Congress not done with immigration yet

[WifeOHunkyJohn 2]

Aug. 7, 2007, 12:01AM

Congress not done with immigration yet

Measures aimed at a crackdown popping up in both House and Senate

By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT

Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

Latino day laborers, urged to show "the hands that built America," by National Day Laborer Organizing Network director Pablo Alvarado, called recently for a moratorium on immigration raids.

Jacquelyn Martin: AP

WASHINGTON — Just weeks after it appeared immigration was off the table as a major issue for the 110th Congress, the topic is back with a twist.

A temporary worker program and path to eventual citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants — key parts of the Senate bill that imploded in June — are dormant. But legislative efforts to crack down on illegal immigration are popping up with surprising frequency.

Conservatives in Congress, particularly in the House, are using debate on unrelated bills such as the state Children's Health Insurance Program, agriculture spending and homeland security to revive their push for enhanced border security and ensure no government benefits are granted to illegal immigrants.

The House was in full meltdown last week after Republicans accused Democrats of trickery in dealing with a GOP motion making explicit the agriculture spending bill's prohibition of food stamps and other benefits for illegal immigrants.

The Senate recently tacked $3 billion in emergency funds onto a homeland security spending bill to add thousands more Border Patrol agents and detention beds, build 700 miles of fencing at the Southwest U.S. border and increase worksite enforcement.

In perhaps the biggest shift since the Senate shelved the sweeping bill in June, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and other Republicans are preaching an enforcement-first message after previously insisting the only way to deal with immigration was in a comprehensive fashion.

McCain and two other GOP senators instrumental in negotiating the Senate compromise with the White House — fellow Arizonan Jon Kyl and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — last week unveiled legislation chock-full of enforcement provisions, including making illegal presence a misdemeanor. Currently it's an administrative violation.

"The failure of the Senate to pass comprehensive immigration was a huge disappointment," McCain said. "Although we must move forward with other issues, we can show the American people that we are serious about securing our nation's border."

The moves in Congress have some in the immigrant-rights community very nervous.

"The atmosphere is clearly pretty toxic," said Cecilia Munoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza. "It has taken really less than a month for the immigration issue to sort of pop up on everything else (in Congress) in a very poisonous way."

Others, however, said the enforcement emphasis is logical in light of the very vocal reaction against the Senate bill among certain segments of the public.

"It's very clear that for the American people the situation hasn't been solved," said Rosemary Jenks, director of government advocacy at Numbers USA, an immigration-restriction group that rallied huge opposition to the Senate legislation. "So they are not going to say 'OK, we're not going to talk about it for the next year and a half.' It's still an issue that comes up every day."

At the other end of the debate, pro-immigration policy analyst Tamar Jacoby of the Manhattan Institute said that enforcement is likely to dominate debate in the near term.

"The public is ticked about this," she said. "So there are going to be efforts to crack down, to express the frustration, the irritation with the broken system."

Jacoby is among those skeptical that enforcement alone can trump the economic pull that draws more than 500,000 illegal immigrants here every year.

michelle.mittelstadt@chron.com

[mawilson 2,133]

Congress not done with immigration yet

They are done with the amnesty though, no?

[WifeOHunkyJohn 2]

They are going with the enforcement first idea, though some news articles talk about a reduced status for illegals which, for all intents and purposes, *might* be considered amnesty...

[source]

[^KK^ 3]

Interesting....

[Heracles 417]

Latino day laborers, urged to show "the hands that built America," by National Day Laborer Organizing Network director Pablo Alvarado, called recently for a moratorium on immigration raids.

Jacquelyn Martin: AP

Yes America had nothing prior to the invasion of the illegal immigrants.

Unskilled and uneducated illegal workers is exactly what America, a knowledge economy, needs.

45,000,000 Americans are living in poverty but apparently we need more poor people.

Edited August 7, 2007 by Boo-Yah!

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

I live in a agricultural town and have noticed homeland security vans all over the place. La migra, La migra.

[Heracles 417]

I live in a agricultural town and have noticed homeland security vans all over the place. La migra, La migra.

It should be La ###### off