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Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Senators are Working Quietly on An Immigration Reform Bill Likely to Feature a Guest Worker Program

By Michael Coleman
Copyright © 2007 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Washington Bureau
    WASHINGTON— A bipartisan group of a dozen senators— including Pete Domenici of New Mexico— is working behind closed doors to craft a new immigration reform proposal that could have an expanded guest worker program as its centerpiece.
    Domenici, a Republican, said in an interview that the group, led by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., is hoping to develop a measure that could come to the floor within days.
    "I believe there is a chance we will get a bill that will be put together and offered— and this will not be put together by just two or three people," Domenici told the Journal.
    If the group does not reach consensus, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he would use legislation introduced last year as a starting point for new floor debate.
    The House and Senate tried to reach agreement on immigration reform before the midterm elections in 2006. President Bush, who has dispatched Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to many of the private Senate meetings, wants Congress to try again.
    Democratic Senate aides said Tuesday that negotiators from both parties are working in good faith, but the aides were skeptical that the Senate group could forge an agreement that Reid would agree to as a first step.
    Domenici said the Senate group, in recent talks, has considered scrapping the idea of a so-called path to citizenship from last year's legislation in favor of an expanded guest worker program.
    Some members of Congress have proposed allowing the estimated 12 million undocumented workers already in the U.S. to remain and earn citizenship without being deported first if they meet certain requirements, such as paying fines and back taxes and learning English.
    "It will be one or the other, but not both," said Domenici, a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
    Even the expanded guest worker proposal might be put off until more border enforcement mechanisms are in place, which could take at least two years, Domenici's chief of staff confirmed.
    However, Domenici and Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., said efforts to increase border security are well under way since last year's debate.
    Domenici said the proposed guest worker program under discussion would allow illegal workers already in the U.S. to apply for a temporary legal guest worker permit under terms similar to the former "path to citizenship" proposals. Those terms could include paying back taxes and passing a citizenship test, his office confirmed.
    The permit might be valid for two, three or four years and would be renewable, he said. Such a program could reduce calls to give undocumented workers a path to citizenship, Domenici predicted.
    "The overwhelming majority (of undocumented workers) will say that's good enough," he said.
    The Democrat-controlled House plans to wait for Senate action before it takes up the issue, members of New Mexico's House delegation said last week.
    Pearce, a Republican who represents New Mexico's southern border area, also said a guest worker program that brings millions of illegal workers out of the shadows would satisfy many.
    "A lot of them, their intent is not to become citizens. They just want to feed their family," Pearce said.
    Pearce and Rep. Heather Wilson, also a New Mexico Republican, oppose allowing undocumented workers already in the U.S. to stay while awaiting citizenship. Both support expanding guest worker programs.
    "I don't think it's right to allow people to come here illegally, when there are tens of thousands who have been waiting to come here legally," Wilson said in an interview.
    Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., supports a path to citizenship for illegal workers as the most realistic option for getting massive numbers of them out of the shadow economy and onto the tax rolls. But he said they should have to pay fines and meet other criteria.
    "If there is going to be earned citizenship, you'd have to pay your back taxes," Udall said.
    Udall said he also supports expanded guest worker programs.
    Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., last year persuaded the Senate to reduce the number of proposed guest worker permits for people not yet living in the U.S., but applying to come, from 400,000 to 200,000 annually. He said he would propose that again if a Senate bill comes to the floor.
    The proposal under consideration by Senate negotiators would allow up to a half-million more guest workers who are currently not in the U.S. to come and fill jobs, Domenici's office said.
    Other difficult issues in the negotiations are a proposal to curb the ability of legalized immigrants to bring family members into the U.S., and to prohibit temporary workers from bringing family if they don't have health insurance or meet income requirements. Both proposals are opposed by many pro-immigrant groups.
    Bingaman said he expects plenty of debate on how many family members can accompany a guest worker.
    "There is some value in continuing to support the reunification of families, but then the question is how large a group does that cover," Bingaman said.