Thread: FEINSTEIN'S TAP DANCE RESPONSE TO ME

Statement of Senator Dianne Feinstein

In Support of the Bi-partisan Immigration Reform Bill

May 23, 2007

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of the bipartisan immigration reform bill before the Senate.

Many Senators from both sides of the aisle worked long hours over the past several months to address immigration reform. And through the process of negotiation and compromise a tough, fair, and workable bill has been crafted.

The bill before the Senate provides solutions to restore the rule of law, fix our broken borders, protect our national security, and bring the 12 million people now living illegally in the U.S. out of the shadows.

I believe this bipartisan bill is a strong first step toward addressing illegal immigration in a fair and balanced way.

The bill is predicated on several fundamental principles. The first is that we must control our borders and protect our national security.

The bill ensures that before a single temporary visa is issued, or a single undocumented alien in the United States can earn their green card, several important "triggers" must be met - "triggers" that show the federal government is taking a hard stance on enforcing the law and enforcing the border. The triggers include:

1. Installing at least 200 miles of vehicle barriers as well as 370 miles of fencing, 70 ground-based radar and camera towers, and deploying 4 unmanned aerial vehicles along the southern border;

2. Detaining all illegal aliens apprehended at the southern border, rather than continuing the "catch and release" policy;

3. Establishing and using the new Employment Verification system to confirm who can work in the United States legally and who cannot.

4. Hiring 3,500 new border patrol agents to increase the total number of agents on the border from 14,500 to 18,000.

Then later, after the first 3,500 border patrol agents are hired, the bill requires that an additional 10,500 more border patrol agents are hired. So, the total number of border patrol agents will increase from its current level of 14,500, to 18,000 under the trigger, to eventually 28,500 by the end of five years.

The bill also requires hiring 1000 new immigration agents, 200 new prosecutors, and new immigration judges and Board of Immigration Appeals members.

Next, the bill increases the penalties for people who illegally enter the U.S. or who overstay their visas.

Under current law, if an individual enters the U.S. illegally or overstays their visa they are barred from returning to the United States for three years, and could be barred for up to 10 years if they stayed in the U.S. illegally for over a year.

However, under the bill, if an individual is in the United States illegally the penalty is increased so that the person would be barred forever - and never be allowed to come to the United States.

The bill also includes provisions to fight passport and visa fraud based on the bill that Senator Sessions and I introduced this year.

These new provisions would punish people who traffic in 10 or more passports or visas, and increase the penalty for document fraud crimes to 20 years.

By including these tough new enforcement measures, this bill goes a long way to protecting our borders and takes a hard stand against individuals who violate the law.

The bill also takes a hard stand against employers who violate the law and hire illegal immigrants.

For too long, the Administration has not enforced the laws on the books, and the negligible fines for hiring illegal aliens were just a part of doing business - this bill changes that.

Under current law, an employer can be fined $250 to $2500 for hiring an unauthorized worker; the bill increases that fine to $5000.

The bill also increases the penalties for employers who repeatedly violate the law and hire illegal aliens. Under current law, the highest penalty that can be assessed against an employer is $10,000 for a repeat violation; this bill imposes a new larger fine of $75,000 for repeat violations.

The bill creates a new employment verification system - mandating that within three years, all employers must verify with the government that all of their employees, foreign and American, are who they say they are.

This new system will require employers to submit each employee's name and social security number or visa numbers to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS will then confirm whether the employee is in fact legally allowed to work.

If the DHS says the employee is not legally allowed to work or his legal status is in question, the employee then has ten days to challenge the government's conclusion, and while the employee is taking steps to contest his rejection, the Secretary must extend the period of investigation and the employee cannot be fired.

This new verification system should ensure that individuals who are hired by American businesses are actually legally permitted to work in this country.

Once the security and enforcement measures were established, the negotiators sought to devise a pragmatic solution to deal with the approximately 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States.

This solution to this issue is what has been referred to as "the grand bargain."

In order to bring Democrats and Republicans together a compromise was adopted that creates a new "Z" visa that will establishes a strict path for those individuals who are already in the United States to be able to earn a legal status.

In exchange, the bill reforms the current immigration system and eliminates policies that allow for "chain migration."

With respect to the first part of the grand bargain, I firmly believe we have to develop a practical solution to the deal with the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country.

While some have complained that all 12 million undocumented aliens should be deported, such a solution is not practical nor is it reasonable - for many of those individuals and families who have become integrated into the fabric of their communities deportation would be a severe outcome.

For example, in my home state of California, the Munoz family from San Diego is facing exactly what a policy of absolute deportation would mean.

In 1989, Zulma and Abel Munoz came to the United States seeking medical care for their infant son who was sick - sadly, despite their efforts, two months later he died. At the time, Mrs. Munoz was pregnant with her second child, a girl, and a medical worker who had helped her son urged Mrs. Munoz to stay longer in the United States to make sure their infant daughter received proper care.

They took that medical workers advice, and have remained in the United States since then.

Both parents found work; they bought a home; and they repeatedly tried to legally adjust their status, but their attempts failed.

Then last month, at 7:30 p.m. on a Thursday night, Mrs. Munoz was arrested and led away from the house in her pajamas. Later when Mr. Munoz returned from Home Depot, he was handcuffed and taken away - leaving behind their three children, now 16, 13, and 9.

There are many families, like Mr. and Mrs. Munoz, who are not criminals, who have lived and worked in their communities for years, and who are productive members of society, but who are also in the U.S. illegally.

Families like these should be given the opportunity to come out of shadows, to earn a legal status, and to eventually apply for a green card - and that is what this bill provides through the Z visa program.

Let me be clear, this is not an amnesty.

For those who say it is, I think it is important to define what amnesty means - amnesty is automatically giving those who broke the law a clean slate no questions asked - this bill does not do that.

Instead, to qualify for a green card each individual must wait until the backlog has been cleared - approximately 8 years - and during that time these individuals and families would need to:

1. pass a national security check;

2. apply for a Z-visa that allows them to stay in the U.S. legally;

3. work or get an education;

4. pay taxes;

5. learn English;

6. pay a fine of $5000, plus processing fees of at least $3000;

7. not commit crimes;

8. reapply and undergo additional background checks;

9. return to their home country for a "touch-back" for at least a day, to submit their application, provide a fingerprint, biographical and biometric information;

10. and earn enough points under the same merit system that all future applicants will use.

This is not amnesty. This is not simply giving a green card to anyone who is in the country illegally.

Instead, through the Z visa program and the new merit system, each individual must meet these significant demands in order to earn a green card.

The second component of the "grand bargain" is to clear up the current backlog of individuals who have been waiting for green cards and to reform how green cards are awarded by creating a point system that is based on merit.

To achieve this, the bipartisan bill would provide about 200,000 new green cards annually that will go to those individuals who have followed the rules and applied for a green card prior to May 1, 2005.

For anyone who applied after May 1, 2005 they will now be required to re-apply through the new merit based point system. This new point system is based on what has been done in other countries, including Canada and Australia. It sets up a framework to allow individuals to earn points that would qualify them to earn a green card.

Under this new system, individuals will get points for education, work history, ability to speak English, as well as whether they have U.S. citizen family members.

This new point system is a balanced approach that considers multiple factors and allows individuals to earn their green cards.

Finally, the third component in the "grand bargain" is to ensure that temporary means temporary - meaning workers who come to the United States on a "temporary worker visa" must return to their home countries when the visa expires.

Under the new "Y-visa" there are two temporary worker programs - one that brings in workers for two years, and then requires the worker to leave for a year; and a second, seasonal Y-visa where workers can come in for 10 months, and then are required to leave for two months.

Workers who come to the United States under the longer "2 years in the country - 1 year out of the country" program can renew their visa so that they can work up to six years total, but every two years they must leave the United States for a year.

However, if Y-visa holder wants to bring their family with them to the United States then they would be limited to only 1 renewal and they would have to demonstrate that they can support their family. They would do this by showing that the family has health insurance and that they will earn a wage above 150% of the federal poverty guidelines.

Finally, the new Y-visa program is capped at 400,000 foreign workers a year for the 2-year/1-year program and 100,000 visas for the seasonal 10-month/2-month program.

Both of these caps contain escalation clauses that allow the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue additional visas up to 600,000 per year for the longer program and up to 200,000 per year for the seasonal program.

The escalation clause in the longer program gives the Secretary the discretion to increase the number of Y-visas by as much as 10% or 15% each year. According to some estimates, this means that in 10 years well over 3.4 million foreign workers could come into the United States through the longer Y-visa program.

I am concerned about the impact on our economy and our country if such a substantial number of visas were to be issued.

Senator Bingaman has an amendment that would eliminate the escalator and reduce the cap to permit only 200,000 Y-visas each year to be issued under the longer program. I am a cosponsor of the Bingaman amendment and I voted for it last Congress.

While I agree with the grand bargain principle that temporary means temporary, I am concerned that the high cap on the longer Y-visa program and the inclusion of the escalator means that the numbers of temporary workers coming in through this program are just too high.

But with the adoption of the Bingaman amendment I believe the temporary worker program adopts the right balance and still fulfills the principles of the "grand bargain."

In addition to these important principles that were developed as part of the "grand bargain", the bipartisan bill contains two more important provisions: the DREAM Act and AgJOBS.

Last Congress, Senators Craig, Kennedy, and I repeatedly tried to pass AgJOBS. This bill reforms the current H-2A agricultural temporary worker program and creates a path to legalization for undocumented farm workers currently in the U.S.

There is no industry that is suffering more from a labor shortage than agriculture. Foreign workers make up as much as 90% of the work force and over half of the foreign workers are undocumented - as many as 1.5 million.

But for years now we have heard from farmers and growers that they can not get the labor force needed to harvest their crops.

California growers tell me that their labor forces are already down 30% this year.

For example, Larry Stonebarger, a cherry packer in Stockton, California, has said that his packing house only has 650 workers, instead of 1100 he need.

California provides a vital part of our nation's food source. Half of this country's fruits are grown in California, and in fact, California is the only U.S. producer of almonds, figs, kiwi fruit, olives, and raisins.

The importance of having locally grown produce cannot be underestimated.

This Sunday, the Washington Post reported that the Food and Drug Administration detained 107 food imports from China at U.S. ports just last month. They found dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical; mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides; juices and fruits rejected as "filthy"; and prunes tinted with chemical dyes not approved for human consumption.

This situation is unacceptable.

But amazingly as we fight to keep out foreign produce that is not protected by safety and quality controls, our own immigration policies undermine the ability of U.S. growers to produce high quality fruits and vegetables right here in our own country.

The reality is, if there are not enough farm workers to harvest the crops in the United States, we will end up relying on foreign countries to provide our food - this is not good for our economy or for ensuring that Americans are receiving safe and healthy foods.

The best way to avoid this outcome is to ensure that American farmers and growers have the workers they need to harvest the crops - and the best way to ensure we have a stable agriculture labor force is to pass AgJOBS.

Our bill will stabilize the labor shortage on our farms by allowing undocumented farm workers who have worked in agriculture and agree to continue to work in agriculture for 3 to 5 years to earn a Z-A visa and eventually a green card. This will create a path to earn legal status for those ag workers already in the country.

Secondly, AgJOBS will streamline the H-2A program so that it is usable - so that growers and farmers can have access to a consistent supply of temporary workers in the future.

AgJOBS is a bipartisan bill that needs to be enacted to ensure that farmers, growers, and farm workers can continue to provide Americans home-grown, safe and healthy produce.

Immigration reform is certainly a difficult area to tackle, but this bill strikes the right balance and reflects the best thinking on how to accommodate all the various concerns and interests.

While it is easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize it is harder to stand up, take on the tough issues, make the hard decisions and do what is right to fix our immigration system. I want to commend Senators Kennedy, Specter, Salazar, and Kyl for their hard work in undertaking this difficult issue and crafting this important legislation.

This is not a perfect bill, but it is a good bill - and it is a bill that I hope the Senate will pass.

Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the Nation are available at my website http://feinstein.senate.gov. You can also receive electronic e-mail updates by subscribing to my e-mail list at http://feinstein.senate.gov/issue.html.

a medical worker who had helped her son urged Mrs. Munoz to stay longer in the United States to make sure their infant daughter received proper care.

Can this medical worker be found, jailed and sued?

5. learn English;

We've shown that has been false!

You agree with that Feinstein, then make the official language English!

Why is it that when the number of illegals in this country has never been higher, California farmers say the work force is down by 30%? Perhaps they rather do the jobs american workers "will" do!

Excellent point! Especially when the government pays the farmers NOT TO GROW crops!!

vic wrote:

Why is it that when the number of illegals in this country has never been higher, California farmers say the work force is down by 30%? Perhaps they rather do the jobs american workers "will" do!

Exactly vic. They all left their jobs picking tomatoes and stole away the construction and fast food jobs the American had.

that response to this issue is just horrible and I hope we can end her political career for it at the first opportunity.

she more than anyone should be saying SHOW ME. show me the enforcement, show me the fence, all 870 miles of it, show me the employers being fined, show me all of this for 10 years and --

--guess what, no more illegal immigration problem as most would self deport.

Feinstein is a total failure on this. she let them all in, let SoCal be wrecked in myriad ways, and now she endorses legitimizing this invasion?

we must get her out of office.

Originally Posted by SamLowrey

a medical worker who had helped her son urged Mrs. Munoz to stay longer in the United States to make sure their infant daughter received proper care.

Can this medical worker be found, jailed and sued?

[quote:2sfle9ve]5. learn English;

We've shown that has been false!

You agree with that Feinstein, then make the official language English! [/quote:2sfle9ve]

Then they stayed here and had two more children, who are 16, 15, and 9.
Then we're supposed to feel sorry for them and their children when
the parents are deported when they sneaked in the first place to
receive feel medical care and never left. I don't care how long they lived here. They came in illegally and stayed here. Now all these people
are going to be rewarded for coming here illegally. How many Americans
receive free medical care? We should be able to access the services
as they do. (Maybe we do, I just get so mad when illegals are able
access all these services for free and advised by social workers how
to use them.)

If the farmers paid decent wages and had better working conditions,
they would have more workers instead of day laborers standing
outside of Home Depots all over the country. Heck, they would
probably get a lot of Americans that would want to work. Americans
should always have the first opportunity to fill jobs over foreign
workers anyway.

We all know that giving the illegals amnesty and allowing them to stay will create more illegal immigration in the future. Many come in to take
advantage for generous benefits we so freely give to them and their
anchor babies. All provided by American taxpayers, who's middle
class is dwindling and are struggling tp make ends meet everyday.

THIS WAS WHAT I DID IN RESPONSE TO FEINSTEIN'S STUPID LETTER. HER LETTER IN BLACK, MY REPLY IN RED.
Thank you for writing to me about the current immigration reform debate now going on in Congress.
I understand there have been mixed reactions to the bipartisan bill that is being considered in the Senate and that there are very strong feelings about this issue. I believe that while this bill is not perfect, it is a good compromise. The current immigration system is not working - our borders are broken, our national security is compromised, and there is no feasible way to identify and deal with the 10 to 12 million undocumented people now living in the United States.
No, Senator Feinstein, if our current system isn’t working it’s because our government granted amnesty in 1986 and then systematically refused to enforce our laws or secure our boarders.
Our boarders aren’t broken, they’ve NEVER been secured.
And, Yes, Sen. Feinstein, there IS a feasible way to deal with the 20 MILLION now living in the United States. Enforce our laws and they will self deport. Secure our boarders and they can’t and won’t come back.
I have served on the Immigration Subcommittee for over a decade, and while there have been many partial attempts to address immigration issues, this is the first comprehensive bill that has a chance to fix and reform the entire system.
[color=red]Not only will this bill NOT “fixâ€

GREAT responses, CastingDirector! With your permission, I would like to send her an email and fax with these responses to her comments!