Thread: El Paso: Delegation to discuss immigration bill in D.C.

Delegation to discuss immigration bill in D.C.
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched:06/19/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

Some El Paso leaders are again traveling to Washington, D.C., today to be a voice for the border in the debate surrounding the embattled immigration reform bill, but this time, it might be their last chance to influence policy, they said.
The bill, dead this month after it failed to pass the Senate, was revived last week, thanks in part to a rare visit to the Capitol by President Bush, who urged Republican senators to give the legislation a second chance. Debate is expected to start again Wednesday, but may not be fruitful.

"It's a mixed picture," Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Senate's top Republican, said Sunday.

McConnell called the vote, which is expected before lawmakers begin their Fourth of July vacation, too close to call.

Meanwhile, amendments to the original text have been piling up, to the dismay of immigrants' rights advocates.

"It gets worse and worse and worse. It's becoming extremely difficult not to oppose it (the bill). It's only a matter of time until it is not representing the interest of immigrants anymore," said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, the El Paso group organizing the trip to the capital. "This is our last shot to try to influence the debate in terms of improving the bill and getting better provisions."

Members of the U.S./Mexico Border and Immigration Task Force, created last year, include El Paso Police Chief Richard Wiles, West-Central city Rep. Susie Byrd, Sunland Park Mayor Ruben Segura, Iliana Holguin, executive director of the Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, and other El Paso and Arizona community leaders.

In Washington, they are scheduled to meet with U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., House majority leader, and White House and Department of Homeland Security officials.

The Border Network is mainly pushing for a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants living in the United States, a major sticking point with Senate Republicans. But each traveler had a different message to bring to the capital, they said Monday.

"My message for Washington is, 'Help local law enforcement do the job it's designed to do, don't ask us to do the job you have neglected to do for years,'" Chief Wiles said at a press conference Monday.

Wiles has been an outspoken opponent of plans to use local police to do immigration enforcement, a federal duty.

Wiles said using police as Border Patrol agents would stretch his understaffed department, make the city liable to lawsuits and make immigrants fearful to call for help when they are the victim of crimes or when they witness crime.

City Rep. Byrd said she would like to see a system to hold Border Patrol agents accountable to the community in which they operate through an oversight commission.

She said a trip to Washington by the task force last November yielded results.

"The very measure we asked for is in both the House and the Senate bill," she said, referring to the proposed creation of the Border Independent Review Commission.

Holguin, an immigration lawyer, said she is disturbed by a proposed increase in the detention of noncriminal immigrants.

Such detention costs tax payers $65 to $225 a day per immigrant, depending on the facility, Holguin said. Supervised release would be an alternative that would cost only $8 a day.

Holguin said the Vera Institute of Justice and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service tested the idea and found a 96 to 98 percent rate of appearance by migrants to court dates.

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/election/ci_6173604

Meanwhile, amendments to the original text have been piling up, to the dismay of immigrants' rights advocates.

These pro illegal groups are not going to be happy with any bill that doesn't include literally handing them everything they demand.
We cannot allow this to happen again! The 86 and other amnesties were bad enough. NO MORE!!!

My company is opening up a center in El Paso. It was released last week to us. I think that in El Paso Texas they are going to allow illegal's to cross over and work and then go back home. They will pay them less an hour there then what they are paying us here in the States. El Paso has become another India.
Our company also outsources to India.
This is the reason for the El Paso push. This must be stopped if it can. There are companies sending work to El Paso for the low wages of Mexico city.

Paige

"It gets worse and worse and worse. It's becoming extremely difficult not to oppose it (the bill). It's only a matter of time until it is not representing the interest of immigrants anymore," said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, the El Paso group organizing the trip to the capital.

You mean it won't represent the interest of ILLEGAL immigrants, don't you Mr. Garcia?

Isn't it about time we had a bill that represented the interest of the majority of American citizens?

Holguin said the Vera Institute of Justice and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service tested the idea and found a 96 to 98 percent rate of appearance by migrants to court dates.

"The Vera Institute of Justice is a non-governmental criminal justice research and policy organization, based in New York City. The Vera Institute of Justice was founded in 1961, by philanthropist Louis Schweitzer and Herb Sturz. In 1966, they received assistance from the Ford Foundation to turn the foundation into a private nonprofit organization. [1]"

This is from the website of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services:

"Comprehensive Immigration Reform
The U.S. immigration system is broken. With more than 10 million undocumented immigrants in the United States who are integral to our economic and cultural fabric, we need to protect their families, guard their rights, welcome them out of the shadows, and provide them a path to permanence. Read more: on the issue; on troubling local and state anti-immigrant laws."

Nothing like reporting the findings from a couple unbiased sources.