Democrats take first step on uphill path to immigration overhaul
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Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday introduced a bill to overhaul immigration laws, the first step in what analysts say will be an uphill slog to get the controversial issue to a vote before midterm elections next year.
Rep Luis V. Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009, that seeks to give millions of illegal immigrants a shot at legal status. It was backed by more than 20 other Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“We have waited patiently for a workable solution to our immigration crisis to be taken up by this Congress and our President,” Gutierrez said in a statement. “The time for waiting is over. This bill will be presented before Congress recesses for the holidays so that there is no excuse for inaction in the New Year.”
Immigration is a divisive issue in the United States where some 12 million illegal immigrants live and work in the shadows and where Hispanics, the largest immigrant group, are an increasingly weighty voting bloc.
President Barack Obama, who was backed overwhelmingly by Hispanics in his election last year, has said he wants to see legislation by early next year. His predecessor, President George W. Bush, tried and failed to get reforms passed.
Obama supports the idea of offering citizenship to illegal immigrants in good standing while cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers, as well as hardening the porous border with Mexico
Reform advocates called Gutierrez’ bill a “step in the process” toward raising immigration reform in Congress, where Sens. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, are expected to push ahead with an immigration bill early next year.
“This is immigrants’ advocates and union activists’ move to outline their position, plant the flag and trigger a debate,” said Tamar Jacoby, the president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a national employers’ coalition.
“Even Representative Gutierrez has said on the record that he expects the Senate to act first,” she added.
Democratic officials in Washington, however, said last month they were skeptical there will be enough time or political will to tackle the issue next year, although it could be on the agenda in 2011 or 2012 depending on the outcome of congressional elections next November — a position shared by political analysts on Tuesday.
“Given that they are going to have enough trouble in the midterms, there’s no reason why the Democrats would want another problem out there,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. “My best bet is that they’re going to try and push this on until 2011.”
Photo credit: Reuters/Jose Luis Magaua (demonstrators against U.S. immigration raids)
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If Internet blogger’s, the national and rural newspaper comments, forums or bulletin boards, are a national grading of passing Comprehensive Immigration Reform–FORGET IT! IT JUST ISN’T GOING TO HAPPEN! I follow the commentaries very carefully and my observation show a very negative response to any new law that indicates giving the 20 to 30 million illegal immigrants a more or less free passport to the road of citizenship. Under normal circumstances it would be an impossibility to pass any AMNESTY? But when the headlines scream that 15 million irate Americans and legal residents cannot find employment, the chances of giving another AMNESTY, is impossible–and absolutely, incredulous that they would even try? Advancing this insane reform law under the noses of middle class Americans is going to be a expiration of Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Speaker Pelosi, Napolitano and a whole mis-match of Democrats who are thinking they will be re-elected. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) champion of his government in Mexico and throughout Central and South America will–NOT–survive his incumbent election. No tourist or student overstays are equally unwelcome in this nation of laws. CALL ALL YOUR SENATORS AND EVEN CONGRESSMEN/ WOMEN. NOW and urge them–NOT–to support COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM. IT’S NOT NEEDED? THE ! THE 1986 IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL WAS NEVER, EVER ENFORCED. The Capitol Switchboard’s telephone number is 202-224-3121. REMEMBER TO SEND IN YOUR 28Cent POSTCARDS NOW! WE MUST DEFEAT THIS IMMIGRATION REFORM PACKAGE.
There must be heavy consequences to illegally settling here, such as upgrading the unauthorized entry to a felony. In the future we must have an orderly immigration recruitment system, but only for people with highly skilled qualifications. Guest Workers must be equally vetted and not just given permission without strict–return instructions home, after completing their contract. No family reunification, because this has been rife with fraud as sponsors end up reneging on the financial aspect. All this issues can easily be resolved with amendment to the 1986 immigration bill. What to do with 20 to 30 million illegal aliens from across the world, slowly repatriate them using the SAVE ACT. We are unable to afford the costs attributed to illegal immigration. Learning in the Sanctuary State of California has collapsed from the massive surge of illegal foreign nationals into the school system.
Observe CNN TV documentary this week, “California in Crisis” The state may still implode under the huge burden of supporting financially the illegal aliens with large families. Unrevealed billions of dollars are skimmed from state treasuries, to pay for the immigrants that cannot sustain themselves around this nation. The demented politicians in Sacramento are already talking about raising taxes. No state remains untouched by the unparalleled invasion of this great sovereign country.Understand the immigration enforcement gradings of your politicians at NUMBERSUSA. Understand how taxpayers have been taken for a ride for decades and the unrevealed costs to you. See what JUDICIAL WATCH has to say about CORRUPTION in WASHINGTON. IF AMNESTY PASSES WE ARE JUST A SHORT INTERLUDE FROM OVERPOPULATION AND A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY EXISTENCE.
The precursor to meaningful immigration reform would be labor relations reform, such that undocumented workers may no longer be expected to perform as slave labor, thus leveling the playing field in both employment policy and social service accountability areas once and for all. In that respect, with the alleviation of social strife and inequality at stake, there should be no time to lose…
But apparently, the topic of immigration is more valuable to demagogues and neoliberal and neoconservative divide-and-rule politicians alike in full-on hot-button status mode.
I mean, what else could “Brittanicus” be doing with his time? You tell me.
Given the challenges of unemployment, cutting carbon emissions and breaking out dependency on foreign oil, the very last thing we need to be doing is importing millions of additional workers, carbon emitters and oil consumers.
We don’t need immigration reform. We need enforcement. We don’t need a path to citizenship for millions who entered the country illegally. We need to send them home and, at the same time, begin reducing our rate of legal immigration as well.
Respected financial columnist Scott Burns, in a Dallas Morning News article today, reports a unique proposition to solve our country’s housing crisis by opening the borders to immigrants who can afford to buy homes in the United States, and then granting citizenship to those immigrants. While this is an economic solution and not an immigration solution, I thought the article was worth mentioning. Here are excerpts from the column:
Our friends in Washington continue to reward witless members of the financial sector. Meanwhile, those of us who don’t fly Bonus Class are thinking about importing guillotines from France.
Thankfully, we may not need to place the order.
All we have to do is to get Washington to listen to the best idea I’ve heard to end the decline of housing prices and restore our confidence in the most important asset most Americans ever own. The idea comes from economist A. Gary Shilling and real estate developer Richard S. Lefrak.
Their suggestion: Don’t think about artificially low mortgage interest rates and other stopgaps. Instead, eliminate the oversupply of houses. And, by the way, don’t spend a dime of taxpayer money doing it.
How can this be done? Simple: Open our borders to immigrants who can buy a home in the U.S. Let a million immigrants a year do this for two years, and the entire oversupply of homes and condos will be absorbed. Supply will no longer dwarf demand. Prices will stabilize. The most important asset owned by the vast majority of Americans will, once again, be a source of pride and security.
There has been much attention paid to the incredible decline of equity markets around the world, but the vast majority of Americans have far more at risk in the housing market than in any financial asset (bank accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc). Indeed, many Americans have more at risk in the used-car market than in the stock market.
The middle-income
Households in the middle of the income distribution owned a primary home worth a median of $150,000 but had median financial assets of only $18,600. Middle-income Americans, in other words, have about eight times as much to lose in the home resale market as in all of the financial markets.
Shilling estimates that we built 6.7 million excess houses during the boom from 1996 to 2005. Of that number, 3.9 million were built to make up for underbuilding during the 1987-1991 S&L collapse. That leaves an excess of 2.8 million homes – about two years of building. He estimates that less building in 2007 and 2008 reduced the surplus to about 2.4 million houses.
Influx of buyers
Reducing interest rates or resetting mortgage payments won’t reduce that surplus. The only way it will disappear is if new customers appear and buy those homes. The fastest way to do this is to offer citizenship to immigrants as a reward for buying a home in America.
Here’s the formula: Buy a home. Save America. Become a citizen. It’s a suggestion that’s admirably direct compared to the expensive, complex programs that Congress has already funded.
Shilling writes: “If the current excess of 2.4 million houses were purchased at today’s median home price of about $184,000, the inflow from foreigners would be $88 billion, assuming they put 20 percent down and borrowed the rest in this country.
“If they paid cash, the inflow would be $442 billion. Besides stimulating the domestic economy, this would vastly help the U.S. foreign accounts and support the dollar. The mere announcement of this program would probably go a long way toward stabilizing house prices.”
And stabilizing house prices is very important. It may be the whole ballgame. Without productive action, Shilling estimates home prices will fall an additional 20 percent by the end of 2010. That would leave nearly 25 million homeowners upside down, or owing more on their homes than they are worth.
This is something worth writing about to your representative or senator.