Thread: Sebate Bills Revive Debate On Immigration Policy

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/11939200.htm
Monday June 20, 2005

Senate bills revive debate on immigration policy

By Dave Montgomery
Star-Telegram Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Efforts to overhaul the nation's immigration system are heating up in Congress with two ambitious plans in the Senate that differ sharply on how to deal with an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.

Bipartisan legislation introduced last month by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., proposes a temporary guest-worker program that would put undocumented immigrants on a path toward U.S. citizenship.

Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona are weeks away from unveiling a competing measure that also would establish a guest-worker program but would require participants to eventually return to their home countries. The bill also would beef up border security -- before the guest-worker program is started.

Among the provisions of the Cornyn-Kyl plan: 10,000 additional Border Patrol agents over the next five years and $2 billion for high-tech surveillance that includes unmanned vehicles, cameras and sensors.

The two immigration measures dramatically accelerate the immigration debate, with supporters saying their plans address President Bush's demands for the first comprehensive immigration overhaul in nearly two decades.

And the competing bills embody fundamentally different approaches espoused by an array of opposing forces.

On one side are those who believe the top priority in the post-9-11 era is to fortify the nation's porous border with Mexico. On the other are those who insist on first finding a way to deal with the millions of undocumented workers who come to the United States for higher-paying jobs than they can get at home.

Over the past 15 years, the population of illegal immigrants has increased to nearly 11 million, including 1.4 million in Texas, according to the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington. An estimated 57 percent are from Mexico, and 24 percent come from other Latin American countries.

Outlining his plan in a telephone interview with the Star-Telegram, Cornyn said he has discussed the legislation with the White House and believes President Bush, a fellow Texan, shares his view that any overhaul of immigration policy has "got to lead with security."

Guest-worker plans

Bush has not publicly embraced either measure, but the White House says that enactment of a "compassionate" immigration policy remains one of the president's top goals.

Cornyn, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship, has emerged as a central figure in the debate. He has conducted a series of high-profile hearings and worked with Kyl, chairman of a subcommittee on terrorism and homeland security, to craft joint legislation.

They introduced the measure's security component in May, and in July will unveil their plans for a guest-worker program. Cornyn said it will be similar to a program he proposed previously that would have allowed immigrants, including those in the country illegally, to temporarily fill jobs shunned by U.S. workers and then return home at the end of three years. A guest-worker program proposed by Bush also required foreign workers to return home, after a maximum of six years.

The competing McCain-Kennedy bill would allow guest workers to apply for permanent legal status after four years, putting them on track toward U.S. citizenship. Guest workers not on their way toward citizenship would return home after their work visas expired.

The measure would require undocumented residents to pay fines totaling $2,000 before obtaining the three-year work visas, which could be renewed for another three years.

The Cornyn-Kyl bill is also expected to include fines and processing fees, although the amount hasn't been determined.

Cornyn characterized his plan as "work and return," as opposed to what he called "work and stay." He said his concept has support among Mexican officials concerned about the economic effects of a permanent exodus of workers from that country.

But backers of the McCain-Kennedy bill, including business, organized labor and immigrant-advocacy groups, believe that immigrants now in the United States illegally are an important component of the U.S. economy and should be allowed to have "green cards" and permanent residential status.

"We're trying to replace an illegal flow with a legal flow," said John Gay, co-chairman of the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, which includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations.

Both measures would stiffen penalties against employers who hire illegal immigrants and expand workplace enforcement. They would require tamper-resistant identification documents and electronic systems to verify eligibility.

House opposition

More than 30 organizations have at least tentatively endorsed the McCain-Kennedy bill, but Cornyn and Kyl have also been marshalling support as they put the finishing touches on their measure.

It's considered likely that a compromise immigration bill will clear the Senate in this session of Congress -- either this year or next -- but the outlook is less clear in the House, where more than 70 conservative House members led by Thomas Tancredo, R-Colo., adamantly oppose any type of guest- worker program.

Tancredo's group, backed by organizations calling for a more restrictive immigration policy, maintains that the guest-worker feature in both Senate bills rewards lawbreakers and is tantamount to amnesty.

Backers of the guest-worker plans say they are not amnesty because illegal immigrants would be penalized by paying fines to come forward.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, is insisting that any immigration changes must come after tougher security measures -- a feature of the Cornyn-Kyl proposal.

Despite the differences, those pushing for immigration overhaul say Bush's commitment and the emergence of the two Senate bills have infused the issue with a surge of momentum not seen in years.

"I see hopeful signs that we're making progress toward some kind of reform of a fundamentally broken system," said Daniel Griswold of the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington. "Everybody understands the status quo is unacceptable. If it doesn't happen in this session of Congress, I don't know when it's going to happen."

IN THE KNOW

Overhauling immigration

Both measures would expand workplace enforcement and stiffen penalties against employers who hire illegal immigrants. They would require tamper-resistant identification documents and electronic systems to verify eligibility.

McCain-Kennedy plan

Cornyn-Kyl plan

• Would allow guest workers to apply for permanent legal status after four years, putting them on track toward U.S. citizenship. Guest workers not on their way toward citizenship would return home after their work visas expired.

• Would require undocumented residents to pay fines totaling $2,000 before obtaining the three-year work visas.

• Would provide for 10,000 additional Border Patrol agents over the next five years and $2 billion for high-tech surveillance.

• Would allow immigrants, including those in the country illegally, to temporarily fill jobs shunned by U.S. workers and then return home at the end of three years.

• The bill is also expected to include fines and processing fees.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Montgomery, (202) 383-6016 dmontgomery@krwashington.com

Guest workers not on their way toward citizenship would return home after their work visas expired.

Would allow immigrants, including those in the country illegally, to temporarily fill jobs shunned by U.S. workers and then return home at the end of three years.

They don't leave now, but somehow - by magic I guess - they will leave on their own after their visa expires?

And what about their native born children? Will they leave as well?

Sure they will. And the check's in the mail.