Thread: San Diego: North County leaders debate immigration reform

Sunday, April 8, 2007

North County leaders debate immigration reform

By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

NORTH COUNTY ---- Immigration reform proposals in Congress appear to favor legalizing some of the millions of illegal immigrants living in the country, but competing border measures face a minefield in Washington.

A White House plan and a House bill both lean toward giving illegal immigrants legal status. Many Republicans, including North County Congressmen Brian Bilbray and Darrell Issa, say they oppose the amnesty provisions in both proposals.

Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, said last week that he would favor a guest-worker program, as long as it doesn't guarantee legal residency. Issa, R-Vista, said through a spokesman Friday that he offered a guest-worker bill two years ago that did not guarantee residency.

The two congressmen each said that giving illegal immigrants amnesty would encourage more people to come.

"You give amnesty, ladies and gentlemen, you can't build a wall high enough at the border to control this situation," Bilbray said Thursday.

The White House plan, offered to some lawmakers behind closed doors and later leaked to the media, would increase enforcement at the border by building more fences and hiring more U.S. Border Patrol agents, according to The Associated Press.

It would also create a visa program to legalize some of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.

Those who want to become citizens would have to leave the country, pay a $10,000 fine and come back legally. The plan also includes a guest-worker program, but participants would not be allowed to stay permanently in the country, and they would not be allowed to bring their families.

Immigrant rights groups called the White House proposal a step back from the wide-ranging immigration reform measure passed by the U.S. Senate last year. The White House plan has been criticized by some because it would increase the number of visas available to skilled foreign workers by reducing the number of visas available to family members of U.S. citizens.

Others criticized the guest-worker proposal because it does not give participants a clear path to stay permanently.

Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington-based immigrant rights group, said that though he doesn't like the president's plan, he is optimistic there will be a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year.

New House plan

Sharry said congressional leaders and the president, each for their own reasons, want to pass immigration legislation.

"I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but the fundamentals are there," Sharry said.

His group supports a bill introduced last month by Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., that would give illegal immigrants six-year visas and create a guest-worker program that allows them to apply for residency.

It would also increase the number of Border Patrol agents, authorize building more border fences and deploy surveillance equipment to the border.

Under the Gutierrez-Flake proposal, illegal immigrants who arrived in the country after June 2006 would be allowed to apply for visas that they can renew every six years. Those who want to apply for permanent residency would have to learn English, leave the country at some point, pay back taxes and pay a $2,000 fine.

Frederick Hill, a spokesman for Issa, said the congressman opposes the bill because he objects to anything that would put illegal immigrants on "a path to residency or citizenship."

Issa's guest-worker plan from two years ago would have allowed illegal immigrants who pass a background check to apply for a visa that would have allowed them to stay up to five years.

Under Issa's proposal, guest workers would be allowed to apply for existing legalization programs, such as family reunification, but it would not guarantee residency status.

Hill said Issa, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, does not plan to reintroduce the bill this year.

However, Republicans, especially those who favor stricter immigration measures, will likely have to take a back seat to more moderate proposals, said Tamar Jacoby, an analyst focusing on immigration at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative policy research organization based in New York City.

Republicans campaigned heavily on immigration control during last year's midterm elections but lost control of Congress. Though public anger over the Iraq war was the main reason for the GOP's losses, Jacoby and other analysts say the party also misjudged the public's stance on immigration reform.

Jacoby said the public wants solutions to illegal immigration, not partisan bickering.

"The mood out there among voters is very pragmatic" on immigration reform, she said. "I think the mood, the anger that we saw last year, seems to have dried up."

The dilemma now is whether lawmakers can find enough common ground among the proposals being discussed to put forth a bill that the president can sign, Jacoby said.

"On the face of it, they are pretty far apart. But are they similar enough to start negotiating?" Jacoby asked. "It doesn't look like it, but I believe they are."

Senate plan in the works

Most analysts agree that the Senate's action will weigh heavily on whether a bill will move forward. Many are looking to Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who co-authored last year's Senate immigration reform bill with John McCain, R-Ariz., to see what he offers this year.

Kennedy wants the Senate to begin debate with the immigration bill approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and supported by the president last year, according to The Associated Press.

The Senate bill would have authorized construction of more border fences, hiring more Border Patrol agents and implementing an employee verification system. It also would have given illegal immigrants a pathway to legal status and established a guest-worker program.

Last year, congressional leaders were unable to merge the House bill and the Senate bill.

Some analysts say President Bush sees immigration reform as the best opportunity he has to pass a major piece of legislation before the 2008 presidential election. Even Bilbray, who called the president's support for amnesty "felony stupid," agrees that immigration reform is Bush's best shot at a bill this year.

The question is whether Democrats are willing to follow him and risk alienating enough voters to cost them their leadership in Congress, Bilbray said.

"I don't see anything positive," he said. "It's a huge danger to the Democrats. This could be the (end of) their majority."

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04 ... 4_7_07.txt

How would all this be enforced?

I say, simplicity is the key.

ALL ILLEGALS should be arrested and deported, no amnesty, no birthright citizenship, no jobs - nothing for them, except arrest and deportation.

Anyone agree?