Thread: Grijalva says immigration reform not dead

Alipacers, let's get ready to roll!
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Grijalva says immigration reform not dead
BY CESAR NEYOY, BAJO EL SOL
August 24, 2007 - 10:16PM
Somerton - Unable to pass a comprehensive immigration reform law, Congress will begin working on a stripped-down version of the legislation, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva said Friday during a visit here.

Speaking at an immigration roundtable meeting with members of the Yuma County Interfaith Sponsoring Committee, the Tucson Democrat whose district includes Yuma County said members of the House Judicial Committee will begin hearings in September that could lead to a new reform bill.

Grijalva said lawmakers will focus on selected provisions of the previous legislation. Among them is the Dream Act, which would provide a path toward citizenship to immigrant students who have completed high school and allow them to continue their education in the United States.

The hearings will also cover a guest worker program, as well as increased funding for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and other agencies to speed up processing of applications for permanent residency, he said.

Grijalva said he supports the Dream Act provision and added that the economy in Yuma County and around the country will suffer if an effective guest worker plan is not enacted.

Yuma-area education leaders told Grijalva that the enactment of the Dream Act provisions is essential in order to fill the country's need for health and education professionals.

"Colleges and universities are bringing in talent from China, from India and other countries so that they can be teachers in our schools, because we don't have enough qualified people," said Everardo Martinez, director of Arizona Western College's south county campus. "We are neglecting our community because we don't want to provide the resources."

Grijalva said the Democratic majority in Congress will seek an independent audit of the Bush administration's spending on border security measures.

"It's been three years of continued reinforcement of the border and the number of (Border Patrol) agents is more than 20,000, and now it's time to ask for an accounting," he said. "We want to know the results, yes, but also how and where the budget has been spent these years."

The roundtable also brought out members of the Yuma Patriots civilian border watch group, among them Yuma attorney John Minore, who said the efforts to beef up border security must continue.

"There are fewer people crossing," Minore said. "Yuma used to be the easiest place to cross, but we need to continue. I don't believe (the public) wants to see illegal entries, because it is inhumane to cross in the desert."

Minore said immigration laws are not being enforced adequately in cases where aliens are deported without being processed through the U.S. court system.

"We need to tell (illegal immigrants) that if they cross, it's going to affect their immigration status or they're going to be detained at least a week."

Minore also rejected Grijalva's contention that failure to pass immigration reform will lead to economic problems. "There are going to be local problems, but because a business can hire illegals and not pay taxes. Besides, the workers are abused and if something happens to them, citizens are also abused because we have to pay for their medical care.

"I don't believe there is going to be a problem. Mexico needs the United States more than the United States needs Mexico. But we have to fix what's broken. It's not fair to anyone, not for the people who cross the desert, not for the people who arrive legally, not for those of us who are here (already)."

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Cesar Neyoy is a staff writer for Bajo El Sol, The Sun's Spanish-language sister publication.

http://www.yumasun.com/articles/grijalv ... ation.html

The Office of Representative Mike Ferguson (nj07ima.pub@mail.house.gov)
Sent: Fri 8/17/07 9:46 AM
Thank you for contacting me regarding federal cigarette taxes and H.R. 3162, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. I appreciate hearing from you and having the benefit of your views.
The House on August 1, 2007, approved H.R. 3162, which would reauthorize for five years the federal program that provides health coverage to uninsured children – including 127,000 kids in New Jersey – whose parents lack private health insurance but earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. I voted for the bill in the House. The Senate is considering similar legislation, and the House and Senate’s different versions must be reconciled before the program expires September 30, 2007. As you many know, the SCHIP program was first enacted by Congress in 1997 and financed by an increase in the federal tobacco tax, which has not be raised since that year. Under current law, federal cigarette taxes are 39 cents per pack. The Senate’s version of the SCHIP legislation would raise that tax to $1 per pack, and H.R. 3162 would raise it to 84 cents.
I believe the State Children’s Health Insurance Program has been a fundamental building block for providing health care for uninsured kids, and this legislation guarantees children will continue to receive the health care coverage they need. For New Jersey, the legislation recognizes the state’s high cost of living and makes certain that health coverage is provided to children in low- and moderate-income families who do not have employer-provided health insurance.
The House-approved bill also includes legislation I introduced last Congress. For example, I introduced H.R. 3795 in 2005 to increase patient access to speech-language pathologists.
The House-approved SCHIP bill includes exact language from my 2005 legislation.
The SCHIP bill also includes language parallel to legislation – H.R. 5496 – that I introduced in 2006 to give Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey a special Medicare designation for advanced cancer care. That designation makes the hospital eligible for millions of dollars in additional federal funding by reflecting its actual costs for treating inpatient and outpatient cancer patients in the state, which has the nation’s second-highest incidence of cancer.
The New Brunswick-based hospital is the flagship of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, a network of 17 hospitals statewide, including Overlook Hospital in Union County and Somerset Medical Center in Somerset County.
Although I voted for the House SCHIP legislation, I believe it is far from perfect.
For example, I am particularly concerned about the bill’s reductions in subsidies to Medicare Advantage plans, which offer coverage and benefits to seniors and disabled Americans that exceed those offered by traditional Medicare.
I also am concerned about illegal immigrants qualifying for SCHIP because the House-approved bill fails to require that immigrants provide legal documentation demonstrating U.S. citizenship. I am hopeful that these concerns will be addressed when the House and Senate reconcile differences in their SCHIP bills in September.
Again, thank you for taking the time to share your opinions, and please visit my website at www.house.gov/Ferguson for more information on issues important to New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District.

They have already started taking parts of the sham bill and giving benefits to illegals at the cost to our SENIOR CITIZENS.