Thread: New Congress likely to tackle immigration

http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/co ... 19,00.html

By Michael Collins, collinsm@shns.com
December 14, 2006

WASHINGTON — For farmers like Henry Vega, whether Democrats or Republicans are leading the charge for immigration reform doesn't really matter.

What does matter is that farmers have the labor force to harvest their crops. And that, Vega said, means that whoever is running Congress needs to push for a guest-worker program so that undocumented immigrants can work legally and farmers no longer have to worry about unharvested crops rotting in the field.


"Up in the San Joaquin Valley, they have lost crops," said Vega, president of the Ventura County Farm Bureau. "They've had grapes on the vines, tomatoes out in the fields, not enough harvesters to harvest whatever products are out there."

Immigration advocates believe that the chances for a guest-worker program and passage of other comprehensive reforms have improved now that Democrats will take control of the House and Senate next year.

President Bush supports a guest-worker program and has mentioned immigration reform as an issue upon which he and the newly elected Democratic Congress might be able to agree.

The Senate already has gone on record in support of setting up a guest-worker program. In the House, conservative Republicans who vehemently oppose such a program saw their influence diminished in the Nov. 7 election, raising the possibility that a guest-worker program might win approval in the lower chamber next year.

"I think there is a chance that Congress will enact real and significant reform, that they will overhaul the immigration system," said Josh Bernstein, director of federal policy for the National Immigration Law Center, an immigrant advocacy group.

Reform won't come easy

Even so, immigration reform is far from a sure bet.

While Democrats are viewed as more sympathetic to measures like a guest-worker program, some labor organizations with close ties to the party fear that new workers would undercut wages and working conditions for Americans. In addition, some of the newly elected Democrats in the House, such as Heath Shuler of North Carolina and Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, are conservatives who campaigned against what they refer to as amnesty for undocumented workers.

Presidential politics also may be a deciding factor.

Immigration reform is not at the top of priorities for incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California. But unless Congress moves quickly, the immigration reform debate will likely spill over into the fall and possibly into 2008, when the next presidential campaign will be under way.

Democrats won't be eager to tackle such a complex, controversial issue in the midst of a presidential campaign, said Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that wants more restrictions on immigration.

"It isn't one you pass and you just kind of say, ‘We got that out of the way, and we will never have to think about that again,'" Camarota said. "It will take years for this to work its way out."

Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, thinks that there's a 50-50 chance that Congress will approve some type of immigration reform.

"I think reality demands something get done," Butterfield said. "Businesses are suffering. Workers are needed. It's not tenable to continue with the status quo. Will the politicians listen to that and roll up their sleeves and get it done? I think that is the big question."

Both the House and Senate already have passed immigration reform bills, but the differences between the two proposals were so stark that lawmakers were unable to reach a compromise. The Senate bill, for example, called for a guest-worker program and would have allowed workers who entered the country illegally to become U.S. citizens. The House version took a more hard-line enforcement approach and included neither provision.

Supporters and opponents agree that the chances of a guest-worker program winning congressional approval are a lot greater now than they were before the election.

Gallegly opposes ‘amnesty'

"This is, for those who are here illegally, the best shot they have had in a long time," said Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley.

Gallegly, an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, favors efforts to increase security along the border and is against a guest-worker program or proposals that would create a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who have entered the country illegally. Gallegly and other critics say that would amount to amnesty. Yet he fears that could be where the new Democratic Congress is headed.

"There is absolutely no question there is a significant number of my friends on the other side of the aisle who are now in the leadership role want amnesty," Gallegly said. "No question about it. They may want to dress it up a little bit and call it something else. But the American public is too smart for that."

With Democrats in charge, groups such as organized labor will likely play a more pivotal role in the immigration debate, Gallegly said, "and once they get involved, it's going to mean something much more than just amnesty."

"They are going to be demanding much larger benefits and wages and so on and so forth," Gallegly said. "And for those who have been sitting in the wings waiting for some form of legalization because of cheap labor, I think the issue of cheap labor is going to be fairly short-lived."

Much work to be done: Capps

Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, said she believes that a guest-worker program is now more likely, "but I am also mindful that there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the House of Representatives to get us in line with what was done in the Senate," she said.

The House needs to approach the subject "thoroughly and thoughtfully" and hold additional hearings to come up with legislation that can win bipartisan support, Capps said.

"It would be my hope and my goal that we could pass meaningful legislation that is comprehensive and compassionate at the same time and also deals with our current security and economic needs," she said.

Vega, who grows oranges, lemons, strawberries and avocados, said farmers also hope that something finally will be done.

"It's a very contentious subject, so I'm not sure the Democrats will be able to get it passed so easily," he said.

But "whether it happens because the Democrats or the Republicans are in charge is irrelevant. It's a nonpartisan issue."

So what could this mean....

S.D. Sen. Johnson in Critical Condition
Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson in Critical Condition After Undergoing Surgery

By MARY CLARE
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson was in critical condition early Thursday, recovering from emergency surgery overnight, a hospital official said.

Johnson suffered stroke-like symptoms Wednesday, just weeks before his party, with only a one-vote majority, was to take control of the Senate.


There was no formal announcement of the South Dakota senator's condition. A person in the hospital's media relations office, who declined to be identified by name pending a formal statement, said George Washington University Hospital was preparing to announce that Johnson's condition was critical. He would not describe the nature of the surgery.


There was no formal announcement of the operation, which lasted past midnight Wednesday, and was disclosed by another official who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of the subject.


Apart from the risk to his health, Johnson's illness carried political ramifications. Democrats emerged from last month's elections with a 51-49 Senate majority. If he were forced to relinquish his seat, a replacement would be named by South Dakota's GOP Gov. Mike Rounds.


A Republican appointee would create a 50-50 tie, and allow the GOP to retain Senate control.


Johnson, who turns 60 later this month, was admitted to George Washington University hospital