Thread: King says he'll reword bill

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longi ... -headlines

King says he'll reword bill

Says he didn't mean to target humanitarian groups after outcry over measure aimed at illegal immigration

BY BART JONES AND J. JIONI PALMER
STAFF WRITERS

December 31, 2005


After an outpouring of criticism from churches and relief groups, Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) said Friday he is willing to reword the legislation he co-sponsored that would have made it illegal to assist undocumented immigrants.

The bill calls for building a 698-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, turning undocumented immigrants into felons and permitting "deputization" of local and state police officers as immigration agents.

But it also included a provision that makes it a crime for anyone to assist undocumented immigrants to "come or remain" in the United States.

Immigrant advocates and officials from churches and relief agencies said this could lead to the imprisonment of priests, nuns, social workers, doctors and Good Samaritans who may provide these immigrants with anything from counseling to a ride to the grocery store.

King said that was never the intention of the provision, which he said targets gangs that smuggle undocumented immigrants into the country.

The measure "is not aimed at humanitarian groups at all," said King, who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. "If there are any specific words they want changed, I can assure you that will be done."

King said the groups were misinterpreting the bill and that "the church is developing a persecution complex here ... If an alien smuggling ring gets a guy into the country and he stops at St. Brigid's at a soup kitchen, we're not going to lock up the pastor of St. Brigid's. They're not part of the smuggling ring."

Some church workers greeted King's words with relief Friday, although they said they were still outraged by the bill in general and do not believe they were misinterpreting its broad language.

"If we can discuss it, excellent," Yanira Chacon, a church outreach worker at St. Brigid's in Westbury, said in Spanish. "The ideal for me is that this bill doesn't pass at all."

Church and immigrant groups call the bill the harshest piece of anti-immigrant legislation in 70 years. Supporters say it would help bring under control a situation of anarchy at the border that has swelled the number of undocumented immigrants in the country to 11 million, including an estimated 100,000 on Long Island.

King said the bill is unlikely to be passed in its present form by the Senate, which he expected to add provisions for a guest-worker program granting temporary visas mainly to low-skilled workers.

However, he did say "a significant portion of it has to become law otherwise no immigration reform bill will pass the House."

King--don't be a chicken. Leave your bill alone. Who do you think is part of the network of smuggling illegal aliens into the US? Just the coyotes that drop them at the border? No. Everyone that helps them make to the border, crosses the border, aids them in being here, aids them in staying here, aids them politically by "influencing our legislation" and "impacting public policy"....just like those 501 C 3 groups you've succombed to...influencing you and your legislation in violation of their 501 C 3 status.

That is LOBBYING and that is illegal. You aren't even supposed to meet with them, let alone allow them to influence you.

If you give an illegal alien a ride to the grocery store, first of all, you're a fool, and second of all, you are violating American Law.

You are supposed to give them a ride to the police station if you give them any ride at all.

See how that works?

Veeery simple.

I think that enforcement won the Newsday Poll. The churches should be punished if they offer material aid here to illegals in defiance of American law. These churches were indispensable to he sanctuary movement which has left a legacy of millions under TPS 12years after the war they claimed to be escaping from was ended.

This would be NO DIFFERENT than driving a GETAWAY CAR in a BANK ROBBERY. Aiding and Abetting is AIDING AND ABETTING. PLEASE, Rep. King--DON'T CAVE to these BRAINWASHERS. And, THEY need to mind their own LEGAL business!

There's a poll with the article & the bad guys are winning. Vote now.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-14769.html

I think the reason that the "bad guys" are winning is the way that question is phrased. Maybe it should have said that the person aiding an illegal should be charged with a crime rather than a FELONY.

42.9% Yes 1696

54.1% No 2135

3.1% Not Sure 121

Originally Posted by Bootsie

I think the reason that the "bad guys" are winning is the way that question is phrased. Maybe it should have said that the person aiding an illegal should be charged with a crime rather than a FELONY.

I think it's already a misdemeanor isn't it? We need something with a little jail time included.

NO, it's actually already a felony and you can already serve years of prison time for it and pay fines on top of that.

Like I've said before, there is no shortage or absence of US Immigration Laws. What we have in existing laws already is more than adequate to solve our problems.

Kind of makes you wonder what King is really up to or trying to achieve, doesn't it?

Yes--it sure DOES make you question what is going on with King. See--the damn bill is ALREADY FALLING APART and it hasn't even GOTTEN TO THE SENATE YET. You can sure tell the OBL's are HARD AT IT ALREADY. I hope WE aren't going to sit back and drag our feet and find that it's too late to get our two cents' worth in. I have already written MY Senators about the House Bill. I want them to find that on their desks when they come back after their BREAK.

That brings up another aggrevating situation. Have you ever noticed HOW MANY BREAKS CONGRESS GETS??? AND, WE pay for those breaks! How many of you with jobs get so much vacation time???!!! Of course, they ALWAYS use, as their EXCUSE, the fact that they have to go back to their home states and take the PULSE OF THEIR CONSTITUENTS!!! I would bet the FARM that Liddy DOLE has NOT EVEN BEEN TO NORTH CAROLINA over the break. That's something we need to see if we can find out. Any of you out there heard of her meeting with constituents during the break?????