Thread: McCain immigration plan attracting support

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local ... mmigration

Friday, January 20, 2006
McCain immigration plan attracting support
The Associated Press



Business, labor and religious leaders have joined to back a bill sponsored by U.S. Sen. John McCain to create a guest worker program and allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the country, provided they pay a fine.

They called "unworkable" a competing proposal from U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, which would require those here illegally to go home before they could apply for a guest worker visa.

Kyl and McCain are both Arizona Republicans. McCain's bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Kyl's by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

The two Senate bills differ sharply from a border-security bill passed last month in the House. That bill did not provide for a guest worker program, which President Bush has said would be a critical part of any effort to secure the border.

"We support legislation that would provide a step-by-step process in which an undocumented worker could qualify for permanent legal status," said Thomas Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

He was joined at a news conference in Washington, D.C., yesterday by Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union; Terence O'Sullivan, general president of the Laborers' International Union of North America; Mark Franken of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; and Kelley Rice-Schild of the American Health Care Association.

The House last month passed legislation to tighten border controls and force employers to confirm the legal status of their workers. But it drew criticism from many groups involved in immigration issues, who stressed that Congress won't solve immigration problems unless it deals with the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally.

The Senate is expected to turn to immigration as early as next month, considering several ideas for guest worker programs. Donohue said there aren't many issues - naming transportation and national security - where business and labor see eye to eye. "We have decided that this is a fundamental and essential issue for the future of our economy and our society."

An underground economy, said SEIU's Stern, "undermines standards for all workers in this country and creates division in workplaces and in our communities."

Donohue said the business community sees a temporary worker system as essential for addressing the current and future worker shortage. He denied that business sees immigrants as a source of cheap labor.

"The status quo or a border security bill with draconian fines and penalties would only drive them deeper into the shadows and subject them on occasion to exploitation," he said.

The group also agreed that the Cornyn-Kyl approach of requiring those here illegally to return to their home countries to apply for visas could be unworkable. It would be "enormously disruptive," Stern said.

O'Sullivan said that while his 800,000-member group backs McCain-Kennedy, it would like to see tougher labor market tests to ensure that the foreign workers are needed and that they don't bring down wages.

The House last month passed legislation to tighten border controls and force employers to confirm the legal status of their workers. But it drew criticism from many groups involved in immigration issues, who stressed that Congress won't solve immigration problems unless it deals with the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally.

Excuse me??? The employer is the best place to start. Then we would see some “self deportation.�

Donohue said the business community sees a temporary worker system as essential for addressing the current and future worker shortage. He denied that business sees immigrants as a source of cheap labor.

I wouldn't trust Mr. Donohue any further than I could throw a buffalo. I've seen him on television. A real snake oil salesman. Business wants the cheap labor.

The group also agreed that the Cornyn-Kyl approach of requiring those here illegally to return to their home countries to apply for visas could be unworkable. It would be "enormously disruptive," Stern said.

Disruptive for who????
Better for illegals to be disrupted than American citizens.

They just KEEP spewing that bilge about the 'shortage of workers' in the US. There is NO such animal.

I wouldn't trust Kennedy with a dead cat. I would trust McCain with even less...

Now where did I put those rotten eggs???

RR

It is as real as the Los Angeles "water shortage" depicted in the movie "Chinatown." Drive native born Americans with realistic labor demands so far into long term unemployment the corporate and government statisticians no longer count them as they claim illegals are needed to replace them.