I got a very interesting mailing from the Democratic Party’s National Immigration Forum and Dean’s new outreach center, the American Majority Partnership, the other day. I reproduce it here entirely. It outlines the amendments to the Senate compromise that have been offered, those under consideration, and those likely to be considered in the near future.
Chairman Dean has made our position on immigration reform clear: We
support comprehensive immigration reform that strengthens our borders,
protects U.S. workers and their wages, reunites families, and allows
those who pay taxes and obey the law to earn the opportunity to apply
for the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
These are the right policies and the right values. Democrats may not be polling with a majorities on every single issue we support on immigration, but we are standing for what’s right and principled, and that is more important to building an enduring consensus of principle, than to tack with every gust of the political winds.
Already Considered
- Isakson Enforcement Only- mandates an "enforcement only"
approach by delaying the implementation of a legalization program until
the borders are secure- VOTED DOWN 55-40 - Salazar Side by Side (to Isakson)- provides that the
Secretary of Homeland Security must certify that the land borders are
secure and that enforcement authorizations are met and operational
before a program to legalize unauthorized aliens can come into effect.
PASSED 79-16. - Dorgan-Stabenow Elimination of Temporary Worker Program: MOTION TO TABLE PASSED 69-28 (which means the amendment is dead)
- Bingaman-Feinstein Reduction of Temporary Worker Visas: Lowers
the number of temporary workers authorized for "essential" jobs to
200,000, and eliminates the market-based cap adjustment in the Senate
bill. MOTION TO TABLE REJECTED 18-79. ADOPTED BY VOICE VOTE. - Kerry Increased Border Equipment: Amendment to increase border security and related equipment. ADOPTED BY VOICE VOTE.
- Kyl-Cornyn Bars to Participation: would make the
following aliens ineligible: (a) subject to final orders, (b) failure
to depart under VD, (c) been convicted of a serious crime here or
believed to have committed serious crime abroad, danger to national
security, etc., and (d) 3 misdemeanors or 1 felony. Includes a limited
discretionary waiver. PASSED 99-0 - Obama-Feinstein-Bingaman Guestworker Proposal on Prevailing Wage and Protecting Unemployed Americans:
would establish a prevailing wage for all occupations …directs the
employer to use Department of Labor data for calculating a prevailing
wage in cases where neither a collective bargaining agreement exists
nor the Service Contract Act governs. The bill currently bars use of
the program if unemployment rates for low-skilled workers in a
metropolitan area average more than 11%. Obama amendment lowers that to
9% of workers unemployed with a high school diploma or less. ACCEPTED
ON VOICE VOTE - Sessions – Fence- Border Fence- PASSED 83-16
- Stevens amendment extending the deadline given to the
Secretary of Homeland Security for the implementation of a new travel
document plan for border crossings to June 1, 2009.PASSED BY VOICE VOTE - Santorum – to allow additional countries to
participate in the visa waiver program under section 217 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act if they meet certain criteria. PASSED
BY VOICE VOTE - Vitter-Grassley: Strike Earned Legalization and
AgJOBS: This amendment strips the heart of this bill’s provisions that
deal with undocumented immigrants. It strikes the bipartisan compromise
proposal to legalize millions of undocumented workers. It also strikes
the AgJOBS legislation that so many members of Congress from both sides
of aisle, support. In short, it guts real immigration reform. – VOTED
DOWN 66-33 - Kyl-Cornyn: Strike Self Petition: This amendment
would prevent temporary workers from petitioning for legal permanent
residency on their own. Right now, the Senate compromise allows H-2C
temporary workers to apply for a green card if their work is needed
long-term. Access to legal permanent residency — independent of an
employer — is a key labor protection for these workers. PASSED 50-48 - Kennedy-McCain-Graham Side by Side to Cornyn Amendment Striking Self-Petition:
This amendment would restore some options for temporary workers to self
petition for lawful permanent resident status. PASSED 56-43 - Ensign Social Security: This amendment is designed to
prevent lawfully present immigrant workers from claiming Social
Security based on earnings credited before they were authorized to work
in the United States. Taking benefits away from workers who pay into
the system is unfair and un-American. MOTION TO TABLE AGREED TO 50-49 - Inhofe-Sessions English Language and Naturalization Requirements:
OPPOSE. This amendment is unnecessary and divisive. Immigrants want to
learn English, and Congress should create more opportunities for them
to take English classes rather than impose English-only requirements
and make the bar for citizenship even higher. PASSED 63-34 - Kyl-Cornyn: Strike Path to Green Card for Temporary
Workers: This amendment strips any opportunity for a temporary worker
to adjust to a permanent residence. Many jobs may become permanent, and
employers may want workers to stay permanently. Workers may decide to
remain in the U.S. permanently. This bill does not provide them with
that choice. Rather, it creates an underclass of temporary workers that
can not become full participating members in U.S. society. We must
provide temporary workers with the opportunity to obtain permanent
legal status. MOTION TO TABLE PASSED 58-35 - Clinton Amendment- To establish a grant program to
provide financial assistance to States and local governments for the
costs of providing health care and educational services to noncitizens,
and to provide additional funding for the State Criminal Alien
Assistance Program. REJECTED 43-52 - Cornyn Amendment- would require aliens seeking
adjustment of status under section 245B of the Immigration and
Nationality Act or Deferred Mandatory Departure status under section
245C of such Act to pay a supplemental application fee, which shall be
used to provide financial assistance to States for health and
educational services for noncitizens. PASSED 64-32 - Vitter Document Requirements – would modify the
document requirements for showing employment eligibility under earned
legalization; would strike the "intent of Congress" clause that takes
into account the difficulty in obtaining and providing documents –
PASSED ON VOICE VOTE - Nelson Detention- Increase in Bedspace- PASSED ON VOICE VOTE
- Akaka – Veteran Related Amendment – would exempt certain children of Filipino WW II veterans from the family cap- PASSED ON VOICE VOTE
Lined Up for Consideration
- Lieberman – Asylum –-protects certain vulnerable populations from prosecution under new document fraud provisions
- Brownback-Lieberman: Restore Protections for Asylum
Seekers and Detention: This amendment would provide important
protections for asylum seekers and help to ensure an effective and
humane system of immigration detention. - Chambliss Amendments to the AgJOBS Farmworker Immigration Compromise: These amendments would severely weaken and undercut the AgJOBS compromise.
- Cornyn-Kyl: Strike Confidentiality Provisions: This
amendment strikes provisions that would preserve the confidentiality of
information furnished by applicants for legalization. This will serve
as a disincentive for undocumented immigrants to come out of the
shadows. - Hutchison: SAFE Visa Program: This amendment creates
a new temporary work visa (SAFE visa) without any path to permanent
residency. Also has a return requirement. - Potential Amendment By Kyl to Strike Earned Legalization Program with Legal Permanent Residence Path
- Leahy-Kohl Material Support: This amendment creates a
limited exception to the terrorist related grounds of inadmissibility
for aliens who provide involuntary material support. - Senator Gregg – would require that aliens with higher educational degrees receive the majority of the diversity visas
- Senator Ensign – provides reimbursement for the use of National Guard to protect the border.
- Feinstein Orange card program: Treat all undocs alike; details are still being finalized (have not seen language)
Other Democratic or Bipartisan Amendments that May Come Up
- Feingold – strikes the provision that would virtually
eliminate the ability for immigrants to obtain a stay of removal while
their cases are pending in federal court - Biden – ensures that victims of domestic violence and
other vulnerable populations are still given access to removal relief
under cancellation, etc. - Humanitarian/catch-all waiver: The compromise
contains new penalties that would subject many immigrants — even
long-time legal permanent residents — to criminal prosecution,
deportation, detention, and/or ineligibility for most immigration
benefits. Lessons from 1996 teach us that creating broad new
immigration penalties without any discretion to consider the facts of
particular cases hurts well-intentioned immigrants, and separates them
from their families. If Congress is unable to address all of the issues
of concern in Title II, at the very least it must include a
discretionary waiver for these penalties to prevent unintended
consequences. The waiver would not be automatic, but instead provide
the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security with the
discretion to exempt from punishment those with compelling equities.
(nothing filed to our knowledge) - Kerry Unchecked Power Amendment: Would strike or
amend various provisions in Title II of the Judiciary bill regarding
detention, deportation, and naturalization of immigrants in order to
protect against the concentration of unchecked powers in the hands of
unaccountable executive branch employees. For example, it would prevent
the use of secret evidence in determining whether a person has "good
moral character" for immigration or naturalization purposes. - Document Fraud Exemption: The bill contains
internally inconsistent "document fraud" penalties that have the
potential to destroy the very foundation of the new structure. The
compromise applies these new penalties to conduct following enactment
and could impact (unintentionally) those who use a false document or
omit or make a false statement in an I-9 form in order to work after
enactment. This could cover individuals who presented the false
document or made the false statement to gain employment prior to
enactment and who continued to work pursuant to such false statement or
document post-enactment. We need a special rule for individuals
eligible to apply for relief under this Act. - Improvements to the DMD program for undocumented immigrants with less than five years in the U.S.
- Title III substitute
- NCIC provisions elimination (Lieberman): Strikes the
provision in the bill that would mandate DHS to input immigration
information into the NCIC. ICE opposes this amendment. - Strike "continuing offense" language in criminalization
provision/EWIs (Durbin) would delete a backdoor criminalization
provision. It amends a provision in the Judiciary bill that would
eliminate the statute of limitations for the crime of entry without
inspection. Under current law, entry without inspection is subject to a
5-year statute of limitations. - Leahy Injunctions: Deletes severe limitations on court relief for constitutional or immigration law violations.
- DOL enforcement
- Advertisements with inclusion of health insurance benefits
- Altering definition of individual contractor
- Labor laws applied in Mariana Islands
- Obama – Amendment would authorize a small amount of
money to the FBI to improve the speed and accuracy of the background
and security checks conducted on behalf of the Bureau of Citizenship
and Immigration Services.
Other Republican Amendments that May Come Up (Random Order)
Note, some of these descriptions came from the Republican Policy
Committee, so we encourage you to read the amendments on Thomas (search
on S. 2611 and go to bill status/amendments).
- Senator Burns – This amendment would prohibit the counting of illegal aliens for reapportionment purposes.
- Senator Cornyn – This amendment would require
that some of the fees and fines paid by unauthorized aliens to become
legalized go to a health care fund to reimburse hospitals - Senator Grassley – This amendment would require that
unauthorized aliens pay all back taxes before legalization (Note: S.
2611 only requires that Group 1 aliens pay taxes for 3 of the 5 years
that they were a resident in the United States). - Senator McConnell – Voting amendment.
- Senator Santorum – This amendment would provide that
to obtain a visa under the H-1b visa cap, a foreign professor who
intends to teach at an American university must speak understandable
English. - Senator Sessions – This amendment would clarify that unauthorized aliens who are legalized are prohibited from public benefits.
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