Conservatives Split in Debate on Curbing Illegal Immigration.
Republican lawmakers are headed for a showdown over illegal immigration, an issue that exposes a deep and bitter rift within the GOP.
The drama will unfold when Congress returns early next month and turns to finish an emergency spending bill to fund the Iraq war. The House version, approved before the Easter break, carries tough immigration restrictions, reigniting a long-simmering battle with the Senate over how to deal with the growing illegal population.
It is a conflict that President Bush scarcely needs as he tries to unite his party behind contentious Social Security changes and judicial nominations. Meeting Wednesday with Mexican President Vicente Fox, Bush promised to continue pushing Congress for a program allowing temporary guest workers. That accommodation is the opposite of what House conservatives are seeking with the crackdown on asylum seekers and state driver's-license requirements for illegal immigrants that they attached to the Iraq bill.
Bush does not support giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but he wants to address the problem of undocumented workers by expanding temporary-worker programs for the millions who are already here.
A recent Pew Hispanic Center survey found that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States has jumped by 25 percent in four years, to about 10.3 million. The growth has been scattered, extending into regions in the South and Midwest, which have traditionally seen little foreign influx. That has helped to transform immigration from a regional concern to a national one, as did the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which infused the issue with new security concerns.
Business leaders tell GOP lawmakers . . . Congress must address a growing dependency on illegal labor as the U.S. population ages -- and as more jobs, especially at lower skill levels, go unfilled. Four days before the 2001 attacks, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas J. Donahue told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that immigrants are "our best hope to curb chronic American labor shortages." He cited Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2008, the United States will have 154 million workers for 161 million jobs.
Rancor over illegal immigration has become a staple on conservative blogs and talk radio, with much of the wrath directed at Bush.
(3-25-05 The Washington Post.)
The drama will unfold when Congress returns early next month and turns to finish an emergency spending bill to fund the Iraq war. The House version, approved before the Easter break, carries tough immigration restrictions, reigniting a long-simmering battle with the Senate over how to deal with the growing illegal population.
It is a conflict that President Bush scarcely needs as he tries to unite his party behind contentious Social Security changes and judicial nominations. Meeting Wednesday with Mexican President Vicente Fox, Bush promised to continue pushing Congress for a program allowing temporary guest workers. That accommodation is the opposite of what House conservatives are seeking with the crackdown on asylum seekers and state driver's-license requirements for illegal immigrants that they attached to the Iraq bill.
Bush does not support giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but he wants to address the problem of undocumented workers by expanding temporary-worker programs for the millions who are already here.
A recent Pew Hispanic Center survey found that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States has jumped by 25 percent in four years, to about 10.3 million. The growth has been scattered, extending into regions in the South and Midwest, which have traditionally seen little foreign influx. That has helped to transform immigration from a regional concern to a national one, as did the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which infused the issue with new security concerns.
Business leaders tell GOP lawmakers . . . Congress must address a growing dependency on illegal labor as the U.S. population ages -- and as more jobs, especially at lower skill levels, go unfilled. Four days before the 2001 attacks, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas J. Donahue told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that immigrants are "our best hope to curb chronic American labor shortages." He cited Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2008, the United States will have 154 million workers for 161 million jobs.
Rancor over illegal immigration has become a staple on conservative blogs and talk radio, with much of the wrath directed at Bush.
(3-25-05 The Washington Post.)
posted by Sid Cottingham | 6:50 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home