Thread: Coloradan rides into immigration fray

http://www.rockymountainnews.com

Coloradan rides into immigration fray
Ind. rep calls her the Harriet Beecher Stowe of policy issue

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
July 3, 2006
They were talking about her at the White House the other day, but Helen Krieble is hardly a household name outside Colorado's equestrian community.
The 63-year-old bristles when asked how, as an art historian and owner of Colorado Horse Park, she suddenly finds herself at the center of the big national debate over immigration.

"It's about like saying, 'What was an actor doing being president of the United States?' " she said during a telephone interview this week. "People have backgrounds."

Krieble's background includes decades working behind the scenes on conservative public policy and Republican politics. But just as important, she said, is hands-on experience struggling to find American-born workers willing to fill entry-level jobs at the equestrian center in Parker.

That inspired her to help write one of the more novel - and controversial - plans to address immigration reform: creating a guest-worker visa program run by private companies at employment centers outside the United States.

The Vernon K. Krieble Foundation proposal was largely ignored when Gov. Bill Owens helped Krieble introduce it at a Capitol Hill forum last year.

But it has gained traction in recent weeks amid the congressional stalemate over competing versions of immigration reform.

Conservative Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., is drawing fire from hard-line opponents of illegal immigration, like Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton, by proposing to add Krieble's guest-worker concept to a package of border-control and enforcement measures.

By requiring illegal immigrants to leave the country before applying at privately run "Ellis Island Centers," Pence hopes to bridge a gap between the enforcement-only legislation passed by the House of Representatives and a Senate bill that could let millions of illegal immigrants get on a path to eventual citizenship.

President Bush summoned Pence to the White House this week to pitch his proposed alternative.

Pence brings conservative credentials to the debate as chairman of a congressional group called the Republican Study Committee.

But even some longtime conservative allies called him a traitor in late May when he embraced Krieble's plan.

Pence's proposal would start with border-control measures, including an expanded fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, and require that the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security certify that the borders have been secured before a guest-worker program could go forward.

After that happens, perhaps in two years, then the privately run Ellis Island Centers would open in other countries.

To gain legal status, the estimated 12 million workers in the United States illegally would have to return to their home countries, undergo background checks and health screenings, and reapply for jobs - potentially with their former employers.

With the private sector in charge of the employment centers, Pence believes the turnaround time could be a matter of weeks.

Tancredo issued a harsh statement calling it an "immigration U-turn" that amounts to "amnesty with a trip home tacked on."

That set off a barrage of angry criticism from groups that demand a crackdown on illegal immigrants and employers who hire them.

Pence jokes that Krieble has become "the Harriet Beecher Stowe of this issue."

The reference is to the 19th century author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, whose writings exposing the evils of slavery helped set the stage for the Civil War. It's rumored that when President Abraham Lincoln met Stowe, he famously quipped: "So this is the little lady who made this big war."

Pence said that Krieble smiled when he told her she stirred the immigration fight the same way because her part-time home in Connecticut is not far from Stowe's historic residence.

Krieble wants the debate to be about her plan - not about her. Still, she draws on her experience in the Colorado horse business in arguing for ways to help employers get workers.

"I think I'm one of the few people involved in the immigration, public policy issue who actually has hired guest workers," she said, describing the bureaucratic nightmare the horse farm faces when it tries to get seasonal work visas.

Krieble said farmers, ranchers and businesspeople around the country are unable to find American workers for certain jobs, even when they raise wages. She believes some are faced with a difficult choice: go out of business if they can't find affordable, legal workers or hire illegal immigrants.

"To criminalize those people - both the worker and the employer - for doing what's necessary in each of their lives without providing any legal way for it to work is immoral in my view," she said.

That's where Krieble sharply diverges from Tancredo, even though a $1,000 contribution to the Littleton Republican's 2000 re-election campaign was among the nearly quarter-million dollars Krieble has contributed to GOP causes over the years.

"He's one of our really good, conservative congressmen," she said. "We share many beliefs in common. (But) I think he has taken an extreme, radical position on this."

With Bush pressing for some form of compromise legislation this year, the plan is getting a closer look from lawmakers, including Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colorado, chief of staff Sean Conway said.

"If an impasse evolves in this debate, this is something that (Allard) views could be a compromise," Conway said.

If that happens, Pence said he's ready to give all the credit to the art historian and horse lover from Colorado.

As he said in a speech announcing the plan: "Helen is living proof that the best ideas don't come from Washington, D.C., but come from the creative minds of men and women living the American dream."

Krieble said farmers, ranchers and businesspeople around the country are unable to find American workers for certain jobs, even when they raise wages. She believes some are faced with a difficult choice: go out of business if they can't find affordable, legal workers or hire illegal immigrants.

Raising the wages from $6.50 to $8.00 an hour (w/o benefits) still does not feed a family of four in the United States. It's funny those same business people that are complaining, and keeping wages below the poverty level, are the same ones that live in $2 milllion dollar homes and have bank accounts that you and I can only dream about. Furthermore, their business assest are probably worth millions to boot. These people are only interested in keeping wages down and profits up. They can whin and complain all the want, but the American people know the truth! American citizens will work for a fair wage and medical benefits for their family.

With the private sector in charge of the employment centers, Pence believes the turnaround time could be a matter of weeks.

The private sector (businesses) are the ones driving illegals to come here for jobs. That would be like giving the thief keys to the house.