong employee verification program to put an end to the jobs magnet for illegal entry."

Kyl also said the two lawmakers do not want to "reward the lawbreakers," those who "came here illegally and used illegal documentation to get employment and in many cases are creating a drain on our society."

But he noted that employers "will very candidly tell you that they don't know what they would do without the illegal employment that they have today."

There are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

As a result, Kyl said, there is pressure on lawmakers from businesses to develop legislation to allow undocumented immigrants to work here legally.

Regarding his and Cornyn's not-yet-written bill, Kyl said improved border security and enforcement of laws that makes it illegal to hire undocumented immigrants will "create the precondition for the consideration of immigration reform . . . a commitment to enforce the law and abide by the rule of law in this country."

But Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, a group sympathetic to undocumented immigrants, said she had hoped that Cornyn especially would wait to see the bill being developed by McCain and Kennedy.

"It's no secret McCain and Kennedy are working on that bill. To now come out and announce they are doing something else makes me wonder if they're serious about reform," Kelley said of Kyl and Cornyn.

She noted that neither senator even once mentioned the word "bipartisan" in referring to their legislation.

Kyl said he and Cornyn would talk to their colleagues and various interest groups to get ideas about how best to make their proposal work.

Michelle Waslin, director of immigration policy at the National Council of La Raza, said she believes the direction that Kyl and Cornyn are taking in their bill is "misguided."

"We need fundamental changes to our laws, not stricter enforcement of the (immigration) laws we have now," said Waslin, whose group is among those that say they will not be satisfied unless immigration reform includes a way for undocumented workers to earn permanent legal status.

"Clearly, the current system is not in tune with the social and economic realities," Waslin said. "We need to change the system first and then enforce it. To enforce the bad system first doesn't make any sense to me."

But Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation of American Immigration Reform, a national group that seeks to improve border security and stop illegal immigration, said he believes Kyl and Cornyn are headed in the right direction when they say that sanctions of employers who hire undocumented workers must be part of any reform plan in addition to border security.

"Obviously, the devil is in the details, and I'd like to see exactly how they propose to do this. But there does have to be some kind of mechanism to verify worker documents and enforce (the employment) laws," he said.

"It is the promise of a job that drives people across the border."