BNA DAILY LABOR REPORT September 22, 2005 House to Act on Immigration This Year; White House to Insist on Guestworker Plan By Fawn H. Johnson
The House will act on an immigration bill before it adjourns this year, and the White House will insist that the measure include a guestworker program that would be open to the current population of undocumented workers currently living in the United States, according to lawmakers, lobbyists, and congressional staffers interviewed by BNA.
"We will do some type of immigration legislation this year," said Ron Bonjean Sept. 21. Bonjean, a spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), said it is not yet clear, however, what type of provisions would be contained in the bill.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) told reporters Sept. 20 that he would prefer to pass a bill dealing solely with border security issues before addressing the administration's proposal to create a broad new guestworker program. "I think it probably makes more sense to do a border security bill and a law enforcement bill before we get into a guestworker discussion," he said at his weekly press briefing.
But lawmakers who attended a White House meeting on immigration last week said administration officials made it clear that President Bush will not accept any immigration bill that does not include a guestworker program. "They want comprehensive reform--border enforcement, interior enforcement, and a guestworker plan," said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who was at the meeting.
A congressional source with knowledge of the meeting said the administration officials also indicated that the guestworker program should include undocumented workers, but that those workers would be barred from gaining any "benefit" for being in the country illegally. In prior meetings, White House officials have indicated they would favor denying citizenship opportunities for those individuals.
Flake said he expects the administration to put more pressure on Congress to act in the immigration arena in the coming weeks. "The president said emphatically in July of this year that he wants immigration reform this fall," he said. "I think they're prepared to follow up. I certainly hope so." He said he expects a statement from the White House in October.
Flake is a sponsor of a bill (H.R. 2330) that would create a new guestworker program that would allow undocumented immigrants currently in the United States to pay $2,000 and wait six years to earn a green card (92 DLR A-1, 5/13/05). That bill has broad bipartisan support, with Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) as an original sponsor, but it has not been endorsed by the White House.
Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), who introduced the bill with Flake and Gutierrez, told BNA that the measure is "very close" to the immigration principles outlined by President Bush almost two years ago. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) have introduced identical legislation in the Senate (S. 1033).
Administration Floats Return Requirement
At the meeting, administration officials presented in a Power Point outline of the White House immigration plan, according to sources. Both Kolbe and Flake said that plan included a requirement that all guestworkers return to their home countries for one year after they have completed a six-year stint working in the United States. Kolbe called that proposal "critical," and said that he would oppose it.
Cannon told BNA that he pressed the official who made the presentation about the return requirement and was told that it would be negotiable. Cannon said he also would oppose a provision requiring aliens to return to their home countries. "That destroys the employee base of many of our folks," he said.
A return requirement for guestworkers has been a subject of debate in the Senate, where Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) have introduced a bill (S. 1438) that would require the estimated 10 to 12 million undocumented immigrants currently in the country to return to their home countries within five years (138 DLR A-2, 7/20/05).
Cornyn has said the return requirement is essential to maintain the "rule of law," but McCain, the business community, and civil rights advocates have said the requirement would be unworkable.
Cannon echoed concerns of many advocates of increased immigration, saying undocumented workers would not come forward to sign up for a guestworker plan that would require them to leave the United States. "They need to know they're going to get a renewable visa," he said.
Republican Opposition Could Pose Difficulties
In order to pass an immigration bill in the House, advocates of a new guestworker plan would have to bypass a group of some 70 Republicans that oppose increased immigration. A case in point is Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who told BNA that he supports increased enforcement of current laws, but is "skeptical" of a new guestworker plan.
Smith said he was invited to the White House meeting but did not attend. He also said the White House plan on immigration lacks details and said the administration would need to come forward with more specifics before he could take a position.
House Immigration Subcommittee Chairman John Hostettler (R-Ind.) also has told other lawmakers privately that he would oppose any immigration legislation that goes beyond enforcing current law, according to several sources.
House Judiciary Committee Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), who is viewed by supporters of increased immigration to be hostile to new guestworker proposals, has cast himself as a mediator between opponents of increased immigration, such as Hostettler, and supporters of the Kolbe/Flake/Gutierrez bill.
One lawmaker, who asked not to be identified, told BNA that Sensenbrenner does not have the votes on the Judiciary Committee to pass a bill that does not mirror the president's guestworker plan. Bonjean said Hastert expects any immigration legislation that reaches the House floor to proceed through "regular order" by first being approved by the Judiciary Committee.
DeLay's opposition to House action on an immigration bill that includes a guestworker component could be outweighed by Hastert's desire to pass a bill. Hastert, who resides in one of the top Hispanic-populated, Republican districts in the country, has tasked House Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) with convening "unity dinners" in the party to attempt to find "consensus" on immigration issues.
Immigrant Advocates Flock to Capitol Hill
Meanwhile, some 300 advocates of immigrant rights and increased immigration flooded the Capitol this week, urging their elected officials to support the Kolbe/Flake/Gutierrez bill. The event, sponsored by the New American Opportunity Campaign, a national coalition of immigration advocacy organizations, brought constituents from 29 states, according to organizers.
At a luncheon between lobbying meetings, participants in the event told BNA that the immigrant community is watching congressional activity on immigration, but undocumented aliens are wary of any requirements that would force them to leave the United States. "Nobody's going to sign up for that," said Maria Elena Perez, a social worker for Cabrini Immigrant Services in New York City.
Daniel O'Donnell, who works as a physician's assistant at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., said he has treated many undocumented immigrants in the emergency room who have been robbed or attacked. Those individuals refuse to report the crimes, he said, because they are afraid of being deported.
Perez and O'Donnell said they hoped lawmakers would recognize the cost to taxpayers of a large undocumented population that has few rights.
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