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Group to promote immigration rewrite
Web Posted: 05/05/2005 12:00 AM CDT
Hernán Rozemberg
Express-News Immigration Writer

A national pro-immigrant organization composed of religious, labor and union groups, to be unveiled today in San Antonio, is to call on leading Texas politicians to quit debating and enact laws giving legal work and residency to undocumented immigrants.

The Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform will start in Texas and is to expand to other border states and the rest of the nation, said Luis Figueroa, an attorney with the San Antonio office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

It was formed now because changing the country's current immigration system is expected to be a top issue for Congress this year. Several reform measures already have been proposed, the latest being a highly anticipated bill by Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., that is expected this month.

The coalition is to hold a news conference at Plaza San Antonio Hotel at 10:30 a.m. today. Coalition members want Texas leaders to support a bipartisan immigration reform bill that, among other key components, includes giving undocumented migrants an opportunity for permanent residency.

Specifically targeted is San Antonio's Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the influential chairman of the Senate Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee.

Cornyn has held several hearings on immigration and border issues and is drafting a reform bill along with Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., which he is to introduce in July.

"We're singling out Sen. Cornyn because we know no bill will get through without his support," Figueroa said. "He's in a unique position to benefit the immigrant and border community."

Eliseo Medina, vice president of the Service Employees International Union, said Cornyn should drop his bill and join with the McCain-Kennedy effort to ensure a law is enacted this year.

Many politicians in both parties agree the system needs a major overhaul, but not many concur on what to offer undocumented immigrants to end their underground existence.

Most Democrats want to give undocumented immigrants a chance to stay permanently.

Cornyn said he supports a "work and return program," such as proposed last year by President Bush, giving immigrants temporary legal work.