Thread: Businesses get immigration assurance

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HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Business

June 8, 2006, 7:46AM



Businesses get immigration assurance
Texas' senators say new legislation won't be a burden
By PATTY REINERT
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - While President Bush was on the road touting immigration reform, the state's two Republican senators promised Texas business leaders Wednesday that the illegal immigration problem can be solved without overburdening employers with enforcement responsibilities.

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"We don't expect employers to be forensic scientists or FBI agents," Sen. John Cornyn told members of the Texas Association of Business.

Instead, Cornyn said legal immigrant workers should be provided with tamper-proof ID cards complete with photographs and fingerprint information.

"Just swipe a card. The light turns green, it means yes; red, it means no," he said.

Cornyn and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, both of whom voted last month against the Senate immigration bill whose framework is backed by Bush, said they will continue to work on the legislation as it is meshed with the House's version over the next several months.

The Senate version contains a guest worker program and an "earned citizenship" opportunity for illegal immigrants; the House version does not.

The senators' goals include securing the Texas-Mexico border with more agents and passing a temporary guest worker plan that encourages workers to return home rather than become U.S. citizens.

Cornyn, who wrote many of the border enforcement provisions of the Senate bill, will serve on the House-Senate conference committee charged with negotiating a compromise.

Cornyn said he thinks the two bills can be merged, perhaps by phasing in the guest worker plan a year to 18 months after the border enforcement measures take effect and the border is more secure. Then lawmakers could move on to the more difficult task of deciding what to do with illegal workers already in the country, he said.

"It's not going to be pretty any way we try to solve it, but I think we can solve it," he said.

Hutchison, speaking to the business group later, said she is "very concerned" about the Senate bill. She asked the business people to push the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other national business groups to get behind her proposal to allow temporary workers from Mexico and Central America to work in the U.S. for 10 months a year, then return home for two months. They could renew their work visas annually as long as they keep their jobs, she said.

Her plan would not put such workers on a citizenship path but would allow them to work legally and keep part of their Social Security deductions as a nest egg to retire on in their home countries.

Her hope, she said, is that Mexicans would use that nest egg to improve their lives in Mexico and to shore up Mexico's economy by starting new businesses or making other investments in their homeland.

The business group has not taken an official stand on the legislation, but its president, Bill Hammond of Austin, said most of the members agree that the important thing is to control the border rather than trying to seal it with walls. They also agree a comprehensive approach is needed to keep bringing in low-skilled foreign workers to fill crucial jobs.

patty.reinert@chron.com


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HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Business
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[quoteconference committee charged with negotiating a compromise.

Cornyn said he thinks the two bills can be merged, perhaps by phasing in the guest worker plan a year to 18 months after the border enforcement measures take effect and the border is more secure. Then lawmakers could move on to the more difficult task of deciding what to do with illegal workers already in the country, he said.
quote]

NO! No merging, no "meeting in the middle", no compromises, AND NO NEGOTIATIONS! What is it do these senators not understand when Americans say "NO AMNESTY"? Can we be any clearer?