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Senate to debate immigration reform in November
President George Bush is urging lawmakers to approve a multi-billion dollar plan to crackdown on illegal immigration. Nearly everyone agrees the immigration system needs comprehensive reforms, but there is fierce debate on how to fix it. As many as 11 million immigrants may be working illegally in the United States, and the US chamber of Commerce says the actual number could be double that, if non working family members are included. The national federation, which represents business interests in the United States, says America's immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed; a sentiment shared by President Bush who signed a $32 billion homeland security bill this week.

Mr. Bush wants to secure America's borders and get tough on illegal immigrants, but still fill the need for foreign workers. "We need to find a way to fill that demand by matching willing employers with willing workers from foreign countries on a temporary and legal basis."

The reforms, which still need congressional approval, include a temporary guest worker program that would allow undocumented aliens to work in the US for three years before they have to return to their home countries to apply for a new work permit. Giving them an advantage over those who play by the rules.

Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy want to give illegal immigrants an avenue to become Democratic voters legal US residents without the need to go home. Senator Kennedy says, "The principle difference is he (the President) would have those individuals return to the country, it doesn't really make a great deal of sense economically and it doesn't make sense from a humane point of view."

President Bush is opposed to granting amnesty to illegal (immigrants) already in the country and so is Senator McCain. He says his bill would require illegal immigrants to pay a $2,000 fine so they can apply for a tamper proof identification card before they can be eligible to work. "And then they would have to work for 6 years and then be eligible for a green card and get at the end of the line, which would probably take another 5 years. Anybody who calls that amnesty doesn't read the same dictionary I do, we think it's pretty tough.."

But not tough enough for the head of the National Border Patrol council. The union which represents more than 10,000 border patrol agents wants all illegal immigration halted.

T.J. Bonner claims illegal immigrants take away jobs and lower the quality of life in America. "It happened in the meat packing industry in the Midwest where you had Americans working for $18 an hour displaced by people who were recruited in Mexico to work for $6 an hour. It's happened in the drywall industry and many industries around the country."

Hector Flores, the national leader of the League of United Latin American Citizens or LULAC, says the economy would shut down if the US got rid of all illegal workers. "They're paying taxes like anybody else, using free hospital services like anyone else, using public schools like anyone else, voting Democrat like anyone else, they're working to contribute to our economy, we need to look at this very seriously and they need to be rewarded for that and not penalized." LULAC endorses what it calls the practical approach taken by Senators McCain and Kennedy. Which pretty much confirms how bad it is.

Posted by: Jackal 2005-10-27
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=133338