Thread: Oregon activists differ in reaction to killed immigration bi

Oregon activists differ in reaction to killed immigration bill
6/28/2007, 12:12 p.m. PT
By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER
The Associated Press


PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon opponents of the immigration bill killed Thursday in the U.S. Senate jumped for joy, and backers said they would cast about for ways in their communities to fix "a broken immigration system."

The state's two U.S. senators were divided, as well.

Republican Gordon Smith voted to block the bill favored by President Bush.

Democrat Ron Wyden voted to limit debate and allow a final vote on the bill.

Under Senate rules, a vote to limit debate requires a supermajority of 60 votes. Otherwise, opponents such as Smith could filibuster and prevent a final vote on the bill.

Immigration reform advocates such as Wyden fell 14 votes short Thursday. Lawmakers generally agreed the issue is dead until 2008.

"Obviously we feel that Oregon can't wait a couple of years more to fix a broken immigration system," said Aeryca Steinbauer, coordinator of CAUSA, an Oregon immigrants' advocacy group.

"The raid (on a Del Monte plant in Portland) is tearing families apart. We need to hold senators accountable for this."

She said it is clear "that Democrats and Republicans were complicit in closing the door. Our parties need to look to their home communities for a solution to this."

She said CAUSA thought the bill was far from perfect, "but we wanted to see something move forward" to get the proposal through the Senate and into the House.

Jim Ludwick in McMinnville, who heads Oregonians for Immigration Reform, was overjoyed.

"When you heard that jumping up and down that you thought was your neighbor, that was me," he said after watching the vote on C-SPAN.

"I was delighted to see Smith stand up to his promise on the vote on cloture," or the cutting off of the debate.

"Wyden was willing to sell out the American workers" he said, saying they already are overburdened "by overpopulation caused by immigration."

He said his group found even less than its backers to like about the bill.

He called its enforcement provisions "a sham" that generally duplicate existing law and said the rest of the bill was "so horrendous that everybody in the United States illegally would have been legalized.

"What better mechanism is there than the presidential election?" he asked. "People with two points of view probably will be candidates. Let the American people weigh in on it."

On a Spanish language call-in program Tuesday on KPCN, a short-range station in Woodburn operated by Oregon's farmworkers' union, callers, many of whom expressed confusion about the legislative process, were urged to contact Smith, "who votes against our interests" on the bill.

"This is Daniela here in Woodburn," one caller said just hours after the Senate voted to open the debate. "Can I apply it now?"

"No, it has to pass the Senate. Then it has to pass the House," said Steinbauer, who was co-hosting the show "Conectete con CAUSA" (Get In Touch with CAUSA.)

Those who don't speak English were urged to find someone who does.

"It just takes three little minutes," Carmen Gonzalez, who hosted the earlier "Farmworkers' Hour" run by the union told listeners.

"Don't stand there with your arms crossed. Tell Smith it is about bringing families together, it is not an amnesty," she said.

Smith defended his vote.

"We are a country of immigrants and we are a country of laws," he said in a statement Thursday.

"Our law should reward those immigrants who come to America lawfully. Today's Senate vote is a message to Congress and to the federal government that it must first enforce our laws and secure our borders."

The bill that died Thursday contained enforcement provisions and made it easier for undocumented residents to gain legal status.

At least half of the estimated 300,000 Hispanics in Oregon are thought to be undocumented. Many live in the north Willamette Valley and are the backbone of the area's agricultural work force.

http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/reg ... st=orlocal

Democrat Ron Wyden voted to limit debate and allow a final vote on the bill.

Is that now going to be the politically correct way of referring to amnesty supporters of the bill?