Now that the fight over
the extension of the debt limit and the government shut down is over, (until it
starts again in early 2014), President Obama has said he wants to move on and
focus on “comprehensive immigration reform”.
An immigration reform bill actually was passed in the Democrat
controlled Senate (S.-744) in June.
Under ordinary legislative procedures, this bill would be introduced in
the House of Representatives and after the inevitable modifications, it would
go to a Conference Committee of members of both houses for negotiation into one
final bill for votes by both houses.
However “ordinary
legislative procedures” seem to be an endangered species; most votes of any
importance in the Senate now require a minimum of 60 supporters instead of 51
to avoid the threat of a filibuster; the “ordinary” annual federal budget
process has been suspended by partisan intransigence and has been replaced by a
series of “continuing resolutions” that simply extend government spending at
existing levels; joint Senate/House
committees like the one that was supposed to avoid the across the board cuts
required by the “sequester”, are stacked
with ideologically intransigent members from both houses which make successful
compromise impossible.
So what will happen when, or if, the Senate immigration
bill gets to the House? First, the
President, the Democrats, Hispanic advocacy groups and their liberal supporters
have insisted on a “comprehensive” reform bill.
That means they want one huge bill that addresses all the problems with
the current immigration situation and is broad enough to allow the inclusion of
the more permissive aspects of their version of reform.
The House Republicans want to deal with the problems with
a series of bills that address specific issues.
That will allow them to prioritize the reform effort and put border
enforcement at the top of the list.
Democrats are more concerned with the legal assimilation of the 11-14
million illegal aliens currently living in the U.S.
The Senate bill did pass with the support of 14
Republican Senators who were able to negotiate the inclusion of some provisions
that are most important to conservatives in the House. However, the substance of some of these
provisions and the general provisions for establishing a legal status for the
millions of resident illegals will still stimulate significant opposition in
the House.
Essentially the broad divisions are between those who are
seeking tougher border enforcement to stem the tide of illegal immigration and
those who are seeking a “path to citizenship” for current illegal
residents. The Senate bill and a similar
one which has been introduced in the House attempts to deal with both
issues.
Basically, the path to citizenship creates a new class of
immigrant status, the Registered Provisional Immigrant status for which
illegals may apply if they’ve been in the U.S. continuously prior to December
31, 2011. The application period is for one year but can be extended by the
government. There is a cash penalty fee and those with a criminal history are
inelegible.
RPI status lasts for six years but is also renewable.
After ten years the RPIs can apply for permanent legal resident status under
existing rules. After three years as permanent legal residents, individuals may
apply for citizenship, thus creating a 13 year track to become citizens. During this process the RPIs are not eligible
for Federal benefits including Obamacare.
To satisfy the border security first proponents S. 744
contains the following provisions:
The bill requires an additional 19,200 Border agents be
hired bringing the total to 38,405.
Seven hundred miles of border fence will be installed
The E-Verify system of legal employee identification must
be fully implemented for all employers.
Electronic surveillance, unmanned aircraft, radar
stations and other sensors will be deployed.
Thus S.744 appears to be the most comprehensive attempt
at bi-partisan immigration legislation to date and should provide a strong
basis for the inevitable further negotiations that will come with the House of
Representative’s response. The bill
however, is not without flaws and its authors have also succumbed to the usual
temptation to use the “comprehensive” label to include more than is necessary
to address the primary issues in immigration reform, which will make it more
difficult to reach a final agreement.
The included provisions of the Southern Border Fencing
Strategy and the Southern Border Security Strategy which include the above
requirements, require prompt action on the part of the Secretary of Homeland
Security to establish “plans” for “effective control of the border. These
represent “triggers” which must be accomplished before RPIs may apply for
Lawful Permanent Residence status (green card) on their way to naturalization
i.e. citizenship. However, that is a ten
year process. A Southern Border Security
Commission will be created to make recommendations to achieve these goals if
the Secretary of Homeland Security cannot certify “effective control” of all
borders within 5 yrs.
So is this legislation going to fix the problem of
illegal immigration especially from the southern border? The answer is no. From the Democrats and Hispanic activists
point of view that was never the goal.
Their goal was legalization and a path to citizenship for the eleven
million illegals now living in the U.S. and “reform” in immigration policy to
allow even more immigrants into the country legally. The legislation does both.
The goals of Republicans were first to secure the border
and then find some accommodation with
moderate Democrats, if any could be found, to deal with the existing illegal
immigrant population. In spite of the enhanced security measures required by
the bill, securing a two thousand mile border is a physical impossibility. The
new border patrol agents and new technology will help but the legislation
contains a “hedge” by giving the Secretary of Homeland Security five years to
certify “effective control’ and then the only result of a failure will be
“recommendations” on the part of the Southern Border Commission. Until the incentives for coming into the
country are reduced and penalties assessed for violation of the law, illegal
immigration will continue.
Ironically, the very fact that the current eleven million
may be granted an amnesty including full citizenship benefits, might itself be
a continuing incentive for the next eleven million to come. The legislation actually makes it more
difficult to deport illegal aliens by providing enhanced legal counsel and more discretion for immigration judges to
grant legal status of some kind. De-incentivizing also must include lowering the expectations
of employment. This makes the mandatory
use of E-Verify by employers crucial.
But this is a five year plan with staged implementation.
House Republicans have already introduced several bills
dealing with specific parts of the Senate’s legislation. Clearly they should not simply throw up
non-negotiable road blocks to any reform attempt. S.-744 is far from perfect but political
momentum for doing something is widespread and the political damage that would
follow a simple obstructionist position following the damage done over the
government shut down and debt ceiling fiasco would be significant. The “comprehensive” Senate bill need not be
adopted all at once and the current Republican strategy of passing different
parts of the bill as separate legislation can be followed if the core portions
are seriously dealt with.
The Senate bill includes reform of HB-1 visas which deal
with immigrants who have special skills and request non-permanent
admittance. It also significantly raises
the number of immigrants who would be allowed to enter the U.S. legally under
existing law. These provisions have
nothing directly to do with the border issues or the current illegal immigrant
population and could be considered separately so that they can be considered
after specific analysis and debate.
There is room for toughening up the schedule for
upgrading border enforcement and shortening the schedule for full E-Verify
compliance with penalties included.
The “amnesty” need not include a
“path to citizenship” although this has been the “holy grail” espoused by the
political Left for years. Millions of
immigrants who entered the country legally currently have permanent legal
residence. Rewarding those who entered
illegally is simply a liberal gift and an attempt to add millions to Democrat
Party registration. Nonetheless, House
Republicans should work to produce common sense legislation that serves the
core goals of both parties while looking to the future interests of the nation,
and the reality is that Democrats in the Senate will have to be prepared to
make concessions also if they want to reform immigration policy in 2014.
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