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Border town migrants hail Senate vote
Migrants preparing to sneak into U.S. territory said they were encouraged that immigration reform had cleared the Senate Thursday, expressing hope that the measure allowing them to work legally and gain U.S. citizenship would soon be enacted. But they seemed determined to cross the Rio Grande, with or without help from Washington."I think they finally realized that they need us," said Antonio Ortiz, a 31-year-old from El Salvador who was trying to get back to Austin, Texas, where he worked construction jobs before being deported in March. "Everyone who goes there finds work." Ortiz said he swam across the Rio Grande into Laredo, Texas, Thursday morning only to be captured by the U.S. Border Patrol and sent back to Mexico. He said his plan was to slip into American territory and then hope legislation allowing him to simply pay a fine and remain there legally would become law. The bill giving millions of illegal immigrants a chance at U.S. citizenship passed the U.S. Senate late Thursday 62-36 in a bipartisan compromise. Next come tough negotiations with the House of Representatives, which passed a bill focused on border security that would make all illegal immigrants subject to felony charges, rather than merely civil deportation procedures. Oscar Martinez, 32, said he arrived at the banks of the Rio Grande after more than three weeks of jumping trains that took him from his native El Salvador through Mexico. "I don't think the majority of the people in the United States only see the negative side" of immigration, said Martinez, who worked as a welder in Virginia in 2004. "I think the program is going to benefit thousands of families and also the United States." Martinez said he was determined to cross despite heightened border security, but he also said the prospect of a more-dangerous crossing might make him think twice. "I'm not going to risk my life," Martinez said. "I have kids." Traveling in California, Mexican President Vicente Fox said the Senate vote made Thursday "truly a day of happiness, a historic day." He said it was up to Mexico and the United States to ensure "security and flexibility on an intelligent border that guarantees us tranquility, security and peace." The Senate bill was "undoubtedly a victory" for the Fox administration, said Jorge Castaneda, who resigned as Fox's foreign secretary in January 2003. The bill calls for a new guest worker program that would admit 200,000 individuals a year. Once in the United States, they would be permitted for the first time to petition on their own for a green card that confers legal permanent residency, a provision designed to reduce the potential for exploitation by employers. Under one proposal, migrants who have been in the U.S. for less than seven years would have to return to their homeland to apply, while those who have been in the country for longer could remain. "If they allow you to be there a while to work and also allow you to return to your country to see your family that would be a good option," said Christopher Guzman, a 21-year-old Honduran who was trying to get to Ohio. But "if they don't give me anything, we're going to continue as (illegal) migrants, we're going to keep trying." Guzman said he was trying to cross before National Guard troops arrived to the border next week. And Jorge Bilia, a 36-year-old bus driver from El Salvador, said he has no other choice but to get to the U.S. to try to give his four children a better life: "Only if they put up an electric fence will it stop someone." Posted by: ed 2006-05-26 |
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