Republicans in House vow to hold line on immigration
Any plan that permits a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants is unacceptable, they say.

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By JANE NORMAN
REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU
May 9, 2007

Washington, D.C. — House Republican leaders on immigration, including Rep. Steve King of Iowa, warned Tuesday they will not accept "mass amnesty" for those in the United States illegally.

They noted that their remarks came on the same day that six people were arrested and charged in a connection with a plan to kill soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey. Three of those charged were in the country illegally, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

Members of the Senate are working with the White House to come to an immigration agreement, and a deal in the works would delay legal status for unauthorized immigrants until border security is beefed up.

It could then take up to 13 years for immigrants to gain legal status, and they would have to pay fines and return to their home nations, the Associated Press reported.

But King, the top Republican on a House Judiciary Committee subcommittee that handles immigration, and other Republicans at a news conference urged that senators reject any plan that would extend a path to citizenship for millions of unauthorized immigrants.

King regards amnesty as anything that would "pardon immigration lawbreakers and reward them with the objective of their crime," he said.

"If they are going to be for amnesty in the Senate, the public will get out their scarlet letter 'A' branding iron and brand them with an 'A' for amnesty," said King. "But they need to admit that (and) not argue that their proposal is not amnesty. The price for it is the pillar of American civilization, the rule of law."

Democrats and some Republicans, including President Bush, have argued that unauthorized immigrants should be given some way to become citizens.