Thread: Immigration reform edges forward

Immigration reform edges forward
7:35 PM, Jul. 8, 2011

You may hear that "immigration reform is dead" in the 112th Congress. But in reality, it's very much alive. It will just probably happen in pieces, not "comprehensively."

A trend for new bipartisan immigration policy is emerging that focuses on two immigration issues: granting more green cards to educated immigrants; and increasing internal enforcement.

President Barack Obama advocated for educated immigrants in his State of the Union speech on Jan. 25 and again on the Texas border in May. He spoke about the need to give automatic green cards to foreign students who earned advanced degrees in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields. It has become known as the STAPLE Act.

Similarly, he supports passage of a DREAM Act that would give a pathway to citizenship for high school graduates who were brought illegally into the country at an early age by their parents.

The idea of the STAPLE Act has been lobbied in Congress by entrepreneur billionaire Bill Gates and has bipartisan support. Reps. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., both have introduced such bills.

The DREAM concept also has a long bipartisan history. First introduced by Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, the compelling idea became regarded by Democratic Hispanic Caucus strategists as the major driver of comprehensive immigration reform. But in the last days of 2010, Democratic leaders allowed it to go to the chambers as a stand-alone proposal. It was never debated in congressional committees. A quickly drafted bill was introduced in the House on Dec. 7, passed Dec. 8 and sent to the Senate, where it failed a cloture vote. While it was modified on the floor, the bill was so disconnected from its original intent that both former Democratic and Republican supporters said they could not vote for it.

Now it's back. In May, Senate Leader Harry Reid reintroduced a DREAM Act that includes all the elements that were taken out in December. It can't pass. So why did he do it?

It is obvious that with Republicans dominating the House and the president up for re-election, the DREAM Act has become a negotiating chip. That's because E-Verify seems likely to become law, possibly by the end of the year.

The Legal Workforce Act introduced by House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, would require businesses to verify through the federal electronic E-Verify system that all their employees were legally sanctioned to work, or face stiff penalties. Use of the system is now voluntary, but the requirement idea gained traction after the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld Arizona's stringent E-Verify law.

It's likely the administration will continue to support stronger selected internal enforcement measures. Obama stressed last month that the U.S. is not only a "nation of immigrants" but is also a "nation of laws" (one assumes he meant enforced laws).

Some Democratic leaders agree. "Americans like immigrants. But they do not like illegal immigration," New York Sen. Chuck Schumer often says. The chair of the Senate Immigration Committee often proclaims that the main way to stop illegal immigration is to prevent employers from hiring workers without work permits. His first hearing was on strengthening E-Verify.

Prospects of a high unemployment rate in election year 2012 make this argument sensible for vulnerable Democrats. At the same time, both parties seem to agree that retaining foreign graduate students will help make America more competitive as well as to increase one of America's most lucrative exports -- a U.S. university education.

Orchowski is the congressional correspondent for the Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education and author of "Immigration and the American Dream: Battling the Political Hype and Hysteria."

http://www.indystar.com/article/2011071 ... t|Opinion|

George Soros Indy rag trying to pep talk the illegals and their supporters.

W