Organized Labor

The Senate approved a new Immigration bill on May 25th which provides a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants. The House Senate Conference Committee must now reconcile the Senate bill with the House version.

Congress has been unusually quiet since passage of the Senate bill on immigration in late May. The legislation is now in the hands of the House Senate conference committee, which must reconcile the more conservative house bill with the Senate version. The Senate bill provides a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who have been here for more than two years. It would also create a new guest worker program for tech workers, a separate guest worker program for farm workers and better security along the U.S. Mexican border. A separate proposal by California Senator Diane Feinstein to provide amnesty for all 12 million illegals was unfortunately voted down, when the bill was being crafted.

The Senate bill had bipartisan support and is sponsored by Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona and Democrat Ted Kennedy who had stated publicly that he considers immigration a civil rights issue. The Senate bill would set up a new computer based employment verification system using social security numbers and immigrant ID numbers. The database would be controlled by the Department of Homeland Security. Let’s hope that well meaning liberals do not get carried away and defeat this necessary verification program. The floodgates to illegals were thrown open after the 1987 legislation because we did not address the needs for employer document checks. In the Senate bill employers would be able to key in the job applicant’s name and would receive verification concerning the veracity of the employee’s documents within 3 days. The Senate legislation would also mandate the development of documents that were resistant to counterfeiting, and would provide for larger fines for employers who game the system. The Senate bill would still deport those illegals who have been in the country less than two years.

The House bill, entitled the ‘Border Security, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act’ was passed late last year. The sponsor, Republican James Sensenbrener of Wisconsin took a legalistic approach, declaring that the undocumented were felons and proposing to deport millions who have already settled in the U.S. The Bill focuses only on security issues and would build a 700-mile fence along our southern border. Sensenbrenner will lead the House contingent in the conference committee. He has denounced the Senate bill and mocked the ideas of President Bush that parallel proposals in the Senate legislation.

Illegal immigrants now account for 4 out of every 100 U.S. residents and their legal status must be addressed. The Senate bill provided a path to citizenship for those immigrants who are already here, and seems to be a more realistic approach to the problem. The House bill on the other hand would make criminals of most of the undocumented and would probably drive them underground. The social upheaval would be enormous. It is essential that the new legislation acknowledge that millions of undocumented immigrants are living among us with children attending school and with most of the adults holding down jobs.

It’s essential that the new legislation promote assimilation by providing access to employment. Immigrants also need access to free public education where they can learn things like English, U.S. History and life skills. Immigrants need to be able to get a driver’s license, and need the protections provided by our legal system. Congress needs to guarantee that they will be covered by labor law, with rights to the 8-hour day, the minimum wage, overtime, and a safe workplace. These are human rights and should not just apply to U.S. citizens.

The Sensenbrenner bill would create a Berlin Wall along our southern border and alienate our friends in Mexico and much of Central America. A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center revealed that 84% of unauthorized immigrants were from Mexico and other countries in Latin America. California, with 2.4 million illegals accounted for roughly one quarter of the U.S. total.

Mexican President Vicente Fox spoke out on the issue when he visited California in an address to the California Legislature on May 25th. He expressed strong support for the Senate legislation saying that, “it was a moment that millions of families have been hoping for.” The march by millions of Hispanics and othrs in the major cities across the U.S. in early May is certainly testament to that.