http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/ ... 725427.htm

Posted on Fri, Jan. 27, 2006

Lawmakers foresee battle looming over immigration

By Nathaniel Hoffman
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
The Rev. Tony Valdivia is not encouraged by talk of "comprehensive immigration reform" in Congress.

The overarching message reaching his parishioners, 70 percent of whom he estimates lack immigration papers, is that they are not wanted here.

"I just don't see a light at the end of the tunnel," said the pastor of St. Louis Bertrand Church in East Oakland. "We are many but we have very little political power."

While undocumented immigrants may be politically weak, powerful forces in favor of either relaxed immigration laws or stricter controls are gearing up for a major debate on Capitol Hill next month.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is poised to take up immigration reform bills in February that offer everything from a path to citizenship for undocumented workers to stepped-up deportation and lengthening the fence along the border with Mexico.

The House of Representatives in December passed a bill that makes immigration violations subject to criminal prosecution and beefs up border security and internal enforcement of immigration laws.

Immigration experts say it is up to the Senate to balance enforcement with a realistic plan for dealing with millions of undocumented workers in the United States.

"In some ways it's not that different from tough-on-crime legislation. It's popular with the public," said UC Davis law professor Kevin Johnson.

"But there's these economic and social forces at work that really make it impossible to enforce the laws as they are written."

While House Republicans talk about security and enforcement, business groups -- usually allied with Republican platforms -- argue that the millions of people here illegally are critical to the industries that employ them.

The House bill, sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and supported by 239 lawmakers, including Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, was widely seen by immigrants and throughout Mexico and Central America as a slap in the face.

"It's a shame on the United States," said a Guatemalan bishop who spoke to the Times on Monday at his brother's house in Vallejo. "The United States is a nation of immigrants, a nation that defends human rights and liberty," said Alvaro Ramazzini, bishop of the Diocese of San Marcos.

Ramazzini was at St. Elizabeth Church in Oakland this past week to visit relatives and to dedicate an image of Jesus for Guatemalans in the community. He runs a shelter on the Guatemalan border with Mexico to help migrants and deportees with food, shelter and legal aid.

The migrants rarely heed warnings of the dangers of the journey north, he said. "The reality of poverty is that people say, 'To us it's not important.'"

National security worries have subsumed the immigration debate since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the placement of immigration under the Department of Homeland Security.

"The congressman believes the bill was a good first step in a post-9/11 world," said Nicole Philbin, Pombo's press secretary. "He believes in the need to increase security at our borders."

While many who voted for the Sensenbrenner bill support securing the borders as a first step, it is not the only immigration reform they may consider, said Tamar Jacoby, an immigration expert at the conservative Manhattan Institute.

"I think there are a lot of Republicans who are counting on a knee-jerk reaction from the public," she said.

But when people think a little longer, Jacoby said, they realize that the 11 million people working illegally in the country are doing essential jobs and they consider alternative proposals.

A growing coalition of immigrant advocates -- from conservative business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to liberal labor groups and religious institutions such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops -- is urging the Senate to pass a comprehensive reform bill. These groups back a guest-worker program that would give immigrants some way of legalizing their livelihoods and open a path to earn citizenship.

"You can't talk about dealing with this 11 million population unless you engage the 11 million," said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, a coalition that includes representatives of the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Council of La Raza and the Service Employees International Union.

On the other hand, an increasingly vocal anti-immigration front vows to oppose any guest worker provisions, labeling it an amnesty for law breakers.

"The (1986) amnesty sent the word out around the world that if you can get to the United States, they will not get rid of you," said Rick Oltman, a spokesman for the Federation of American Immigration Reform who lives in Novato.

"Political elites of both parties want to continue to allow this cheap labor to flow in because business is asking for it," Oltman said.

President Bush has supported a guest-worker program since he took office, but he has not revealed many details.

Kelley's Immigration Forum supports a measure floated by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., that would provide a way for undocumented immigrants to apply for residency and citizenship.

The Rev. Valdivia, meanwhile, tells his church that rallying and protesting is not going to get them a welcome mat.

He tells them to get their papers together and to become citizens.

"It's only the political clout that's going to help us," he said. "The politicians have to know political power."

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