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Hayworth targets migrants with immigration bill
Measure would reduce visas for Mexicans

Billy House and Susan Carroll
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 29, 2005 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., plans to introduce today a sweeping immigration enforcement bill that would create a new national Social Security card, crack down on employers who hired undocumented workers and bring a moratorium on immigrant visas for Mexican citizens.

Although the provisions of the bill were well-received by some proponents of greater immigration control, they were widely assailed by immigration attorneys, advocates for undocumented immigrants and privacy watchdogs.

The Enforcement First Immigration Act of 2005 laces together in one package new and old proposals.

It represents what Hayworth and other U.S. House conservatives hope will be their signature core principles in any immigration reform bill agreed upon by Congress.

"The hope is that my model of enforcement will be a blueprint where the majority . . . can come together," Hayworth said of the 113-page bill he plans to detail today at a Capitol Hill news conference.

Increasing enforcement

Hayworth joins several other Arizonans in producing his own major legislation targeting immigration reform, a key issue for their state, which is the gateway for most of the illegal immigration into the United States.

Some provisions echoed a bill by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., that calls for 10,000 more Border Patrol agents, adds Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry and expands detention space for undocumented immigrants.

But Hayworth's bill, unlike other immigration legislation introduced this session, would reduce the number of visas available, particularly for Mexican citizens.

It includes provisions that historically have proved controversial, such as putting the military on the border, ending automatic citizenship for babies born on U.S. soil and authorizing an estimated 700,000 state and local law enforcement officers to enforce immigration law.

The proposed legislation also would make voting in a foreign election without approval from the secretary of State a felony.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that favors stricter immigration controls, said the bill is "the right approach because it focuses on enforcement first."

"I don't mean to be a mouthpiece for the bill, but it really does summarize the approach we need to take, which is to regain control of the border and then talk about whether we need an amnesty or guest-worker program," he said.

"I'd have to say Congressman Hayworth's bill is common sense. In fact, it's hard to believe there would be any objection to it at all."

But critics found plenty to fault in the legislation.

"I don't expect this is going to be taken particularly seriously on Capitol Hill," said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that pushes for more legal immigration. "The debate has moved far beyond where Representative Hayworth is."

Kelley charged that Hayworth's bill mistakenly tries to stop illegal immigration by restricting legal immigration.

"I think there's some enforcement provisions in here that might make sense, but they can't be absent an overall reform," she said.

"It guarantees our illegal immigration population will swell because it shuts off the narrow legal channels that now exist."

The bill will have strong backing from the anti-illegal immigration lobby and may have a chance given the "sentiment in the House," said Ira Mehlman, a Los Angeles-based spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which lobbies for reductions in immigration.

"These bills are always difficult, but I think the level of public discontent with mass immigration and the fact that it is now spread all across the country works in the favor of getting this support that it needs," he said.

Employer accountability

Mehlman said the bill addresses some of the major issues that fuel the growth of the undocumented population in the United States, now estimated at 10 million to 12 million people.

Hayworth's bill would dedicate thousands of agents and local law enforcement officers to identifying and deporting undocumented immigrants, while increasing the fines for employers who flouted the law.

Under Hayworth's bill, hiring one undocumented immigrant could result in a penalty of up to $50,000 and a jail term of up to one year.

"It actually puts some teeth into enforcement, which has been lacking for a long time," Mehlman said.

"It creates a verifiable means for employers to check if somebody is legal to hold a job, and if they fail to observe those procedures, there is a serious fine involved.

"On the other side of the equation, it sends the message to people that if you are caught . . . you will be sent home."

Lynn Marcus, director of the University of Arizona Immigration Law Clinic, said the proposed legislation is a "monster" with "many heads," alluding to the number of controversial provisions.

'Could be a disaster'

"Any piece of this could be a disaster," she said.

The legislation would create a "tamper resistant" Social Security card with a digitized photograph of the cardholder, a move designed to allow employers to instantly verify citizenship for new hires.

But Dawn Wyland, interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona, said an ID based on a Social Security number raises troubling questions.

"From a privacy standpoint, we definitely would be opposed to a national security ID or a secure ID that uses a Social Security as an identifying factor, solely for the purposes of privacy and identity fraud," she said.

The bill takes a chapter from the CLEAR Act, which proponents have said could add as many as 700,000 law enforcement officials to the battle against illegal immigration.

Crime victims

The CLEAR Act has faced opposition from many law enforcement and union leaders across the country, including in Arizona, who fear undocumented immigrants will not come forward to report crimes.

The bill's thrust stands in starkest contrast to bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate and House in May by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., along with Reps. Jim Kolbe and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.

That measure would set up a program for undocumented workers already in the country to get them temporary visas after paying a fine and could put them on track to become permanent residents or return home in six years.