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The politics of immigration

Border fences, a crackdown on employers and more work permits are all part of the debate
By Tim Carpenter
The Capital-Journal

Conservatives Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback serve the same state and political party in the U.S. Senate.

But these Kansas Republicans have been like oil and water on federal immigration reform.

Roberts championed the enforcement-first House bill that added 700 miles of fencing at the border with Mexico, while Brownback favored the Senate's comprehensive reform package that expanded guest-worker programs and widened the path to citizenship for immigrants who want to be Americans.

Their policy gap illustrates Congress' nuanced task of moving federal legislation in the next two years that brings order to the chaos created by 12 million illegal residents of the United States.

"This is such a complex issue," Roberts said. "It is so fraught with strong differences of opinion. That's the mildest I can put it."

There is a slim opening. Democrats take control of the House and Senate in January. A lame duck president is searching for a domestic legacy. And, according to the Kansas congressional delegation in Washington, national immigration policy is overdue for an overhaul.

"It is widely recognized that our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed," said Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan.

There is hardly a politician who hasn't proclaimed the No. 1 immigration priority to be control of the international border.

Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Kan., viewed his place as a hardliner on border enforcement as a magic carpet to re-election. His Democratic opponent, Nancy Boyda, who upset the five-term incumbent, often spoke of immigration on the stump but struck a chord with voters by claiming that fencing wasn't enough.

Campaigns were won and lost across the nation on the immigration issue, but there was no question the idea of physically blocking the wave of humanity illegally crossing to U.S. territory polled well. That reality prompted the House leadership to push through the bill authorizing additional fencing on the 1,993-mile southern frontier with Mexico. President Bush signed the measure into law before the November election.

Brownback went along with the fence bill as a first step, but warned it would be a mistake to make concrete and metal barriers the final word on immigration.

"I hope we can use passage of this bill as a starting point toward long-term, comprehensive immigration reform," he said.

Congress didn't budge, leaving the Bush administration to produce a plan for installation of the additional fencing along the border in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Much of it will be "virtual" barriers of sensors and cameras.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, however, recently reported the cost of the border fencing would be about $7.6 billion. That is more than five times the amount appropriated by Congress. The federal agency also revealed the new barrier system won't be fully operational until 2011.

Border backfire?

There are those who believe enforcement purists went the wrong direction.

"It is a travesty that Congress utterly failed in achieving comprehensive immigration reform and could only pass in its waning days a bill for a fence that will take years to complete and does nothing to address America's immigration or labor needs," said John Trasvina, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Daniel Kowalski, editor of Bender Immigration Bulletin, said the priority should be a major rewrite of U.S. immigration law. He offered an analogy in which federal immigration policy begins a journey on a two-lane country road with a speed limit of 20 mph.

"Over time," he said, "it grows to an eight-lane, divided highway with multiple cloverleaves, on-ramps, side roads and even high-occupancy-vehicle lanes. But the speed limit is still 20 miles per hour. Naturally, everyone breaks the law and speeds."

The proposed solution was increased law enforcement.

"You could do it if you had an unlimited budget. But why?" Kowalski said. "The rational answer is to raise the speed limit to match the road and traffic conditions."

That means an upgrade of federal law on visas, work permits and citizenship to reflect the modern nature of immigration, he said.

"The more our immigration laws make sense, the less money we'll have to spend enforcing them," he said.

Visa quagmire

Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research for La Raza, the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, said improving the federal process of processing visa applications should be a priority of Congress.

"There are literally millions of people who are waiting in line," she said. "It is a root cause of undocumented immigration."

Expect to wait as long as 20 years to acquire a visa to bring a sibling of a U.S. citizen from the Philippines, she said. And factor in as many as 10 years to get a visa for the Mexican spouse of a U.S. green card holder.

Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan, said his office spends more time on constituent issues tied to immigration than it does on constituent issues relating to the Internal Revenue Service.

"The immigration system is dysfunctional in the sense that you can try to do everything correct and you're locked in the system four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 years before any decision is made," he said. "And then, often it's, 'Well, they lost the file.' I don't condone illegal behavior, but in many ways it is no surprise that people come to this country illegally because when they try to come legally they are caught in the system for a decade."

The fix must include more funding and staff members for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. consulate offices that handle visa requests, Waslin said.

Brownback said thousands of Kansans have a stake in the visa debate whether they know it or not.

Over the past 12 years, the J-1 visa waiver program allowed 115 foreign-born, U.S.-educated medical school graduates to stay in this country in exchange for three years of work in Kansas communities with a doctor shortage. The program needed to be reauthorized by June, but Congress declined to pass anything not labeled enforcement.

"This program has a positive impact on participating states, especially those with great numbers of citizens living in rural areas," Brownback said.

Bush on temp workers

Bush took the lead two years ago on the temporary worker issue.

"Reform must begin by confronting a basic fact of life and economics: Some of the jobs being generated in America's growing economy are jobs American citizens are not filling," he said in a speech.

The president asked Congress to extend legal status, as temporary workers, to millions of undocumented men and women already working in the United States, as well as people in foreign countries who are offered employment.

The Republican-controlled House never warmed to that idea, but Brownback told Right Wing News that a robust guest-worker program could help federal officials finally get a handle on illegal labor.

"If we get it right," Brownback said, "we will substantially reduce the number of undocumented individuals in the United States."

Moran said Kansas' economic interests favored guest-worker initiatives. He cited labor shortages that have an impact in the state's oil fields and on agriculture at harvest time.

"They can't find anybody who wants to work," he said.

Waslin, policy analyst for La Raza, said the problem boiled down to an outdated quota system. She estimated 500,000 unauthorized blue-collar laborers arrive in the United States annually. But there are only 5,000 permanent visas available for low-skilled workers each year, she said.

"We need to create more legal channels," Waslin said. "We think people would prefer to come legally rather than risk their lives coming across the border."

Citizenship

The core conflict in Congress is about the best way to handle about 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States. It is unrealistic that all could be sent back to their native countries, which means the discussion often turns to citizenship. It's the Holy Grail for immigrants who want to stay. Yet the rights and privileges of full membership in this nation are so cherished that refining eligibility has generated intense feelings among Republicans and Democrats in Washington.

Melinda Lewis, director of policy advocacy and research with El Centro in Kansas City, Kan., said the federal government was unlikely to adopt within the next couple years anything resembling blanket amnesty for undocumented immigrants.

That approach was implemented in 1986 at the urging of President Reagan. It made a lot of immigrants happy but didn't provide relief from the flow of undocumented people.

If new avenues of citizenship for undocumented immigrants become a reality, Lewis said, it will be a hybrid system more accurately viewed as "earned citizenship."

"It's never going to be amnesty," she said.

Under the earned citizenship model, an undocumented person would need to prove he or she had lived in the United States for a certain number of years. These people would pay back taxes owed the government, pass a criminal background check and prove they were learning English. If they continued to reside in the United States without breaking any other laws, they could earn their legal status and eventually become citizens if they choose to do so.

"There is a corollary in criminal law," Lewis said. "If a person meets basic minimum requirements and does this, this and this in the future, then we'll give you a way to get back in good graces.

Work site control

Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., an advocate of guest-worker programs, said federal sanctions should be applied to employers who knowingly hire unauthorized, illegal immigrants. Lawbreakers on both sides of the employment equation must be held accountable, he said.

"There have been companies that have in the past been very discreet in how they hire illegals, how they get them illegal paperwork and how they cover for them," Tiahrt said. "We have to punish companies taking advantage of illegal aliens."

Moore agreed, saying, "We must crack down on employers who knowingly hire and take advantage of undocumented workers."

A study by the Government Accountability Office indicated enforcement of employer sanctions had waned in recent years. Audits of employers to verify that employee documentation was checked dropped 77 percent from 1998 to 2003, the report said. Based on available figures, after reaching a peak in the early and mid-1990s, employer warnings and fines also dropped.

Brownback said the federal government ought to develop a database that could be used by businesses to instantly check an applicant's legal status. Such a network was in the Senate reform measure offered by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., but shoved aside by the GOP-led House.

"You have to get a system where the employer, when he checks through government apparatuses, knows whether the person is actually here legally or illegally. The current system is flawed on that," Brownback said in a published interview.

Reality

Voters in November handed control of the House and Senate to Democrats. However, there is no guarantee these new rulers on Capitol Hill will deliver on immigration. Democrats' desire to remain in power after 2008 may overwhelm their appetite for change, especially with the growing Hispanic electorate hanging in the balance. It is more likely the Democratic leadership will focus on consensus issues, such as the minimum wage, ethics and Iraq.

Republicans in Congress may not be interested in making deals with the new majority on immigration reform.

"I'm not sure there is a sincere desire in Washington to solve immigration as a whole," said Boyda, a Democrat who takes office in January.

Tiahrt said there was talk in Washington about repealing the law mandating new border fencing and passage of legislation to expand visas for foreigners. He said some lawmakers were raising the possibility of amnesty.

"We've had proposals that say, 'If you're here, you're automatically a citizen.' That's definitely amnesty," said Tiahrt, who added that approach was unpopular among Kansans.

The window of opportunity on immigration reform will be shortened by political posturing that accompanies the 2008 campaign for president.

Look no further than Brownback, a long-shot GOP presidential aspirant. This vocal pre-election advocate of comprehensive immigration reform has been tiptoeing around his position on the issue now that he is working to win over conservatives in key presidential primary states.

"Immigration is a very visceral issue in this country," said Brownback, of Topeka. "It's a very difficult issue."

If the Congress and Bush don't deal with immigration policy, the senator said the issue would again be a volatile topic in campaigns two years from now.

Moran said the key to reform was Bush. Despite having only two more years in office, Moran said, the president could broker a deal bridging gaps on immigration policy among Democrats and Republicans, as well as the likes of Roberts and Brownback.

If nothing takes root, the flow of undocumented immigrants into the United States — ironically, people with no right to vote — might eventually force the action.

"This year we have 12 million undocumented immigrants. Next year we'll have 13 million," said Waslin, of La Raza. "It's not going away. I think the stars are aligning."

Tim Carpenter can be reached at (785) 296-3005 or timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com.