Thread: Dorgan: Scrap Guest Worker Program

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Dorgan: Scrap temporary worker program By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago



An effort to scrap a temporary worker program that has drawn criticism from both parties will provide the first test of a broad immigration bill, as the Senate on Tuesday began tackling a long list of proposed changes to the measure.

A proposal by Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record), D-N.D., would strike the program, which would bring in at least 400,000 foreign workers each year.

Under a bill drafted by a bipartisan group and backed by the White House, most of the workers could stay for as many as three two-year stints, provided they leave the United States for a year between each stay. Many of the visa holders would be unskilled, nonagricultural workers in areas such as construction, landscaping and meatpacking.

The temporary worker plan has come under attack from several fronts. Many labor unions say it would depress wages and create a class of workers with no job rights. Some business groups call the leave-and-return element unworkable.

"It is just a fiction that these are jobs Americans aren't willing to do," Dorgan said. "The main reason that big corporations want a guest worker program is that it will drive down U.S. wages."

Dorgan's was just one of a host of modifications senators were seeking to the broad immigration plan, a politically charged measure that evokes strong emotions among the public. Cognizant of the potent crosscurrents on the issue, leaders abandoned an effort to speed the measure through the Senate this week, and now plan a final vote in June.

If Dorgan's amendment fails, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (news, bio, voting record), D-N.M., plans to offer one to slash the number of annual visas available for temporary workers to 200,000. A similar proposal passed the Senate last year on an overwhelmingly bipartisan margin during debate on a broad immigration overhaul.

Democrats and Republicans are to take turns offering amendments, a process expected to last all week and resume after next week's Memorial Day recess.

After the Senate votes on Dorgan's proposal, Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record), R-S.C., plans to offer one instituting mandatory prison sentences for foreigners caught crossing the border illegally. Sen. James Inhofe (news, bio, voting record), R-Okla., wants to add language to the measure declaring English the country's official language.

The immigration bill calls for tightening border security, granting legal status to nearly all the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants, and increasing penalties for employers who hire illegal workers.

It would create a point system for future immigration applicants that would place less emphasis on family connections and more on education and skills in demand by U.S. businesses.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (news, bio, voting record), R-Ala., a conservative critic of the measure, spent the morning railing against it.

"No bill will be perfect, but we don't need to pass bills with serious flaws in them — flaws that undermine the principles that any effective immigration system should be founded on," Sessions said.

President Bush is pressing fellow Republicans to keep an open mind on the measure. He told GOP leaders in a morning meeting that "people need time to study it," said White House Spokesman Tony Snow.

"We're inviting everybody to take a good, hard look at it. The president thinks it's a good, strong piece of legislation," Snow said.

Still House Republicans, whose vehement opposition helped sink last year's immigration measure, are pressing instead for an enforcement-first approach.

"Securing our borders and stopping the flood of illegal immigration into the United States must be the first priority of this Congress," Rep. John Boehner (news, bio, voting record) of Ohio, the GOP leader, said in a statement.

Boehner said he had "significant concerns about parts of the Senate proposal — particularly provisions that would reward illegal immigrants who have consistently broken our laws."

Senator Dorgan is fantastic. WHY can't the Dems ever nominate "the best ones" to run for president?

It's probably a given that he'd get just about all the Dem's votes and I believe he could pull a LOT of Republicans over to too. Maybe in massive numbers too.

We are right. We need a third party so that it can be the party made up of the BEST from both parties.

Kennedy say if we don’t have a guest worker’s program, they will come illegally across our border. Others say no guest worker’s program, but bring in those who have been waiting years legally. We already have an agriculture program.
How is what Kennedy saying possible when in the bill business will not be able to hire illegals and the border will be secure so they will not be able to come in and why will they come in if they cannot work.Dorgan is right. Legal immigration will take care of the need for a guest worker’s program. Those who support this bill is looking out for corporate American and continued immigration from Mexico. Carlos Gutierrez and LaRaza, etc. The guest worker program will consist mainly of Mexicans.