Thread: Bingaman, Domenici say immigration bill unworkable

Bingaman, Domenici say immigration bill unworkable
(1:30 p.m.)
By The Associated Press
Las Cruces Sun-News
Article Launched:06/28/2007 01:27:18 PM MDT


New Mexico's two U.S. senators, saying an immigration bill before the Senate was unworkable, voted with the majority Thursday against clearing the way for the measure's final passage.

The bill's supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate on the legislation, which critics assailed as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants. The vote was 46 to 53 in favor of limiting the debate.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said it's important for the nation to address immigration.

But Bingaman said the Senate bill would have replaced a broken immigration system with an equally dysfunctional one. Domenici said some provisions he initially supported had been amended to the point the bill could no longer accomplish its purpose.

Bingaman said the measure contained a provision he wrote to appropriate millions of dollars to law enforcement agencies along the border, and a provision to limit the number of guest workers who could enter the country in a new program to 200,000 annually.

However, in the end he decided the measure would create an unnecessarily complicated guest worker program that would have depressed U.S. wages and would encourage immigrants to overstay their visas, without improving the legal immigration process, he said.

"Whatever legislation we pass is likely to be in place for many years to come, and I am deeply concerned that the immigration bill, as it was drafted, wasnt going to accomplish many of its stated goals," he said.

Domenici said he had reservations about several provisions, including restrictions on a proposed temporary worker program and the impact on New Mexico small businesses. He also was concerned that a visa proposal could affect New Mexico's Medicaid program.

Instead, he said, the Senate should take up a separate measure to provide $4.4 million for border security.

He said Americans favored the bill's provisions that would have added 20,000 Border Patrol agents, built 370 miles of border fencing and 300 miles of border vehicle barriers and placed 105 radar and camera towers on the border.

Domenici said such provisions need to be in place "before we address the millions of unauthorized aliens living and working in the United States."

The measure would have toughened border security, instituted a new system to remove illegal immigrants from workplaces, created a new guest worker program and allowed millions of illegal immigrants to obtain legal status if they briefly returned home.

The Senate vote was a defeat for President Bush and a victory for Republican conservatives who strongly criticized provisions that would have established pathways to lawful status for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

Senators in both parties said the immigration issue is so volatile that Congress is unlikely to take it up again this fall or next year, when the presidential election will dominate American politics.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/latest/ci_6252544

CORRECT!!! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!

I'm glad they did the right thing and listened to the people. Thank you.