Thread: Groups: Reform immigration

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Groups: Reform immigration
Coalition supports measure to broaden path to legal status

By VÃÂ*ctor Manuel Ramos | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted May 28, 2005

A coalition of community groups, trade representatives and immigrant advocates joined Orlando Bishop Thomas Wenski on Friday in calling for immigration reform -- lending support to a bipartisan bill in Congress that would create a broad visa program and open the door for the legalization of millions of undocumented immigrants.

The coalition -- brought together by the Association of Communities for Reform Now, or ACORN, an advocacy group for the rights of low-income people -- also called on Central Florida's congressional delegation to back a bill that they think would improve the local economy and working conditions.

Only Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson replied through a spokesman, saying he is examining the proposal.

Legalization, coalition members said, would ensure fairness, give immigration authorities a better tracking system and supply workers for a growing region.

"They are not so much breaking the law as being broken by the law. They are illegal not because they want to be illegal, but because the law does not offer them any opportunity to be legal," said Wenski, comparing immigration laws to those that segregated blacks before the civil-rights movement. "The last time that we excluded legally a whole class of people from the benefits and the protection of American law was called Jim Crow and this country has yet to recover from the bad effect" of racism.

That sentiment was echoed by a construction executive, Hispanic community advocates, a farmworkers group and a service-employees representative. Department of Homeland Security officer Simon Abi Nader said at the event, "there is a great need, a dire need and an immediate need for an immigration-reform bill." He did not express support for any specific measure.

The latest immigration debate is spurred by a bipartisan attempt to fix the immigration system by creating an accountable method that allows low-skilled workers to enter the country while providing a path to what supporters call "earned legalization."

Recent estimates put the number of undocumented immigrants at more than 10 million nationally, with at least 850,000 in Florida.

The proposal is sponsored in Congress by political heavyweights such as Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. In the House, sponsors include Reps. Jim Kolbe and Jeff Flake, both Arizona Republicans, and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. President Bush also has called for a similar guest-worker program.

The measure would establish a visa mechanism, by which up to 400,000 visas would be granted each year to immigrants who have job guarantees and can pay application costs. It would grant visas of up to six years with the chance to apply for residency.

Immigrants here illegally as of May 12 would be able to pay a $1,000 fine and fees to apply for the six-year visas, with another $1,000 in fines due at the end of the six years if they apply for residency.

Those who oppose the plan, like members of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that supports stricter immigration controls, refer to the proposal as a veiled form of amnesty that rewards lawbreakers and burdens social services.

"Illegal immigration damages the economy, drives down wages and prevents investment in automation for many of our industries," said Steven Camarota, the group's research director.

"They tend to use a lot in services, but those costs are diffused and borne by everyone, so businesses don't see them. Low-skill immigration is very problematic in an advanced economy with a well-developed welfare state."

But Mark Wylie, president of the Central Florida Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, whose members rely on immigrant labor, countered that many of the migrants employed here contribute with their sweat to the region's economic growth.

Not only do they work in construction, but also in the hospitality and tourism industry that drives the region's progress, he said.

"They permeate the economy. They are everywhere in this economy," Wylie said. "They have an opportunity to work, they bring skills, they bring the work ethic to the table that employers need."

VÃÂ*ctor Manuel Ramos can be reached at 407-420-6186 or vramos@orlandosentinel.com.

"Illegal immigration damages the economy, drives down wages and prevents investment in automation for many of our industries," said Steven Camarota, the group's research director.

"They tend to use a lot in services, but those costs are diffused and borne by everyone, so businesses don't see them. Low-skill immigration is very problematic in an advanced economy with a well-developed welfare state."

But Mark Wylie, president of the Central Florida Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, whose members rely on immigrant labor, countered that many of the migrants employed here contribute with their sweat to the region's economic growth.

Not only do they work in construction, but also in the hospitality and tourism industry that drives the region's progress, he said.

"They permeate the economy. They are everywhere in this economy," Wylie said. "They have an opportunity to work, they bring skills, they bring the work ethic to the table that employers need."

Thus proving the ACORN doesn't fall far from the tree.

And that the Economic Terrorists need to be dealt with fast and firmly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!