By Guy Smith and Aishatu Yusuf, USCM Intern
June 4, 2007

As Congress returns June 4 following the Memorial Day recess, the bipartisan Senate Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill is once again center stage. Debate that was already started over the complex bill will resume.

The legislation, a product of private sessions led by Senators Edward M. Kennedy (MA) and Jon Kyle (AZ), emerged from a week of debate prior to the recess relatively unchanged.

Two cabinet members, Michael Chertoff of Homeland Security and Carlos Gutierrez, also participated in the closed door negotiations that produced the first possible change in federal immigration policy since 1986.

The Senate legislation faces a series of obstacles as pro-immigration advocacy groups, many of them Hispanic, oppose legislation on grounds that it is un-reasonable to have a fine of $5,000 and force head of house hold immigrants to return to their home countries. Conservatives opposed to what they believe is amnesty for the more than 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States flooded congressional offices with their views on the bill.

The legislation would increase border security, establish a new system for employer notification, create a temporary worker program and begin to shift immigration preferences from family ties to a merit-based system.

The bill, S.1348, has, at present, no counterpart legislation in the House of Representatives passed restrictive changes in immigration law the previous Congress but no final bill emerged from either chamber. This year, the chief Republican negotiator is Senator Arlen Specter (PA) who said he believed a final product will pass the Senate in early June.

As the national debate on immigration reform intensified, President Bush on May 29 accused opponents of the legislation mostly from his conservative base of “fear-mongering” and their attacks as “empty political rhetoric.”

As a counterpoint to opposition, support for the bill came from business groups, religious and civil rights organizations

Current illegal immigrants:

• They could come forward immediately and receive probationary legal status;

• The bill would create a four year, renewable “Z” visa for those present within the USA unlawful before Jan 1, 2007;

• Undocumented immigrants could adjust status to unlawful permanent resident, get green cards once they pay $5,000 fine and their head of house hold returns to their home country;

• People under age 30 who were brought to the USA as minors could receive their green cards after three years, rather than eight;

• Undocumented farm workers who could demonstrate they have worked 150 hours or three years in agriculture could apply for green cards; and

• No green cards for “Z” visa holders could be processed until “triggers” for border security and work place enforcement are met, estimated to take 18 months. Processing of green cards for holders of “Z” visas would begin after clearing an existing backlog. This is expected to take eight years.

Workplace enforcement:

• Employers would have to electronically verify new employees to prove their identities and work eligibility; and

• Penalties for unlawful hiring, employment and record keeping violators would grow.

  Guest workers: (After border security measures are in place)

• A new temporary guest-worker program would be created with two year “Y visas” initially capped at 200,000 a year with annual adjustments;

• A “Y” visa could be renewed up to three times, but workers would be required to return home for a year in between. Those bringing dependants could obtain only one, non-renewable two year visa; and

• Families could accompany guest workers only if they could prove they had medical insurance and their wages were 150 percent above the poverty level.

Future Immigrants:

• Spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and permanent residents would be eligible for green cards based on family connections, but other relatives such as adult children and siblings would not; and

• 380,000 visas a year would be awarded based on a point system, with about 50 percent based on employment criteria, 25 percent on education, 15 percent on English proficiency and ten percent on family connections.