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Sheriffs could play role in immigration reform plans
Louie Gilot
El Paso Times
Wednesday, March 1, 2006

El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego and other members of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition are in Washington, D.C., today to discuss border issues that may influence extensive immigration reform being debated in the U.S. Senate.

Border sheriffs are to testify today before of the Senate's immigration, border security and citizenship subcommittee about increased violence from drug and migrant smugglers in Texas and Arizona.

Neither Samaniego nor Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West are scheduled to testify because they already testified three weeks ago about border violence and the Jan. 23 standoff between law enforcement officials and men dressed as Mexican military in Hudspeth County in front of the House homeland security Subcommittee on Investigations.

Don Stewart, spokesman for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the chairman of the Senate subcommittee, said today's hearing "will be a starting point for the debate."

On Thursday, several immigration-related bills will be discussed by the Judiciary Committee, which oversees immigration questions. The bills have been condensed into the Chairman's Mark, a summary of over 300 pages put together by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. The blended legislation is notably less geared toward strict border security than the bill that passed the House late last year.

The Senate proposal, for instance, does not include a border "wall" and does include a guest-worker program.

The House bill proposes to build a double fence along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border -- including a stretch between Columbus, N.M., and El Paso-- to stop illegal immigration.

The Senate's version of a program is very close to Bush's and to a subsequent bill by Cornyn and U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., in that undocumented immigrants would be able to apply for a three-year work visa, renewable once, and then would have to go home. The proposed new visa -- tentatively called H-2C -- would not lead to permanent residence.

The proposal already has critics on both sides.

Immigrants'-rights advocates like Iliana Holguin, the executive director of the Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, said the program does nothing to help millions of undocumented families who have been living for years in the United States.

"The whole goal is to have people come out of the shadows and become a recognized part of the work force," Holguin said. "If they can't stay in the United States, then I don't think they'll come out of the shadows and apply for this program. It would be an exercise in futility."

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., on the other hand, argued that the program would reward those who break the law. Tancredo is the legislator who sponsored the wall bill in the House.

The Senate's guest-worker program would require employers to demonstrate that hiring temporary workers would not result in loss of jobs for documented workers or affect their wages and working conditions. Candidates for the new visa would have to pay a $500 fee.

Another version of the program, offered by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., allowed workers to apply for green cards but was not included in the bill to be considered by the committee.

The Finance Committee will meet once a week until March 27, when the immigration matter is to go the floor of the Senate for discussion and vote by all members.

The Specter draft also includes provisions for border security, such as hiring 250 new Customs and Border Protection officers and 200 new investigators for migrant-smuggling cases.

The border sheriffs are to testify at a hearing, titled "Federal Strategies to End Border Violence."

Scheduled to testify are the sheriffs of Val Verde County, Texas, Wayne Jernigan, and of Cochise County, Ariz., Larry Dever, as well as Lavogyer Durham, a rancher from Falfurrias, Texas. Officials of the Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. attorney's office also will testify.

"The Sheriffs slated to testify before the (Senate) will demonstrate how those involved in law enforcement along the southern border share the same unique problems with very limited resources," Rick Glancey, interim executive director of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, said in a written statement.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com; 546-6131.