Bush's era of new federalism, Part II. - Immigration policy is the issue that will boil up and spill over and split Republicans in Congress.
An earlier post of today discusses our "era of new federalism" in which Bush keeps expanding the federal involvement into state and local affairs, in contrast with the GOP's "normally" being a party committed to limited government and restoring the balances of federalism with the states.
In keeping with this, the House on Thursday passed a bill that would virtually bar states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, tighten the rules for asylum and close a hole in the border fence between California and Mexico.
The bill would require states to verify that any driver's license applicant was residing legally in the U.S. before issuing a license that could be used for purposes of federal identification.
That would mean states could issue licenses to illegal immigrants — as 11 states now do — but those licenses could not be used to board airplanes in the United States, open bank accounts or enter federal buildings.
Although the bill passed easily, 261 to 161, the prospects for its provisions becoming law remain uncertain. Indeed, the House vote underscored the divide between it and the Senate on immigration policy.
Today's L.A. Times points out the following:
Many House Republicans are determined to crack down on illegal immigrants and raise the bar for proving a credible case for asylum. But the GOP-controlled Senate is laying the groundwork for taking up President Bush's proposal for creating a guest worker program that could legalize the status of millions of illegal workers.
Immigration policy "is the issue that will boil up and spill over and split [Republicans in Congress], if the administration continues to want to drive down this direction,'' said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a member of the House Immigration Reform Caucus.
This increasingly vocal group, composed mostly of Republicans, advocates cracking down on illegal immigrants and limiting legal immigration. They have arrayed themselves against the White House and those Republicans and Democrats who advocate a guest worker program or more far-reaching reforms that would create a path to citizenship for at least some of the estimated 8 million immigrants believed to be living in the U.S. illegally.
In keeping with this, the House on Thursday passed a bill that would virtually bar states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, tighten the rules for asylum and close a hole in the border fence between California and Mexico.
The bill would require states to verify that any driver's license applicant was residing legally in the U.S. before issuing a license that could be used for purposes of federal identification.
That would mean states could issue licenses to illegal immigrants — as 11 states now do — but those licenses could not be used to board airplanes in the United States, open bank accounts or enter federal buildings.
Although the bill passed easily, 261 to 161, the prospects for its provisions becoming law remain uncertain. Indeed, the House vote underscored the divide between it and the Senate on immigration policy.
Today's L.A. Times points out the following:
Many House Republicans are determined to crack down on illegal immigrants and raise the bar for proving a credible case for asylum. But the GOP-controlled Senate is laying the groundwork for taking up President Bush's proposal for creating a guest worker program that could legalize the status of millions of illegal workers.
Immigration policy "is the issue that will boil up and spill over and split [Republicans in Congress], if the administration continues to want to drive down this direction,'' said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a member of the House Immigration Reform Caucus.
This increasingly vocal group, composed mostly of Republicans, advocates cracking down on illegal immigrants and limiting legal immigration. They have arrayed themselves against the White House and those Republicans and Democrats who advocate a guest worker program or more far-reaching reforms that would create a path to citizenship for at least some of the estimated 8 million immigrants believed to be living in the U.S. illegally.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 6:45 PM
1 Comments:
The GOPers kept talking about 9-11 last week when they were advocating this thing, I don't know of one of them that noted all of the hijackers were here legally.
Smoke and mirrors...
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