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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    House panel passes bill to send migrant kids home faster

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/04/immigration-bills-house-judiciary-committee/24277247/

    House panel passes bill to send migrant kids home faster

    Erin Kelly, USA TODAY 3:23 p.m. EST March 4, 2015

    (Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP)

    WASHINGTON — A House panel on Wednesday approved a bill that would speed the return of children fleeing Central America to their home countries.

    The Judiciary Committee voted 17-13 to recommend the bill's passage to the full House. It aims to stop a repeat of last year's border crisis in which more than 68,000 unaccompanied children crossed the Southwest border into Texas.

    Republicans said the bill would send a message to parents in Central America not to send their children north to the USA. Critics said it would send children back to face drug and gang violence in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

    The bill was one of four that the panel is seeking to pass. The committee is also set to vote on legislation that would strip funding for carrying out President Obama's executive orders that would protect 4 million undocumented immigrants from deportation.

    The package of four bills is the first major immigration legislation put forth by the new Congress, which now has Republican majorities in both the House and Senate. Efforts to overhaul the nation's immigration system stalled in the House in the last Congress.

    The effort comes on the heels of a bruising fight between the Senate and House over homeland security spending in recent weeks. On Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner allowed a vote on a Senate version of a spending bill that did not include restrictions on Obama's executive orders. The vote ended a congressional impasse that threatened to shut down the Homeland Security Department.

    Other bills being considered by the committee include a measure that would make it harder for refugees to seek asylum in the USA and one giving states and local governments more power to enforce federal immigration laws.

    The bills already have drawn criticism from human rights groups, which say the legislation could send children and other refugees back to face persecution and even death in their home countries. If passed by the House, they are likely to be blocked by Senate Democrats or vetoed by Obama.

    "These proposals are completely inconsistent with the American ideal of protecting the persecuted," said Eleanor Acer, director of refugee protection at the non-partisan Human Rights First. She said the bills dealing with asylum and immigrant children "would eviscerate the United States' legacy as a global leader in protecting refugees."

    But Republican leaders say the bills are aimed at strengthening immigration enforcement, which they charge has been weakened by the Obama administration.

    "There are many issues plaguing our nation's immigration system but the biggest problem is that our immigration laws are not enforced," said House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. "While presidents of both parties have not fully enforced our immigration laws, President Obama has unilaterally gutted the interior enforcement of our laws."

    The bills focus on four key areas of immigration policy:

    Migrant children. Under current law, children from Central America and other regions that are not adjacent to the USA cannot be sent back quickly to their home countries. Instead, they go through an often-lengthy court process to seek asylum while remaining in the USA. The Protection of Children Act by Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, would speed up the return of children to their home countries, regardless of where they are from. A separate bill would prevent the children from getting taxpayer-funded attorneys to help them plead their cases in immigration court.

    Asylum. The Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, would make it tougher for undocumented immigrants apprehended at the border to show a "credible fear of persecution" in their home countries and be allowed to stay in the USA to seek asylum in court. The bill also gives the Homeland Security Department the power to require asylum-seekers to wait for their hearings in other countries besides the USA that are deemed safe. For example, Central Americans could be sent to Mexico to apply for asylum and await U.S. court proceedings.

    Obama's immigration programs. ​A bill from Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., seeks to defund the programs without tying that effort to overall DHS funding. Gowdy's bill also would give states and local governments the ability to enforce federal immigration laws and to enact their own laws as long as they are consistent with federal law. Gowdy said this would prevent any president from unilaterally shutting down immigration enforcement efforts.

    Employment. The Legal Workforce Act by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, would require U.S. employers to use the E-Verify electronic federal database to ensure that they hire employees who can work legally in the USA. E-Verify checks the Social Security numbers of newly hired workers against records kept by the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. This bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
    Last edited by Judy; 03-06-2015 at 09:50 AM.
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