Thread: Abbreviated List of Senate Immigration Enforcement Bills (+)

(Dated 3/7/200

A summary of the recent Immigration Enforcement bills introduced by Senate Republicans.

As I read through the listed summary, what occurred to me not so much what is IN the list, but what was NOT included in the list. So I have followed my summarized listing for each bill, with a couple points or questions on how these could be made more complete, or otherwise better.

(Be sure to call the following Senators and thank them just the same!
This is a great start )


Sessions:**
1. Requires mandatory jail time for IAs.
(Good! - a strong disincentive!)

2. Requires IRS cooperation in no-match (name+SSN) employer enforcement.
(Good also)

3. Streamlining and enhancing employment enforcement
(Good - although the details shared in the summary weren't very explicit - I'd like more specific info on this one)


Vitter:
1. Eliminates COPS programs funding to sanctuary cities.
(Good, but instead of funding pulled from COPS program, I'd like to see local cities lose Fed. DoT funds too - that would be a more powerful deterrent, especially for large cities like: San Francisco, Minneapolis, Portland, NYC, etc. It could be made even better, by including some basic funds which could be designated for 287g and similar type enforcement cooperation)


DeMint:*
1. "Complete the Fence Act" - requires completion of 700 miles of reinforced pedestrian fencing along southern border by December 31, 2010.
(Good - but why not a double-layered Ped. and Vehicle barrier as well?)


Inhofe:*
1. National Language Act of 2008 (mandates English is sole national official language)
(Good)


Dole:
1. Safe Roads Enhancement Act, (amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to classify repeat drunk driving as an aggravated felony). Persons convicted to be made eligible for deportation.
(Fairly modest overall, but needed.)

2. Introduced bill to repeal Clinton’s executive order requiring federal government to provide services in a person’s native language. Eliminates funding for other-than-English programs.
(Again, fairly modest, but also needed)


Barrasso:*
1. Legal residence required to issue of Driver Licenses; non-compliance results in 10% loss of Federal DoT funds
(Cut-and-dry, and very clear. This one is good)


Isakson and Chambliss:* Bill -
1. Development of enforcement partnerships between federal and state and local counterparts with regard to immigration enforcement.
(Any specific actions required - not just 'suggested'?)


Domenici:*
1. Bill to bolster NG cooperation and use along border areas.
(Who has power to order NG action - only the Prez, or Governors too?)


Specter:
1. Mandates deportation of Criminal IAs
(For future ones, or applied retroactively?; about 28% of Fed inmates are foreign-born - now! [about 15% of US population is foreign-born for reference])

2. Requires reporting on repatriation process to Congress
(Reporting only requires information sharing, it does not mandate specific enforcement actions)



Two big questions I have after listing the above:

a). Where is the effort to bolster to the E-Visit program - to better monitor and track people that have entered with legit documentation initially, but had later failed to depart on schedule? (Or to track visa status questions for ICE enforcement activity, etc) After all, visa abusers and overstays are approx. 40%-45% of the illegal alien problem (representing some 4-5 million persons).

b). Where are the senate Democrats on these? It seems to me that the handful of Dem senators with some demonstrated interest in enforcement (like Senators Dorgan, Tester, McCaskill,etc). are conspicuously absent in this effort.

Examples:

Senator Dorgan has been a vocal supporter of working Americans and should support enforcement against corporate IA employers.

Senator Tester is a freshman, and won partly due to a tougher enforcement-oriented stance on illegal immigration. AND he represents one of the states that should be most concerned about border security (MT has the longest and least protected [land] border overall)

Senator MaCaskill has a background in law and is a former state prosecutor. She should also be sympathetic to purely legal aspects in solving the problems as well. McCaskill is a newbie as well.

(etc)

All good points. Are the bills completely written Phrede or did you just see summaries?

Thanks Gogo. Answer: just summaries (no numbers formally assigned that I have seen yet). And those summaries are the ones offered by the bill authors themselves. So the details are not fully developed I presume.

Ok thanks. I think you had good points. We need bills without loopholes

Unfortunately none of these bills will probably come up for a vote because they aren't included in a "comprehensive immigration reform" package. Too bad the Democrats, especially Harry Reid, have control of the U.S. Senate.

A good action would be the administrative social security no-match letter with the warning letter from Homeland Security. It was held up by San Fran fed judge's injunction. Mr. Chertoff stated (in Jan?) he would soon challenge it in court and expected success.
I believe it was held up Oct ' 07
Do experts expect employers to shed the no matchers or will it just be another toothless effort?

Thanks for this update PhredE