Wave of Immigration Bills Hits Congress
Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress have introduced a package of immigration bills, 15 of them in the Senate. In the House, Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) is pressing for action on the centerpiece of the package, the SAVE, or Secure America with Verification and Enforcement, Act. Whether any of the bills will pass at this time remains to be seen, and some political observers suspect that the coordinated action is intended more as a way to gain support for the November elections.
As reported by the Austin America-Statesman, the bills include measures to make English the nation's official language, to prevent illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses, to deport immigrants convicted of drunk driving offenses, and to withhold federal money for cities with "sanctuary" policies that direct local officials not to check the immigration status of residents using city services. A bill by Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) would authorize state and local police to enforce immigration law and expand training in the area, while another by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) would sanction countries that refuse to take back illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes here.
The separate SAVE Act (H.R. 4088) calls for additional Border Patrol agents with technological support, aerial surveillance, increased investigation activities, more detention facilities at the border for aliens, and mandatory verification by employers of the immigration status of prospective employees. It is this last component that has drawn the most fire, on the grounds that it is based on an unreliable database. As the Church World Service puts it, it would "force employers to rely on an inaccurate verification system for all employees, without any safeguards against racial profiling, misuse, privacy, or error."
Why is this package of bills being presented now? Even friends of the measure recognize that it's mainly about politics in advance of the Congressional elections.
National Review had this take on it, referring specifically to the SAVE Act:
The article cites Rosemary Jenks, the director of government relations for NumbersUSA, a group that favors population controls:
“Undoubtedly...some of the 49 Democrats that have co-sponsored the bill have co-sponsored it with the understanding that they would never have to vote on it,” Jenks says. “The Democratic leadership is not going to put this bill on the floor unless they have to.”
But The New York Times of Mar. 13 took a broader view in an editorial:
Could it be that tightening the screws relentlessly on illegal immigrants, even if some citizens suffer in the process, is all for the greater good?
Which is — what exactly? To drive a large cohort of workers out of a sputtering economy? To take more people off the books? To prop up the under-the-table businesses that inevitably evade such crackdowns? To worsen wages and working conditions for all Americans, since nobody works more cheaply and takes more abuse than a terrified, desperate immigrant?
Immigration reform, taken to mean conditional legalization, is unlikely to move off the table until after the elections. Instead, there is a new kind of reform being proposed, unlikely to get anywhere at this time, but, with the GOP presidential primaries over, intended to make immigration an issue in the Congressional elections.
Be the first to comment