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Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Debate Over Illegal Immigration
By Sean Olson
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
New Mexico's governor candidates have agreed on some immigration issues.
Democrat Diane Denish and Republican Susana Martinez agree the system is broken and that Washington needs to fix it. They also agree the state should stop giving driver's licenses to people who are here illegally.
But they part ways on how to deal with millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States.
Denish agrees it's an issue that must be dealt with, but doesn't advocate a specific solution. She says a process is needed to come up with a plan.
Martinez, the state district attorney in Las Cruces, said last week that illegal immigrants should be required to return to their country of origin to get a legal visa or green card as part of any U.S. immigration reform.
"In principle, I believe we need a legal immigration process for those who are in this country now and wish to stay here that is practical, while at the same time does not invite the next wave of illegal immigrants," Martinez said in a statement. "That means those here illegally should be required to return to their country of origin to begin the legalization process."
Martinez, who took a hard line on immigration policy during the GOP primary election, said she would support a process for those illegal immigrants to legally return to the U.S. for a guest worker program with temporary visas.
"The concepts I favor insist the border be secured first and require illegal immigrants to return to their home country in order to apply for temporary work visas to return to the United States legally," Martinez said.
Both candidates were asked the same question about illegal immigrants already in the country.
Denish, who has served as New Mexico's lieutenant governor since 2003, said the federal government should pass "comprehensive national immigration reform."
"This means instituting a process that will determine the status of the millions of undocumented workers already here," Denish said in a statement. "In talking with New Mexicans and business leaders about this issue as I have traveled the state, no one knows for sure exactly how that process should work, but there is agreement that it needs to be humane and understanding of the fact that there are undocumented workers who have been living and working here for years and likely wish to stay legally; and there are others who only intend to work and then return to their home countries."
Backdrop to controversy
During the primary election, Martinez attacked one of her opponents, former state GOP chairman Allen Weh, on immigration.
She charged in TV ads that Weh's support of the President George W. Bush-endorsed immigration proposal in 2007 was tantamount to supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the country.
The unsuccessful 2007 immigration proposal included a provision for legalizing what the government estimated were 12 million immigrants in the country illegally through special visas that would have allowed them to work, but would not have granted them citizenship.
Undocumented immigrants would have had to return to their home countries within eight years and pay a fine of $5,000, but would have been guaranteed the right to return. After paying the fine, the undocumented immigrants would have been eligible for a "pathway to citizenship," in which they could have been eligible for a green card in eight to 13 years.
Republican critics of the bill in Congress said that provision amounted to amnesty and acted as a reward for illegal immigrants who had broken the law sneaking into the United States.
The bill also had a guest worker program that allowed undocumented immigrants to work for two years at a time in the U.S. They would have had to return home for a year between two-year visas under the legislation, but could use the program three times. Guest workers could earn "points" in a merit system toward getting a green card while participating in the program.
About $4.4 billion would have been appropriated under the bill to increase border security.
Martinez vs. Weh
Martinez's criticism of Weh stemmed from Weh's support for the guest worker program and what some have perceived as a tacit endorsement of the provision in the bill that would have legalized all illegal immigrants in the country, but required them to pay a $5,000 fine and returned to their home country within eight years.
Weh's position was presented in an opinion column published in the Journal in 2007.
"As (Bush) does, I also favor a controlled guest worker program, and further favor finding a compassionate and equitable solution for the approximately 13 million illegal immigrants who have been working in this country for more than two years without committing any criminal acts," Weh said in the column.
Weh repeatedly denied that the statements in his column amounted to support of amnesty.
Martinez's position is similar to the 2007 bill, but does not include the provision to eventually legalize all the undocumented illegal immigrants working in the country.
"The solution does not rest with amnesty that rewards those who have broken the law with a special pathway to citizenship that allows them to cut to the front of the immigration line where people have waited for years and followed the law," Martinez said.
Denish said there can't be a clear solution to the problem of illegal immigrants already in the country until there is more information.
"The first step is passing comprehensive immigration reform, which would allow undocumented workers to admit their status so that we can have a true gauge of the issue as we seek to determine a long-term solution," Denish said.
Arizona law
Martinez agrees the federal government should undertake immigration reform, but she has said she respected Arizona's recent immigration law, most of which has been blocked at least temporarily by a federal judge.
The law was a response to federal inability or unwillingness to enforce immigration law, she says.
At the same time, Martinez said she would not follow Arizona's lead in New Mexico.
"When it comes to immigration, we must continue to embrace our rich, cultural heritage in New Mexico that welcomes legal immigrants," Martinez said. "I strongly encourage the federal government to seriously debate and develop thoughtful solutions that not only embraces this heritage, but also respects our laws."
Denish opposed the Arizona law.
"We all know our immigration laws are broken and that we must do more to secure our borders, but racial profiling is wrong — plain and simple — and the new Arizona law goes too far," Denish said in a statement in April.
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