Thread: Sen. Kennedy fighting for immigration reform

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/ci_3822912

Sen. Kennedy fighting for immigration reform
By Evan Lehmann



WASHINGTON -- Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was fresh-faced and only a decade removed from playing Harvard football in 1965 when he dove into a major issue: Reshaping an immigration policy that favored northern Europeans and largely denied entry to everyone else.

Kennedy had just assumed the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee's refugee panel.

"We no longer will ask a man where he was born," Sen. Kennedy said during debate on the Immigration Act of 1965. "Favoritism based on nationality will disappear."

Forty-one years later, Kennedy is pressing for legislation that would radically alter the nation's immigration policy, legalizing most of the 12 million undocumented people living in the United States.

He said that if passed, it would be one of his greatest legislative accomplishments.

"This is a hopeful kind of moment, I think, both for the institution and the issue, and most particularly for the people who will benefit from it," Kennedy said last week in an interview in the Capitol.

"As someone who's worked in the field, in this case of immigration and refugees, and has seen the injustices that are out there and inequities, this will be just a very major improvement in fairness and equity and decency, and consistent with what I believe are deeply held values of Americans."

Until a couple of months ago, the bill was considered by many a far-reaching measure with little chance of success. The bill was such a long shot, Kennedy said then, that its approval in the Judiciary Committee was "something we could just dream of."

But then massive immigrant rallies roiled the nation and senators from both political parties coalesced around the bill Kennedy offered with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

The battle comes as Kennedy prepares for an election this November seeking his eighth full term.

In some ways Kennedy is looking in the mirror when he talks about immigrants, seeing not an aging senator but the offspring of new Americans, said Adam Clymer, his biographer and former Washington correspondent for the New York Times.

"I think it goes back to the 'No Irish Need Apply' signs," Clymer said of Kennedy's commitment to the issue. "This has been a recurring, important cause of his."

Kennedy still sits on his first subcommittee, now named the Immigration Subcommittee, though he's no longer chairman due to his party's minority status.

His tenure on the panel reflects his interest in protecting the rights of immigrating peoples, says George Abrams, Kennedy's Harvard classmate who the senator tapped in 1965 as chief counsel for the panel.

"He was passionate about (immigration)," said Abrams, a Boston lawyer. "He believed in it from the earliest time we talked in providing opportunities for people to come to this country under the appropriate circumstances. He's never changed."

Under Kennedy, the five-member panel held its first hearings, Abrams said. Kennedy used the panel to get involved in policies surrounding the Vietnam War, which uprooted thousands of families in Southeast Asia.

Those days marked a return to public duty for the young senator, Abrams said.

Kennedy had been hospitalized for months after a plane crash near Springfield in 1964 that killed his aide, Ed Moss, and the pilot. Kennedy suffered a broken back, collapsed lung and broken ribs.

Critics today accuse Kennedy of offering amnesty to millions of immigrants who have come or stayed here illegally. Last month, he compromised with moderate Republicans on a provision requiring illegal immigrants here for less than five years but more than two years -- about 3 million people -- to leave the United States in order to receive a six-year work visa.

Kennedy's compromise chafed some Democrats, who saw it as diluting the bill. Supporters, however, call it a shrewd move that kept the legislation alive.

"He has this reputation of being this wide-eye liberal," said Sen. Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat. "(But) he's very much a deal-maker."

Sen. Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican whom Kennedy worked with in 1969 on behalf of native Alaskans, expressed frustration with Kennedy's hard-driving negotiations.

"It's not easy to compromise with Ted, as a matter of fact," Stevens said, adding, "But it's easy to talk to him and find compromise. I think he's a reasonable guy."

In the Capitol interview, Kennedy said it's the closed-fist fights that often produce the most valuable legislation. Look at the string of laws, he said, passed three and four decades ago affecting millions of Americans: acts on civil rights, Medicare and higher education.

"The difficulty we had in getting those programs through was monumental.

But today they're part of making this country a fairer country," he said.

"This is one of those," Kennedy added, referring to immigration.

Where's that LIGHTENING?

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

Where's that LIGHTENING?

I'm workin on it!

HURRY UP

I've got God on the line, he's whippin up something special for Ole ted the Traitor...

In reality the lightning was the culmination of several transgressions; one being Chappaquidick. We have to remember the Kennedy Clan is well known for flagrant violations of laws with impunity while expecting compliance by the rest of us. This explains his stance on legalization of those violating immigration laws. Mob rule and corruption in the Senate.....no different from the mobs outside the Senate.

He said that if passed, it would be one of his greatest legislative accomplishments.

if it passes, it might be one of his last

Originally Posted by mrmiata7

In reality the lightning was the culmination of several transgressions; one being Chappaquidick. We have to remember the Kennedy Clan is well known for flagrant violations of laws with impunity while expecting compliance by the rest of us. This explains his stance on legalization of those violating immigration laws. Mob rule and corruption in the Senate.....no different from the mobs outside the Senate.

I agree, I always thought that if he came clean, the curse would be lifted from the rest of the family. Sorry to say, I don't see him doing that anytime soon.