Specter Pledges to Complete Immigration Bill; House Version Subject of Massive Protests

Updated: 06.09 pm Pacific
Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) successfully moved a bipartian immigration bill (12-6) today. Last week, Specter embraced a form of immigration amnesty and had pledged to work through Monday night, if necessary, to "craft a historic immigration bill that would allow the unlawful workers to earn their way to legal status in the United States."

Originally the Senate was to take up the measure Tuesday, but the body has postponed action until later in the week. According to the San Jose Mercury News:

The committee bill would enable illegal immigrants in the country as of Jan. 7, 2004, to obtain visas and stay in the country for six years while they apply for permanent residency by paying fines and back taxes and demonstrating a proficiency in English and civics. At Specter's insistence, they would have to "wait in line" behind the more than 3 million applicants now seeking green cards.

Regional Issue
For the 24 counties in four states aligned along the almost 2,000 mile border with Mexico, the issue of illegal immigration is real. It's costly in terms of social services, education, health care, prison facilities.

But for the rest of the country, anguished rhetoric about an America overrun with immigrants isn't reflected in Census data. As a percentage of population, in the 1990s legal immigrants constituted just over 3 percent of the 2000 population, relatively low by historical levels. That's about a third of the rate for the 1900s (9.56 percent).

Let's put one widely reported Immigration Department statistic in perspective: during 2001-2004, the number of legal immigrants (3.8 million) is greater than those who arrived in the 1890s (3.7 million). Sounds ominous, doesn't it?

First, the US population today is 290 million versus 63 million in 1890. Second, the decade before (1880) and after (1900) that one had significantly more immigrants (5.2 million and 8.8 million). [This begs the question, why were the 1890s selected?]

Third, immigration quotas were cut by a quarter for 2003 and 2004, relative to 2001 and 2002 (a byproduct of 9-11). And there were 9.1 million legal immigrants in the 1990s, with the largest rate of that decade occurring under a Republican administration.

America is not being overrun with legal immigrants.

HR 4437: Enforcement, Prevention (No Amnesty)
Liberals Guide Deborah White reports that a half million people rallied in Los Angeles on Saturday to protest HR 4437, "which makes it illegal for people, including family, and organizations, including churches and non-profits, to offer services or assistance to anyone who might be illegally in the US. Under HR 4437, services can mean offering Holy Communion, a meal at a soup kitchen or used clothing for babies."

There may be other costs associated with illegal immigration. For example, a Harvard study suggests that illegal immigration from Mexico has depressed income for US high school dropouts by 8 percent.

Adjusted for inflation, average weekly wages in the US have "edged down" 0.3% since 2000. Those at the lower end of the income spectrum -- the ones competing with illegal immigrants -- saw weekly wages drop 2.7% (10th percentile). Estimates are that we have 11.5 million illegal immigrants: that's less than 4% of the total US population.

OF illegals who have been here less than 10 years, 80% are from Mexico, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

The Wall - East Germany, Anyone?
Thus it is not a surprise that the House bill authorizes a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border. It would also make it a felony to illegally enter the country. However, Specter appears committed to the guest-worker program, but the clock is ticking. On Tuesday, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is prepared to introduce his own bill dealing with enforcement, not amensty, if Specter has not crafted a bill.

Leading the charge for tougher measures: Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). Reflecting the first in his party, President Bush backed away from his historical support of a guest-worker plan, a business goal. But on Saturday he ruled out citizenship for guest workers and came out against alien amnesty.

In 1986, a Democratic Congress and Republican President provided amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants. Employer sanctions for having hired illegal immigrants have not been actively enforced.

See Columbia Journalism Review, Macarena Hernandez on Immigration, Bill O'Reilly and No Child Left Behind: "[I]f I wasn't Mexican-American and if I only watched Mr. O'Reilly or Mr. Dobbs, I'd be afraid of Mexicans, too. They dedicate entire shows to villanizing Latino immigrants, as if they're all criminals." Also, David Neiwert and Kevin Drum.

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