| ON IMMIGRATION: SAME GOAL, DIFFERENT APPROACH |
| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Tuesday, May 24 2005 |
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| After months and years of inaction by U.S. lawmakers, two significant developments related to immigration came during the same week. Both have the intention of addressing an issue that has the country divided. They differ in approach and substance; one uses hard-line tactics, and the other is a wide-ranging, more realistic attempt at solving a crisis that can no longer be ignored.
On May 11, President Bush signed into law a bill that provides billions of dollars for the troops in Iraq and the war against terrorism, but attached to that bill was the so-called REAL ID initiative. Among other things, the REAL ID prevents states from issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, but it does not have the immigrants arrested and deported. It makes it more difficult to seek asylum, which would hurt legitimate victims of political repression and abuse. And it provides funds to finish a fence being built on the border between Mexico and California. None of these will make this country a safer place.
The very next day, on May 12, a new bipartisan bill was introduced that recognizes the need for an immigrant labor force and provides guidelines for more effective border security. But unlike the REAL ID bill, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005 doesn't shut the door on immigrants; it provides a road to legalization and a guest-worker program, similar to the one President Bush has been proposing for the past couple of years.
The new immigration bill was introduced by Sens. Edward Kennedy and John McCain. Illinois Democrat Luis Gutierrez and Arizona Republicans Jeff Flake and Jim Kolbe sponsored it in the House of Representatives.
McCain moved quickly to clarify that the proposal is not a reward or an easy ride for undocumented immigrants, but rather a way of punishing them for entering the country illegally by making them pay a $2,000 fine at the time they apply for a visa, in addition to application fees. Immigrants would also be subjected to a criminal background check and a medical examination before they could qualify.
Like Bush's proposal, the temporary visa in the new bipartisan bill would be effective for three years and renewable for another three years. Most importantly, the immigrant would need to show that he or she has secured a job in the United States. After the six years, the immigrant workers would return to their country of origin or apply for permanent residency through the regular channels.
The differences are that the families of the workers would also be allowed to apply for visas, preventing separation of families; and if the workers lost their jobs, they would have 60 days to find new ones.
A novel approach the new bill provides is to update the country's job bank to make sure that unemployed American citizens and legal residents have access to all jobs available before an immigrant is allowed to apply for one of them. And for the first time, it calls for shared responsibility with other countries for border security. That means Mexico, some of the Central American countries that export migrant workers, as well as Canada would have to do their share in protecting the borders.
Proponents and supporters of the bill are hoping it will become the law of the land. It makes sense that it would. After all, it addresses security concerns, labor shortages, and even though it imposes stiff fines on the immigrants, it does treat them in a humane manner and prevents the separation of families.
Of course, it's yet to be seen if it can garner the support of the hard-liners, who would prefer to see all undocumented immigrants thrown out and the country shielded from the outside world -- an unrealistic goal that only serves to satisfy angry xenophobes. The reality is that there are almost 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., and about half a million more arrive each year. Right now, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005 looks like the best way to deal with that fact of life. |
