Senate Panel Approves Immigration Bill

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/US/Immigration
WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee approved election-year immigration legislation Monday that clears the way for millions of undocumented workers to seek U.S. citizenship without having to first leave the country.



After days of street demonstrations that stretched from California to the gounds of the U.S. Capitol, the committee also voted to strip out proposed criminal penalties for residents found to be in this country illegally.

The panel's vote cleared the way for the full Senate to begin debate Tuesday on the emotional immigration issue.

BHN

I think it is fairly "hugh111"
BHN

This seems to be a difficult subject around here.

Thanks for posting the link for us cuberats.

Should be one helluva debate to watch
on C-span...
BHN

but expressing anything but the status quo, PC, faux liberal POV will get one accused of racism around here by those who largely have never been affected by the consequences of this situation.

...at least a lot better than it could be. That other legislation scares the bejeesus outta me. It's good there's going to be some effort to practice civility with this issue.

in the house who voted for Sensenbrenner's bill are going to look pretty stupid for kissing off the Hispanic vote for nothing. I can see my Republican representative getting voted out on this one issue.

I watched the Judiciary Committee hearing from the start this morning until the final vote at day's end (I'm an immigration lawyer so I'm obviously interested in what will represent the most comprehensive immigration bill in a generation). It was a riveting day especially for those of us who have been deeply involved in this debate. One Democratic amendment after another passed while the more meanspirited GOP provisions fell by the wayside. Senator Durbin probably had the best day. His DREAM Act to legalize teenagers who make good grades and go to college or the military is something he has pushed for a couple of years and he got it added to the bill. He also was the Senator who got the awful criminalization provisions removed. Senator Kennedy's version of guest worker and legalization provisions passed. And the committee was able to get a bill out to meet Senator Frist's deadline. So the Frist immigration bill (which only had crackdown provisions and nothing to help people legalize) will be withdrawn and Senator Frist will schedule the largely Democratic bill for a floor debate starting this week.

This was a good day for the Dems. GOP members who either have a conscience or see the writing on the wall are at odds with the members of their party who love wedge issues. The problem is that while a large portion of the public is concerned about this issue, most rate it relatively low on their list of priorities (recent polls showed immigration well down the list of priorities). But one group - the 30 million Hispanics in this country - rate it number one.

David Brooks said in a column last week that if the Republicans are perceived as being anti-immigration and thwarting a guest worker program, they can kiss Florida and the Southwest goodbye for a generation. So this is win-win for us. If the Republicans go along with the Democrats and Bush (odd that the President can count on more support from our party on this issue than his own), then it will be good news for the country. And if the Republican drink the Kool-Aid and pass an enforcement-only bill or kill legislation all together, than they'll be shooting themselves in the foot and it could cost them the 2006 election.

I am relieved that the issue is being approached responsibly and not emotionally, despite the utmost efforts of folks like Dobbs, Sensenbrenner, Tancredo, etc. We are a nation of immigrants and opportunity. I'm glad it's showing.

was jumping --GO GO GO>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060328/ap_on_go_co/immigration&printer=1;_ylt=AjQn5BmR1uSW29Z660I0feSMwfIE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-
Senate Panel Approves Immigration Bill

By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press WriterTue Mar 28, 3:16 AM ET

Immigrant supporters claimed their first major victory since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks after a bipartisan group of senators approved legislation that would give millions of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship.

"It's a big day for us. We may not have a lot of big days, but this is a big day," Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant group, said after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a package of immigration and border security measures Monday.

Restaurant owners, agricultural groups, Democrats and others who had been pushing for a way for immigrants to earn legal permanent residency — the first step to citizenship — also claimed victory.......

...McCain said the turnouts in the hundreds of thousands — particularly among Hispanics — at recent rallies in Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington helped galvanize support for the bill.

In general, the Judiciary Committee's bill is designed to strengthen enforcement of U.S. borders, regulate the flow into the country of guest workers and determine the legal future of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

The bill would double the Border Patrol and authorize a "virtual wall" of unmanned vehicles, cameras and sensors to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border. It also would allow more visas for nurses and agriculture workers, and shelter humanitarian organizations from prosecution if they provide non-emergency assistance to illegal residents.

The most contentious provision would permit illegal aliens currently in the country to apply for citizenship without first having to return home, a process that would take at least six years. They would have to pay a fine, learn English, study American civics, demonstrate they had paid their taxes and take their place behind other applicants for citizenship, according to aides to Kennedy, D-Mass., who was instrumental in drafting the legislation......

.....Soon after assuming the presidency, Bush called for measures to provide businesses with a reliable immigrant work force. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks he put aside negotiations with Mexico on a guest worker program. Mexican President
Vicente Fox, with whom Bush meets this week in Cancun, had hoped his friendship with the former Texas governor would lead to legal status for Mexicans working illegally in the U.S.

Any bill produced by the Senate would have to be reconciled with the House measure. Despite Bush's support for letting illegal immigrants with jobs avoid deportation, many Republicans vow to prevent what they say amounts to amnesty from becoming law.

"I will oppose amnesty at all stages," said Sen. John Cornyn (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, who was on the losing side of Monday's 12-6 vote by the Judiciary Committee. He said Congress "made a mistake in 1986" by granting amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants "and now we have 12 million."

when Bush's rich rancher and farmer friends need cheap labor that can be intimidated, they'll be all too eager to hire someone who does NOT jump through the hoops of whatever bill makes it out of Congress. Then, in another twenty years, we'll be having a national debate about legalizing THOSE people.

I can accept that America is completely hypocritical about this issue. I heard all the crap surrounding the Simpson-Mazzoli bill two decades ago, how it would say, "OK, you folks can stay, but no more will be allowed in." I really don't care if my taxes are paying for illegals to go through the health care system, the law enforcement system, and the education systems for free.

I just want to know, if we're dead set on eliminating the border between Mexico and the US, why can't we do it between the US and Canada? I'd like to be able to visit British Columbia, and come back without having to pay for a fucking passport, like I've been used to doing. If we're not going to treat border jumpers on the southerly margin of this country like criminals, why should we treat tourists coming back through our northern border as suspected terrorists?

...that exploit said labor (which is who really should be punished, not the immigrants, since it's those who exploit that undercut both immigrants and non and feed the influx of immigrant labor)?

McCain/Kennedy is the only serious bill out there which looks at immigration as a complex issue for which a multi-faceted, comprehensive approach is needed, not just more bully boys with guns and more prisons. For those of you enforcement fans, it does include the big guys with guns as well, its strength is that enforcement is not its only focus. It's a very serious, well-researched, and carefully thought-out piece of legislation which really tries to learn from what we've done right and what we've done wrong in the past and to incorporate those lessons learned. It's consequently the only bill which has a shot at actually improving the situation as opposed to simply making a bad situation worse. This is really a cause celebre, people.

.....but the speech of Senator Lindsey Graham was great.

I am just suspicious when I find myself on the same side as the Chamber of Commerce, the Neocons, and Bush.