Thread: Immigration chief: Reform would be historic

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16662951.htm

Posted on Fri, Feb. 09, 2007
Immigration chief: Reform would be historic
BY NIALA BOODHOO AND ALFONSO CHARDY

President Bush's temporary worker proposal has a better chance of passing in Congress this year, and if it does, it will be as significant a milestone in U.S. history as the civil rights movement, the head of the nation's immigration and citizenship agency said today.

''Immigration, as we all know, is the hot-button domestic issue of the day,'' Emilio Gonzalez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. ``And I'll go one step further and I'll tell you that immigration reform is probably as important as the civil rights movement was back in the '60s.''

Gonzalez's remarks before the opening session of a daylong chamber business/employer immigration seminar marked the first time that a senior-level federal immigration official has cast the effort to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants as a historic endeavor. Gonzalez's statements also amounted to the strongest indication yet that the Republican administration expects a majority Democratic Congress to pass a measure that would include some form of legalization for undocumented workers.

Gonzalez said he had met Thursday afternoon with President Bush, and ``I can tell you that he's as committed to comprehensive reform as he's always been.''

Efforts to rewrite immigration law failed last year when the House and Senate passed radically different bills that neither chamber ever reconciled.

The Senate bill called for the legalization of up to 10 million of the more than 12 million undocumented immigrants estimated to be living in the United States. The House bill called for rendering the undocumented as criminal felons, which would then bar them from immigration status and require their deportation.

Gonzalez, a Cuban American who arrived in the United States with his parents when he was 4 years old, would lead the effort to process work permits for the millions of undocumented immigrants who would be allowed to apply for status if Congress approves it.

USCIS approves or denies applications from immigrants for asylum, citizenship, green cards and work permits. Gonzalez recently announced a proposal for hefty application filing fee increases in a bid, he says, to improve and modernize service and quicken document delivery times.

Gonzalez said his agency needed to hike fees because, like a business, it needs to cover rising costs and move from paper to electronic files.

''USCIS is run just like any modern-day international corporation,'' he said. ``I operate as the CEO of an international enterprise with 16,000 federal and contract employees working in 260 offices around the world with a $2 billion budget.''

He said the agency was required to ''remain solvent every day'' because -- unlike other federal agencies -- it is not fully taxpayer-funded.

Gonzalez went on to stress that the proposed higher fees were not an attempt to deter legal immigration or the importation of foreign workers.

''In terms of sheer numbers,'' Gonzalez said, ``America is facing one of the largest migration waves in our history. Last fiscal year, USCIS processed more than seven million applications for benefits, and those numbers are expected to increase this year.''

Even more applications will be processed, he added, because ``the passage of comprehensive immigration reform is also on the horizon.''

In answers to questions after his speech, Gonzalez said he believed that prospects for passage of immigration reform in Congress were ''much better this year than last year'' because the administration is working with Democrats and Republicans in Congress on a compromise that he did not outline in detail.

''We are working with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle of both chambers to come to an agreement on language that everybody can support,'' he said. Also, he added: ``The president is very keen on comprehensive reform. He considers this to be one of the most important things he can do before he leaves office.''

After the morning session, Gonzalez explained why he compared immigration reform to the civil rights movement.

''The changes would be almost as dramatic,'' he told The Miami Herald. ``We are talking about how we treat 12 million people that are here, that are in the shadows. We are talking about how we treat legal immigrants. We're talking about how we bring in more people.

``It's so far-reaching and so comprehensive and it's a heavy lift. That's the comparison. It's not something that's just going to be easy. You know, you pass a bill and everybody goes on their way. This is a comprehensive reform that, if enacted, is going to change the complexity of America, change what America looks like. It's going to say a lot about us.''

I feel ill.

This is a comprehensive reform that, if enacted, is going to change the complexity of America, change what America looks like. It's going to say a lot about us.

I'm going to be SICK!
This is what happens when you put self-interested spewing Latinos into office.

Latinos have the organized advantage of vocal propaganda over all white Americans and the press along with our elected officials cater to them. I WANT TO JOIN A WHITE ORGANIZATION THAT WILL SPEAK FOR ME! Does anybody know of one?

This is not a civil rights movement it is a social takeover. Our Congress has sold us out! It just rolls over to accommodate them!

American certainly will be changed FOREVER! Our own government is betraying our sovereignty our heritage and our laws!

I hope all illegal immigrants move to Ted Kennedy's hometown where he has promised them lots of money and privilege.

MEXICANS DID NOT BUILD THIS COUNTRY! THEY INVADED AND STOLE IT!

KEEP THE LETTERS, E-MAILS AND PHONE CALLS GOING.
BE SURE YOU TELL YOUR CONGRESS MEN WHAT EMILIE GONGALEZ SAID, SURE SOUNDS LIKE A TAKE OVER TO ME.
THINGS LIKE THIS SHOULD JUST MAKE US MORE WILLFULL. WE ARE NOT GIVING YOU OUR COUNTRY,PERIOD~~~~

Regardless of what hispanic leaders say, giving amnesty to illegals has nothing to do with civil rights. It has everything to do with a group of non-citizens breaking our laws daily. Drunk driving, ID thief, immigration laws, murder, rape, child abuse, etc. If Amnesty is given, America is nothing more than a third rate country, corruption throughout the government, and a land of the lawless.

You can almost hear this guy relishing in what he is saying. And people dismiss the notion that someone wants to take over our nation?
I will NEVER stop this fight against this, I will only rachet up what I'm doing. This guy speaks as if this is a done deal. Well, I've got news for him. Bush has so little 'political capital" he couldn't get a free cup of coffee at a soup line. Look at what's going on with the 2 arrested border patrol agents, we're seeing where the government lied, etc. Many representatives are ticked, heck one Republican even mentioned impeachment! Yeah, they'll cooperate on this.
We'll see if Bush has this in his pocket yet! We need to concentrate heavily on the House of Representatives, on the ones on our side and also blast the blue dog Dems. If it don't pass the house, there's no bill for that idiot Bush to sign. He'll get comprehensive immigration reform when pigs fly.