Thread: Domenici Introduces Amnesty/Guest Worker Bill

Date: February 17, 2006

Domenici Introduces Amnesty/Guest Worker Bill That Would Decimate American Workers

In preparation for a debate in the Senate next month on immigration policy, Senator Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico) has introduced legislation that would grant amnesty to an estimated 12 million people now living illegally in the U.S. and admit an additional 500,000 new guest workers plus dependant family members every year. Under the Domenici legislation, known as the Welcoming Immigrants to a Secure Homeland (WISH) of 2006 bill, all of the "guest workers" would eventually be allowed to become permanent residents.

In addition to creating a new guest worker visa, the WISH Act would vastly expand existing guest worker programs. Under the Domenici bill, limits on H-1B high tech workers would be virtually eliminated, and foreign student visas would be almost automatically convertible to permanent residency.

"There is virtually no American job, educational opportunity, or community that would not be undermined by this disastrous piece of legislation," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "Under the WISH Act, millions of illegal aliens would be rewarded with amnesty, and business interests would be granted access to unlimited numbers of guest workers who will never have to leave. For ordinary Americans, the legislation holds the promise of downwardly spiraling wages, massive population growth and the collapse of vital social institutions.

"The vast majority of the American public is demanding that our nation's immigration laws be enforced," Stein continued. "Under the Domenici bill, our nation's immigration laws would simply be eliminated. Americans would have no greater claim to the right to live and work in the United States than anyone, anywhere on the face of the planet."

The levels of future immigration to the United States that would result from passage of the WISH Act would be staggering. Under our current legal immigration policy, the United States admits nearly one million people annually, the overwhelming majority coming to reunite with extended family members in this country. The Domenici amnesty would not only allow the estimated 12 million illegal aliens now here to become permanent residents, but would also entitle them to petition for their extended families to join them here. On top of that, if each of the 500,000 new permanent guest workers created annually by the WISH Act brought just two dependants, that would result in 1.5 million more immigrants arriving every year. Added to that figure would be an unlimited number of H-1B workers and foreign college graduates who convert student visas into permanent residency visas.

"The damage that the Domenici bill would do every aspect of life in America would be incalculable," said Stein. "In very short order, America would become a vastly overpopulated nation devoid of a middle class. The United States Senate owes it to the American public to reject this and similar amnesty and guest worker bills and focus on protecting our borders and the survival of the American middle class," concluded Stein