Thread: Migrant-weary activists press for action now

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Migrant-weary activists press for action now

Doug Abrahms
Desert Sun Washington Bureau
September 2, 2005

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WASHINGTON - Westerners are putting pressure on their lawmakers in the nation's Capitol to take a stronger stand on illegal immigration.
Luca Zanna of Apple Valley, Calif., started a Web site in July targeting Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Lewis' vote this year for a bill that blocks drivers licenses for undocumented workers wasn't enough, Zanna said. He wants the federal government to take bolder steps, including placing the National Guard at the border.

"We want to wake him up," said Zanna, who patrolled the Arizona border with the Minutemen Project in April. "Illegal immigration unfortunately is such a big matter now - it's health-care (costs), it's your job, it's national security."

Last month, the governors of Arizona and New Mexico declared states of emergency at their borders because of the staggering costs of illegal immigration.

A majority of the estimated 3 million illegal immigrants that cross the Mexican border each year pass through Arizona and New Mexico. Immigration foes complain that the steady flow causes a drain on local and federal resources.

Jim Gilchrist, who gained notoriety as founder of the Minutemen Project, the citizen group that patrolled a stretch of the Arizona border in April, has announced a run for Congress in a special October election to replace Rep. Chris Cox, R-Calif. Cox was named this summer to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Minutemen Project and actions by the border-state governors reflect the frustration of local officials due to a lack of federal action on illegal immigration, said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum.

"We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country and the deadliest summer in the desert ever," she said, referring to the hundreds of immigrants who died this year as they illegally crossed the border between the two countries.

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., introduced an immigration reform bill in May that would register the millions of undocumented workers living in the United States and allow them to stay after paying a fine and undergoing a background check. The legislation also would boost the number of work and family visas available, and crack down on employers who hire illegal workers.

Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., are pushing legislation that would put more money and manpower to enforce existing laws and secure the border. Their bill also requires countries to repatriate their citizens from the United States, and it requires foreign workers to leave the United States before trying to change their status.

But differences among the major political parties, and within the parties, foreshadows the difficulties both proposals are likely to face passing Congress, said Steve Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors tougher immigration enforcement.

"We want to wake him up," said Zanna, who patrolled the Arizona border with the Minutemen Project in April. "

Good luck.