An immigration bill introduced today in the House, which contains provisions for legalization for longtime undocumented immigrants, is reigniting the hopes of immigrants and their advocates in El Paso. The legislation, Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act, or STRIVE, of 2007 was introduced by U.S. Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Il., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. It is the first major immigration bill this year. It would offer temporary legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants but would require them to leave the country before they could be eligible for permanent residency and U.S. citizenship, a provision called “touchback.” …
The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C., group pushing for stricter immigration laws, said the touchback provision was no more than a “pointless roundtrip to the nearest border” in a written release. “Making them (undocumented immigrants) take a road trip and giving them a piece of paper won’t change the impact that the millions who have come here illegally continue to have on jobs, education, health care and other areas of American life,” said Dan Stein, FAIR president. Rep. Flake explained that the touchback provision was important because it would create a record of legal entry for immigrants.
The bill also includes border security features, an increase in penalties against criminal immigrants, an employment verification system and a worker visa program that could bring 400,000 new workers the first year. The bill’s sponsor insist that undocumented immigrants wanting permanent residency would go to the back of the line and only attended to when the visa backlog has been cleared.
U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, was a co-sponsor of the bill. “During my ten years in Congress, I have pushed for progress through what I have always referred to as a ‘three-legged stool’ of increased border security, immigration reform with a path to earned legalization, and enforcement of employer sanctions. All three components are critical to a successful bill and are reflected in this legislation,” he said.
Last year, House Republicans, who were the majority, passed an immigration bill that contained no legalization, no guest worker program and that would have made it a felony to be in the United States without without the proper documents. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated last year that there were 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. The House bill failed to be reconciled with a more pro-immigrant, bipartisan one from the Senate.
This year, with Democrats at the helm and the support of president Bush for a guest worker program, immigrants’ advocates are hoping things have changed in their favor. But Democrats do not have enough votes to pass a bill without the support of some Republicans, experts said. Gutierrez and Flake have spent months drafting their bill behind closed doors with input from White House officials, members of both parties and senators. They initially were working with Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., the architect’s of last year’s Senate immigration bill, but the senators bailed out after they couldn’t agree on some key issues.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, MALDEF, supported the effort. “Immigrants, who work in some of the most dangerous jobs in the United States, deserve to work and live with dignity,” said Eric Gutierrez, the group’s legislative attorney.
John S Bolton said
STRIVE would increase strife, much to the satisfaction of the power-greedy. I’ve already contacted my rep. via the ‘write your representative’ faxing facility of the USHouse. I did so before dawn yesterday, 3-22-07.
Celeste Allen said
This sounds just like the amnesty bill that was passed by the Reagan Administration many years ago, with a trip back to visit the relatives in the home country thrown in for good measure. Where are the provisions saying these people must STAY in their home countries, in the back of the line UNTIL it is their turn to become legal citizens? Where are the provisions stating they must pass all the same tests legal immigrants have been required to pass, including the provision that learning to speak the English language is required? This is just another Democratic political ploy to try to legitimize the illegal alien population in the hopes that it will gain new voters for their party. It is a well established fact that the ‘new’ (mainly Hispanic) citizens this farce would produce will be inclined toward voting Democratic in the next elections. By legitimizing the illegal alien population and handing out citizenship like a door prize for breaking the law the Democrats are attempting to shift the demographics in America to ensure that a Democrat will be elected President, covering their efforts with terms like “humanitarian concerns and “breaking up families”. Rest assured, the new Democratic majority is already wanting to raise taxes so they can hand out more ‘entitlements’ in the name of ‘humanitarianism’. If they manage to accomplish the passage of any kind of amnesty for the illegal aliens that are here now, and those people believe the blather that “only Democrats can look out for their interests” that change in the voting public will be enough to ensure the Dems a majority in both Houses and the Presidency and NO ONE will be able to pay the taxes they will levy. _______If you want to see their tactics in action, just take a look at the Appropriations Bill for the troops in Iraq. When they knew they weren’t going to have enough votes to pass it (because of the ’surrender by’ date they had attached), they started adding in the “pork”. They gave away our hard-earned tax dollars like it was a free-for-all. Just about anything anyone wanted to ensure their yea vote. It was disgusting, underhanded and sleazy, but (heh, heh, heh), it worked. President Bush will veto the bill (at least he says, “he will veto it”) but just wait and see what will happen if the Democrats get control of everything in a couple of years. The Iraq war will be the second war they will force America into losing and your children and mine will have to learn to speak Spanish in order to communicate with “their fellow Americans”. This economic upturn we have been experiencing will disappear and inflation will rear it’s ugly head once more.______ No wonder our enemies don’t see America as ‘great and powerful’ or a country to be respected anymore. I don’t see how most of our politicians can even face themselves in the mirror. The real horror of it is, unless we all do something about it, and soon, America will just be another third world country, moaning and crying for “the good old days”, and impotent to return her to her former glory. If this “roll over and give up” attitude manages to prevail there will be no stopping the terrorists. They will watch our politicians run from Iraq before it is stable, see that we will not protect our borders and walk right across those borders and set up shop here in America. God forbid we ever see the day when the first ’suicide bomber’ appears in this country. If things continue the direction they are headed, I fear that is in our future. The awful thing is, there are some of our politicians and judges in office right now, who would scream out for that ’suicide bomber’s’ right to “freely express their religion”. Amazing.
Most Sincerely,
Celeste Allen
Michael Harry said
Just read an article about how MBA programs in the U.S. aren’t teaching students about the business impact of illegal aliens. The implication is that the U.S. economy is dependent on the 10-20 million illegal aliens from Mexico. Oh really, is that so. And where, might I ask is it taught about the COSTS to integrating and subsidizing these noncitizens? Does anyone else see a parallel here between the “mexicanization” of the U.S. and the islamic domination of western Europe? Just because I believe in the sovereignty of the U.S.A. does not make me a racist!
Celeste Allen said
America should watch what is happening in Europe VERY carefully. In many respects it is very much like looking into a crystal ball and seeing the future of this country. Just watch as those countries struggle to maintain their ‘freedoms’ in the face of the rising ‘Radicalism’ that is the strength of the extremists of this religion. Take a look at what too much acceptance is allowing to occur. However as scary as that prospect is, our America may no longer be of any interest to those ‘radicals’ if the trend we see developing now of the ‘third-world’ing of America is allowed to continue. The ‘no border enforcement’ attitude being forced down the throat of all it’s citizens by the ‘radical left’ that are in our country today will sooner rather than later condemn this country to a permanent ‘third world status’. What appears to the rest of the world as America’s inability to win the war in Iraq (which is only being highlighted by the Democrat’s ‘timetable to defeat’ action) coupled with the ‘if we can’t win the war as easily as it is done on TV’ and ‘peace at any cost’ attitude of many Americans encourages those who already hate this country to lose their respect for it. This loss of respect includes the loss of ‘fear’ that our country WILL do whatever is needed to protect itself and the loss of that fear is what makes us so vulnerable to attack. There was a time when that ‘fear factor’ was the ‘big stick’ America held in reserve. We didn’t flaunt it, we didn’t have to. Then there was Vietnam. Another war it was possible to win…only we didn’t. Everyone should know the history. We can argue all day long about whether it was a ‘justifiable’ war. Like Iraq, the reasons for engagement were many. Believed at the time to be warranted, though as in most wars where hindsight is
20/20, the reasons may not stand up to glaring light that history casts on them. At the time the war was begun the reasons appeared to be adequate, which is frequently the best thing that can be said for any war. Once started though, any war must be fought to a conclusion. Victory or Defeat. Anything less makes the tragedy of war inexcusable. During Vietnam, like today, a vocal group of people were pressuring the government into a conclusion, any conclusion. Once again it appears that the Democrats are going to only hear the defeatist’s voices and force America to ‘lose face’ and suffer defeat in another war. Mind you, the war itself is winnable. There is no better military in the world. America’s might is the reason most of those European countries enjoy the freedoms they do. The Iraqi people deserve the chance to secure democracy. But over there, like here, there is a vocal group who are ’shouting down’ those many Iraqis who desire that democracy. Our media in this country are playing into the defeatist’s (and terrorists’) hands. In fact, the vast majority of the media is owned and directed by the radical left. They are printing the “out at any costs” propaganda. None of the good that is being accomplished in Iraq, just the evil. Even this terrible bias could be overcome with time and effort. But when the rest of the world sees that this country WILL NOT even enforce its own border laws; when it sees ILLEGAL aliens marching in the streets demanding their “RIGHTS” with NO fear of deportation or even prosecution for crossing it’s borders without permission; when the rest of the world (including radical Islam) hears about American citizens being sued for reporting many of the same type of activities that the terrorists who flew two airplanes into the World Trade Center buildings engaged in before flight and “Rosie” and her cohorts
(The View) stating our government bombed it’s own citizens and is just blaming it on the ‘poor’ terrorists; when they hear our own legislators demand a scheduled “quitting time” for the war and BUYING the votes that are needed to pass it, they are LAUGHING at us. Why would they respect any country that is digging it’s own grave? Fear us?? The only fear they might have is that they might become like us. Some Iraqis must look at this country and see what is happening at this time in its history as something ‘less than shining’. America can just look south of the border, however, for a view of it’s own “dismal” future in Mexico if we continue to allow the slow invasion of this nation. If the majority of Americans do not see (or even more frightening, refuse to admit) what is now occurring to a lesser degree overseas with the increase in ‘radical’ Islamic incursion, there is a real possibility that we will be doomed to either being a nation with no clear identity, no common language, no enforceable borders, and no respect for its own laws or the equally frightening possibility of becoming the Western version of the ‘extremist’ radical country that is currently Iran. I, myself, find neither prospect very appealing.