Lawmakers unveil enforcement provisions of immigration plan
Immigration legislation expected soon from leading conservatives in the Senate would beef up border security and enforcement with more than $1 billion in new technology and facilities, as well as provide new authority to detail and deport illegal immigrants.
Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee Chairman John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Thursday announced the enforcement provisions of the legislation they are developing, saying any overhaul of the nation's immigration laws will have to include tough border controls and other enforcements.
Cornyn and Kyl also plan to pair those provisions with a guest-worker program under which workers would be granted temporary status to stay in the United States.
"While we are working with all of our colleagues to try to achieve our goal of comprehensive immigration reform, what this first title does is fill a gap that is not filled by any other legislation that has been proposed," Cornyn said. "And that is a serious commitment to enforcement."
The plan calls for $500 million over five years for upgraded technology and new agents to tighten borders, as well as $500 million for new enforcement facilities.
It also grants more authority to the Homeland Security Department to remove illegal immigrants who have been ordered deported, and "clarifies" that state and local authorities have the power to enforce federal immigration laws.
The legislation also would establish an "employment verification system" that employers could use to determine if a worker has the proper legal status for employment, and would devote more resources to cracking down on employers that hire illegal workers.
Some immigrant advocates blasted the announcement, calling the focus on enforcement strategies ineffective.
Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, noted that even as resources have increased, illegal immigration has risen during the last decade. "Based on review of Sens. Cornyn and Kyl's outline, they correctly diagnose the need for smart and strong enforcement, but fail to offer a winning solution by relying largely on ineffective and discredited enforcement strategies," she said in a statement.
Cornyn and Kyl's legislation also faces competition with other immigration proposals in the Senate.
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ranking member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others have developed a bipartisan plan that would allow participants in a guest-worker program to ultimately apply for permanent citizenship, unlike the Kyl-Cornyn bill, which would require those workers to return to their home countries.
The senators unveiled the enforcement provisions before a hearing during which business leaders told lawmakers that an overhaul of immigration laws is needed for businesses to meet their future labor needs.
"Businesses want a system that is simple, easy to understand and responsive to their needs, as well as a system that recognizes some of our best workers want to stay and continue contributing to their employers and communities," said U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue.