Thread: AGREEMENT REACHED ON IMMIGRATION REFORM

Agreement Reached on Immigration Reform


May 17 01:41 PM US/Eastern
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
Associated Press Writer





WASHINGTON (AP) - Key senators and the White House reached agreement Thursday on an immigration overhaul that would grant quick legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. and fortify the border.
The plan would create a temporary worker program to bring new arrivals to the U.S. A separate program would cover agricultural workers. New high-tech enforcement measures also would be instituted to verify that workers are here legally.

The compromise came after weeks of painstaking closed-door negotiations that brought the most liberal Democrats and the most conservative Republicans together with President Bush's Cabinet officers to produce a highly complex measure that carries heavy political consequences.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said he expects Bush to endorse the agreement.

The accord sets the stage for what promises to be a bruising battle next week in the Senate on one of Bush's top non-war priorities.

The key breakthrough came when negotiators struck a bargain on a so- called "point system" that would for the first time prioritize immigrants' education and skill level over family connections in deciding how to award green cards.

The draft bill "gives a path out of the shadows and toward legal status for those who are currently here" illegally, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

A spokesman for Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., one of his party's key players in the talks, confirmed that the group had reached agreement.

The proposed agreement would allow illegal immigrants to come forward and obtain a "Z visa" and—after paying fees and a $5,000 fine—ultimately get on track for permanent residency, which could take between eight and 13 years. Heads of household would have to return to their home countries first.

They could come forward right away to claim a probationary card that would let them live and work legally in the U.S., but could not begin the path to permanent residency or citizenship until border security improvements and the high-tech worker identification program were completed.

A new temporary guest worker program would also have to wait until those so-called "triggers" had been activated.

Those workers would have to return home after work stints of two years, with little opportunity to gain permanent legal status or ever become U.S. citizens. They could renew their guest worker visas twice, but would be required to leave for a year in between each time.

Democrats had pressed instead for guest workers to be permitted to stay and work indefinitely in the U.S.

In perhaps the most hotly debated change, the proposed plan would shift from an immigration system primarily weighted toward family ties toward one with preferences for people with advanced degrees and sophisticated skills. Republicans have long sought such revisions, which they say are needed to end "chain migration" that harms the economy, while some Democrats and liberal groups say it's an unfair system that rips families apart.

Family connections alone would no longer be enough to qualify for a green card—except for spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens.

New limits would apply to U.S. citizens seeking to bring foreign-born parents into the country.



http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

How stupid does the U.S. Senate think we are I am speechless

They could come forward right away to claim a probationary card that would let them live and work legally in the U.S., but could not begin the path to permanent residency or citizenship until border security improvements and the high-tech worker identification program were completed.

Would they then have to register as guest workers or are they essentially given legal permanent resident status? If they are not required to leave the country and then re-enter as guest workers, they're being given amnesty!

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS DO NOT OBEY OUR LAWS NOW! WHAT MAKES THESE IDIOTS IN CONGRESS THINK THE ILLEGALS ARE GOING TO OBEY THESE NEW LAWS?!!!

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http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=N ... e&sid=2163

The Democrats want to just take this countries resources and through them up into the air like a bunch of little kids and let whoever gets it keep it. The Republicans have a bunch of wimps running for president other than Tom Tancredo and he's not making a very strong stand for himself. This countries going to hell in a handbasket and more and more organizations are allowed to exhist that are for the rights of other nations over our own. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and Americans have become such spoiled pacifists that we are waiting for someone else to stand up for our rights. Who will that be? It needs to be you and me...right now....before there is no more United States of America and there is plenty of street gangs and hoodlums stealing everything they can get their hands on just like they're stealing this country!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu_PR5K1 ... ed&search=

Who is going to enforce all these "triggers" in the new immigration bill if it becomes law. We don't have the manpower now to handle what comes into the U.S. legally. This is all bulls**t on the part of the senate.

It says the guest workers will have to leave after a 2 year stint. Their not going to want to leave so what's the government going to do, deport them? force them to go? They say they can't deport them now, so how are they going to get them to leave?

From a Democratic U.S. Senator's speech, in 1993:

“In response to increased terrorism and abuse of social programs by aliens, (I) today introduced the first and only comprehensive immigration reform bill in Congress. [b]Currently, an alien living illegally in the United States often pays no taxes but receives unemployment, welfare, free medical care, and other federal benefits. Recent terrorist acts, including the World Trade Center bombing, have underscored the need to keep violent criminals out of the country.â€