Thread: Senators seeking to reach immigration endgame

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 980857.htm

Posted on Tue, Feb. 28, 2006

Senators seeking to reach immigration endgame

BY DENA BUNIS
The Orange County Register

WASHINGTON - If immigration reform were a game of chess, the first gambit would have taken place in December when the House passed its border security bill. But the pieces will really start to move on Thursday when the Senate Judiciary Committee holds its first meeting on the subject.

And like any game between grandmasters, this one could take a while. Those who have been watching the preliminaries believe it could be years.

"I really do think that this is probably a longer debate than simply this Congress," said Doris Meissner, who was the commissioner of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service under President Clinton. "The critical step right now is to have a credible alternative on the table so that it can be a productive debate."

What Meissner is talking about is an alternative to the only immigration legislation that has emerged from the 109th Congress - a House bill that cracks down on illegal immigration through a series of enforcement measures.

But according to the White House and a bipartisan group of senators, that measure won't do the job. President Bush and senators on both sides of the aisle say the nation's immigration system is broken and needs an overhaul. That opinion is also held by the powerful Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who Friday unveiled a 305-page immigration bill that combines enhanced enforcement, a new guest-worker program and a way for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants here now to work legally.

Specter's measure combines features of the House bill, a measure authored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and another one introduced by Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona. If the Senate does pass something this year, it would set up a confrontation with the House.

Those who vehemently oppose any guest-worker program, like Rep. Ed Royce, see their ace in the hole as an equally powerful House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. The enforcement bill that passed the House was a combination of a homeland security measure and Sensenbrenner's ideas. And Royce believes Sensenbrenner could win the day in conference, particularly with a committed House GOP leadership. "I feel confident that the vast majority of the Republican House conference do not want to see an amnesty, they want to see enforcement first," said Royce, R-Calif.

Royce won't rule out supporting a limited temporary guest-worker program later if he can be convinced that tougher border and interior enforcement measures are starting to work.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said he wants to see the issues handled separately so he can vote for enforcement and against a guest-worker measure. And while he acknowledges that there may be significant support among the GOP for a temporary worker program, he believes that would hurt the party in the long run.

"They may win a legislative victory today and then lose the war by turning off so many American voters that Republicans lose the next election because 10 percent of the Republican voters will just sit home and not go out and vote," said Rohrabacher.

McCain, in a conference call with reporters last week on the eve of his nationwide tour to sell his immigration bill, believes if given the information, voters will agree with him, especially about the issue of illegal workers already here.

"We believe that sending them back is something that is not only not humane, but not possible," he said.

Public opinion polls on this issue are paradoxical.

A Time magazine poll in late January indicated that 63 percent of respondents believe illegal immigration is a serious or extremely serious problem. And 83 percent said providing social services for illegal immigrants cost taxpayers too much.

At the same time, 76 percent of those polled said illegal immigrants should be able to earn citizenship and 73 percent favored guest-worker registration for illegal immigrants already here.

Those seeking more restrictive immigration policies have gotten increasingly politically involved. So far no congressional or gubernatorial race has turned on immigration. But Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist's 25 percent showing against John Campbell in the 48th Congressional District special election and GOP primary campaigns in several other border states in 2004 were contentious enough and drew enough media attention to have made political analysts take note. The Minuteman Project has organized patrols at the border to highlight illegal immigration.

Experts who have followed this issue for decades say they have never seen such emotionalism and rancor.

"It's going to be an extraordinary debate filled with fear and guilt and racism and xenophobia," said Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming. As chairman of the immigration subcommittee, Simpson was one of the authors of the 1996 immigration bill designed to tighten the immigration system.

"Everybody is talking about it," Simpson said. "That's the difference. Now you've got meatpacking plants, chicken plants. All of them using the undocumented."

Meissner said when she was commissioner, a handful of states were the major stakeholders in the issue: California, New York, Florida, Illinois, Texas and Arizona.

"Now it's Nebraska, it's North Carolina, it's Iowa, it's Nevada," she said. "It is many parts of the country that have just not been accustomed to immigration. And what they are encountering most is illegal immigration because that's where the jobs are."

On the face of it, those lobbying for a comprehensive answer seem to hold most of the power: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has made this their No.1 issue. They are including how House members voted on the immigration bill in their rating system, with those who voted for it getting an unfavorable score on that bill.

And while Bush has been silent so far on exactly which bill he'd support, he has made it clear he wants Congress to go beyond the House measure.

"Do I want him to do more from my viewpoint?" McCain said of Bush. "Probably. What I think he is going to do is weigh in as this debate evolves, as we move closer to the floor of the Senate."

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WHAT'S NEXT

Thursday: Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled to debate immigration bills. Will probably meet weekly until the panel can reach agreement and send a measure to the full Senate.

March 27: Date Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., wants to bring immigration bill to the floor.

"I really do think that this is probably a longer debate than simply this Congress," said Doris Meissner, who was the commissioner of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service under President Clinton. "The critical step right now is to have a credible alternative on the table so that it can be a productive debate."

Credible alternative are code words for amnesty. Nice try.

But according to the White House and a bipartisan group of senators, that measure won't do the job. President Bush and senators on both sides of the aisle say the nation's immigration system is broken and needs an overhaul. That opinion is also held by the powerful Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who Friday unveiled a 305-page immigration bill that combines enhanced enforcement, a new guest-worker program and a way for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants here now to work legally.

More defeatist rhethoric from the OB shills.

Specter's measure combines features of the House bill, a measure authored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and another one introduced by Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona. If the Senate does pass something this year, it would set up a confrontation with the House.

These bills are just amnesty under a different name. None of those token enforcement provisions will ever be enforced. They are just used as nothing more than window dressing in a pathetic attempt to fool the American people into accepting another crappy amnesty.

"They may win a legislative victory today and then lose the war by turning off so many American voters that Republicans lose the next election because 10 percent of the Republican voters will just sit home and not go out and vote," said Rohrabacher.

10 percent? Try at least 70 percent.

McCain, in a conference call with reporters last week on the eve of his nationwide tour to sell his immigration bill, believes if given the information, voters will agree with him, especially about the issue of illegal workers already here.

"We believe that sending them back is something that is not only not humane, but not possible," he said.

Your a liar McCain. Over 80 percent of the American people are getting sick and tired of paying for this. We want our borders secured and our laws enforced. We don't need anymore new laws and we don't need another amnesty or guest worker program. No amount of lying you or your traitorous friends in the Senate can do is going to change that. We the American people are on to your scam. You speak about as much for the American people as Saddam does for Iraqi's.

"It's going to be an extraordinary debate filled with fear and guilt and racism and xenophobia," said Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming. As chairman of the immigration subcommittee, Simpson was one of the authors of the 1996 immigration bill designed to tighten the immigration system.

"Everybody is talking about it," Simpson said. "That's the difference. Now you've got meatpacking plants, chicken plants. All of them using the undocumented."

Spoken like a true sellout. When you don't have the facts on your side just pull out the race card. Pathetic.

At the same time, 76 percent of those polled said illegal immigrants should be able to earn citizenship and 73 percent favored guest-worker registration for illegal immigrants already here.

That's bull. The only poll that showed those type of numbers were conducted by the Manhattan Institute who rigged the poll in their favor, not Times Magazine.

Meissner said when she was commissioner, a handful of states were the major stakeholders in the issue: California, New York, Florida, Illinois, Texas and Arizona.

This is the same traitor that allowed this crap to go on unabated when she served under Clinton.