Thread: Democrats explore pairing immigration bills

Democrats explore pairing immigration bills

By JONATHAN ALLEN & SCOTT WONG | 12/7/10 6:23 PM EST
1 Comment

In an attempt to round up more votes on the DREAM Act immigration bill, House leaders are looking at adding an agriculture jobs bill that would ease rules for farm laborers.

Several senior Democratic aides said the two bills were discussed in conjunction with each other at a leadership meeting Tuesday afternoon, though no final decision had been made.

"There has been an informal effort under way for a while," said one aide. Democratic leaders want to see "if that bears fruit."

DREAM Act advocates, including Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), have been searching for a way to build a majority for the bill, which would provide a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants brought to the country as children if they attend college or join the military for two years.

The House is expected to vote on the DREAM Act Wednesday, with the Senate holding a test vote on the measure later in the day. The agriculture bill, known as AgJobs, is designed to lure the votes of more rural members of the House.

"There's been years of support [for AgJobs] from moderate Republicans and Democrats from agricultural districts," said one leading immigration advocate, who added that the idea of pairing the two measures has been batted around for several days. "That's been the thinking -- that AgJobs will bring votes to DREAM."

The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act would allow migrant farm workers to come to the U.S. through a guest-worker program and eventually apply to become permanent legal residents.

Introduced by Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), AgJobs drew national media attention in September when comedian Stephen Colbert mocked Congress and a House immigration panel as he testified in support of the bill. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42692.html

An earlier plan would have married the DREAM Act to a bill providing permanent residency for Haitian orphans who came to the United States after an earthquake devastated the nation a little less than a year ago. But that was scuttled when Republicans and some Democrats objected to risking the Haiti bill.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46100.html

No Dream act. Americans do not support it. Let's vote all the Demos out.

Originally Posted by immigration2009

No Dream act. Americans do not support it. Let's vote all the Demos out.

It's NOT just Dems, Newt Gingrich, Palin and Jeb Bush support amnesty.

This fight isn't Reps against Dems. It's us against illegal immigration.

Hey there's a good idea Lets combine two amnesties Into one so that we can flood The United States with Illegals my the millions The Demorats have competely lost their tiny little minds Every Demorat that supports any of this B.S needs to be gone from OUR government . There are no words left to describe the utter lunacy of these Idiots. How did we end up with a government that Is beholden to Illegal aliens,and NOT American Citizens