Thread: Immigrant rights groups hopeful that reform package will pas

http://www.startribune.com/587/story/877267.html

Last update: December 14, 2006 – 10:54 PM

Immigrant rights groups hopeful that reform package will pass

By Richard Clough, Chicago Tribune


WASHINGTON — After several stalled legislative attempts to overhaul the country's immigration system, some immigrant rights groups say they are hopeful the new Democratic-controlled Congress will be able to pass a comprehensive immigration reform package.
"It feels as if the political space is very much open for the kind of immigration reform we have been talking about," Cecilia Munoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, said Thursday during a conference call with reporters. "There are good signs in both bodies of Congress."

But most efforts to address the problem of illegal immigration have died in the Republican-controlled Congress over the past year and it is unclear whether the House and Senate will make a genuine attempt to tackle the issue in the upcoming session.

Senate Democratic leaders said the Senate is likely to take up immigration legislation in the new session but activists on both sides of the issue see little hope of the House taking immediate action. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has not listed immigration as one of the Democrats' top issues for 2007.

"The opposition to any form of amnesty legislation is still very strong in the House," said Jack Martin, special projects director for Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group opposed to illegal immigration.

Martin said many of the incoming House members, both Democrats and Republicans, ran on platforms opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the U.S. and they would not likely change their positions.

In December 2005, the House passed an immigration bill that included some controversial provisions, such as making it a crime to provide aid or assistance to illegal immigrants. The bill sparked protests around the country.

In May, the Senate passed an immigration bill that would have instituted a guest worker program and provided a multi-tiered path to citizenship for many immigrants, but omitted the criminal penalty provision for assisting immigrants.

The Senate bill won the endorsement of President Bush, but numerous Republicans whose chief goal was to crack down on illegal immigration opposed it.

The president has listed immigration as one of the issues on which he believes he can find common ground with Democrats. John Gay, co-director of the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition and vice president of the National Restaurant Association, said he thinks the next few months present the best opportunity in recent memory to achieve immigration reform.

"The list of major policy initiatives that this president and this Congress can agree upon is very short and I think immigration reform is at the top of that list," Gay said.

Marshall Fitz, advocacy director for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the immigration reform movement needs the president's backing and that support from congressional Democrats is not enough.

"The president is the one that can still drive the debate and we're going to need him to step up to the plate," Fitz said.

But some supporters of reform have questioned the Bush administration's resolve on the issue after federal agents raided meat-packing plants in six states this week, resulting in the arrests of nearly 1,300 illegal immigrants.

Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant group, said he believes the raids are a way for Bush to appear tough on illegal immigration, but that his administration will not likely continue with such raids.

John Gay, co-director of the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition and vice president of the National Restaurant Association, said he thinks the next few months present the best opportunity in recent memory to achieve immigration reform

= biased opiniong that would gain from legalizing illegal aliens.