Thread: In Congress, A Harder Line On Illegal Immigrants

by The Associated Press

WASHINGTON December 26, 2010 The end of the year means a turnover of House control from Democratic to Republican and, with it, Congress' approach to immigration.

In a matter of weeks, Congress will go from trying to help young, illegal immigrants become legal to debating whether children born to parents who are in the country illegally should continue to enjoy automatic U.S. citizenship.

Such a hardened approach — and the rhetoric certain to accompany it — should resonate with the GOP faithful who helped swing the House in Republicans' favor. But it also could further hurt the GOP in its endeavor to grab a large enough share of the growing Latino vote to win the White House and the Senate majority in 2012.

Legislation to test interpretations of the 14th Amendment as granting citizenship to children of illegal immigrants will emerge early next session. That is likely to be followed by attempts to force employers to use a still-developing web system, dubbed E-Verify, to check that all of their employees are in the U.S. legally.

There could be proposed curbs on federal spending in cities that don't do enough to identify people who are in the country illegally and attempts to reduce the numbers of legal immigrants. Democrats ended the year failing for a second time to win passage of the Dream Act, which would have given hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants a chance at legal status.

House Republicans will try to fill the immigration reform vacuum left by Democrats with legislation designed to send illegal immigrants packing and deter others from trying to come to the U.S.

Democrats, who will still control the Senate, will be playing defense against harsh immigration enforcement measures, mindful of their need to keep on good footing with Hispanic voters. But a slimmer majority and an eye on 2012 may prevent Senate Democrats from bringing to the floor any sweeping immigration bill, or even a limited one that hints at providing legal status to people in the country illegally.

President Barack Obama could be a wild card.

He'll have at his disposal his veto power should a bill denying citizenship to children of illegal immigrants make it to his desk. But Obama also has made cracking down on employers a key part of his administration's immigration enforcement tactics.

Hispanic voters and their allies will look for Obama to broker a deal on immigration as he did on tax cuts and health care. After the Dream Act failed in the Senate this month, Obama said his administration would not give up on the measure. "At a minimum we should be able to get Dream done. So I'm going to go back at it," he said.

The president has taken heavy hits in Spanish-language and ethnic media for failing to keep his promise to address immigration promptly and taking it off the agenda last summer. His administration's continued deportations of immigrants — a record 393,000 in the 2010 fiscal year — have also made tenuous his relationship with Hispanic voters.

John Morton, who oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a recent conference call that there are no plans to change the agency's enforcement tactics, which are focused on immigrants who commit crimes but also have led to detaining and deporting many immigrants who have not committed crimes.

The agency also will continue to expand Secure Communities, the program that allows immigration officials to check fingerprints of all people booked into jail to see if they are in the country illegally. Both illegal immigrants and residents can end up being deported under the program, which the Homeland Security Department hopes to expand nationwide by 2013.

Many of those attending a recent gathering of conservative Hispanics in Washington warned that another round of tough laws surrounded by ugly anti-immigrant discussions could doom the GOP's 2012 chances.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a possible 2012 candidate, cited Meg Whitman's failed gubernatorial bid in California despite her high spending. When 22 percent of the electorate is Latino, candidates can't win without a vigorous presence in the Hispanic community and a "message that is understandable and involves respect," Gingrich said. Even so, Gingrich was unwilling to call on his fellow Republican senators to drop their opposition to the Dream Act, saying the legislation should not have been considered without giving lawmakers a chance to amend it.

The next Congress will be populated with many newcomers elected on a platform of tougher immigration enforcement. They'll have ready ears in Republican Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, who will chair the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Steve King of Iowa, who is expected to chair the committee's immigration subcommittee.

That's a recipe for more measures aimed at immigration enforcement, including requiring businesses to use E-Verify rather than eyeballing paper documents to check workers' citizenship and legal residency status.

"I've already told the business community it's going to happen," said Beto Cardenas, executive counsel to Americans for Immigration Reform, a coalition of business leaders who support overhauling immigration laws. Changes to immigration law contained in appropriations and authorization bills, where immigration enforcement hawks are likely to tuck some measures, would also be tough to reject.

But more controversial measures such as attempts to deny citizenship to children of people who are in the U.S. without permission could be tempered by GOP leaders aware of the need to curry more favor with Hispanic voters.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =132339014

Many of those attending a recent gathering of conservative Hispanics in Washington warned that another round of tough laws surrounded by ugly anti-immigrant discussions could doom the GOP's 2012 chances.

Then they aren't truly conservative are they? CONSERVATIVES DO NOT FAVOR SHAMNESTY! How many times must we explain to you nimrods we are NOT anti-immigrant, it's illegal invaders we oppose. Immigrants do it the right way, invaders hop a border and expect to become free loaders under the guise of "looking for a better life". Truth be told if the invaders were forced out of our Country, the race card would rarely be played... and we would be seeing a lot less Hispanic this and Hispanic that!

Get all these illegal aliens out of our country and the Latino vote won't mean jack squat to either party! All this propaganda that America can't survive without immigrants is BS.

The GOP needs to decide who is more valuable, illegal Mexicans or its base voters, they can have one or the other but not both. Pander to hispanics and go for watered down amnesty and you will all be looking for a job in 2012 along with Obama and the RINOs we threw out this year.

Get all these illegal aliens out of our country and the Latino vote won't mean jack squat to either party! All this propaganda that America can't survive without immigrants is BS.

Require proof of citicenship to register to vote and it will be the same thing. Nonciticens voting is what keeps democrats in power.

McCain was the biggest panderer there ever was. Yet, he was not supported. What is most ironic is that illegal aliens hurt the young black workers more than any other group. Yet, they consistently vote for liberals although their quality of life has probably been lowered the most.

Newt Gingrich is a globalist who is trying to pander to both sides of this aisle. Remember that Dede Scazzyfava flap he supported? She was no Republican and then threw support to the Democrat when she lost the primary.

There are far too many deals and manipulations behind the scene, but we need a new breed of politicians who do not tow the lobbyist/banker/globalist line. And, when we find them we need to vote for them. The fact that JD Hayworth lost in Arizona of all places worry me - it is just not possible that there are that many stupid people in one state.

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Related:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/immigration/index.html

It sound like our newly elected Congress is not going to lighten up on Illegal Immigration this time and that's what I've been wanting to hear.

This article makes it sound as if Hispanics (including illegals) are the largest majority with the the largest voting block and if the Republicans don't back off, they'll be voted under.
Votes go one way or the other for a reason. Too many US Citizens and Taxpayers are fed up with illegal immigration and a corrupt, unAmerican Government. Threats won't work on those of us who are fed up with our governemnt kissing the asses of Law breaking illegal Aliens.
We're finally out to finish what THEY started.
So they better get use to it.