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Federal bill would make it a crime to aid illegal immigrants
By Emelie Rutherford
Tuesday, February 14, 2006

As Congress wrestles with how to control illegal immigration, local immigrant activists are slamming a U.S. House bill they fear could send social workers, church leaders and landlords to prison for helping undocumented foreigners.

"It’s not just immigrant rights that are at stake anymore, it’s all citizens’ rights that are at stake," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. The get-tough bill would make it a crime for people to help illegal immigrants remain in the country and make illegal entry a felony -- reforms illegal immigration foes welcome.

Jim Rizoli, a member of Concerned Citizens and Friends of Illegal Immigration Law Enforcement in Framingham, said going after people who help the illegal immigrants could effectively cut into the commerce spurred by illegal immigration.

"Everyone’s making money on the illegals," Rizoli said. "It’s a big scam."

Laura Medrano, executive director of MetroWest Latin American Center, said the House-passed bill goes too far. She has met with church leaders including Boston Archbishop Sean O’Malley about it.

"Everybody who will help undocumented immigrants, they would be defined as a smuggler," Medrano said.

Medrano, also president of the northeast chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, pointed out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposes the House-passed bill but supports a less punitive one championed by U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Activists plan to rally outside Faneuil Hall in Boston today against the bill, which is sponsored by U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc, and passed the House 239-182 in December.

The bill also would require all employers to check worker documents against federal databases, penalize state and local governments that fail to enforce immigration laws, end the visa lottery program and add new fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border.

All U.S. congressmen representing MetroWest voted against it.

The U.S. Senate is expected to debate immigration legislation next month.

Many observers, though, predict the Senate will advance much different legislation than what emerged from the House.

Kennedy and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have a bill that calls for border security and enforcement changes, a temporary work visa program and ways for current illegal immigrants to adjust their status.

"We need more than Rep. Sensenbrenner’s enforcement-only approach to immigration," Kennedy said in a statement. "It is essential that we provide an avenue for earned legalization, and deal with the millions of undocumented workers that continue to remain in the dark."

Noorani said today’s rally is meant to ensure the provisions in the House-passed bill -- to clamp down on people who help illegal immigrants and make illegal entry a felony -- do not survive in the Senate.

Robert Casimiro, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform, supports the House measure but doubts authorities would actually go after people aiding illegal immigrants.

"They’re not going to enforce stuff like that," Casimiro said. "My view is we have sufficient laws right now if they were just enforced."