- The Senate is bracing for its first fight over amnesty
for illegal immigrants in nearly 10 years after the chamber's parliamentarian
ruled that a debate over granting legal status to illegal agriculture workers
will be allowed on the pending emergency spending bill.
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- The $81 billion spending bill covers costs associated
with the war on terror, and the House already passed a version with provisions
restricting asylum claims and cracking down on illegal immigrants' ability
to use driver's licenses. The parliamentarian said those provisions open
the door for Sen. Larry E. Craig, Idaho Republican, to offer as an amendment
his bill, commonly called "Ag-jobs," to legalize the 500,000
to 1 million illegal immigrants now working in the agriculture industry.
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- "With the parliamentarian's approval it's looking
more and more likely we'll offer Ag-jobs as an amendment," Craig spokesman
Sidney Smith said. "That decision isn't set in concrete, but it's
starting to shape up that way."
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- The spending bill will be before the Senate Appropriations
Committee on Wednesday, though Mr. Smith said that if Mr. Craig offers
his amendment, it will be during the floor debate. But Sen. John Cornyn,
Texas Republican, chairman of the Judiciary immigration subcommittee, is
opposed to the bill and says it will not pass.
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- "Not if Senator Cornyn has anything to do with it,"
spokesman Don Stewart said of the bill's chances. "Ag-jobs is an amnesty
bill, and the president's not going to sign it. Second of all, it's not
a comprehensive [immigration] bill, and it would slow momentum for getting
a comprehensive bill."
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- The measure would allow any agricultural worker who is
in the United States illegally and who has worked 100 days out of a year,
during the 18 months prior to Jan. 1, 2005, to gain legal status.
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- "We want to stabilize the current agriculture work
force -- workers who are trusted, who are already on the job, who are already
putting food on our tables," said Damon Tobias, Mr. Craig's legislative
aide on immigration. "We think it makes more sense to allow them to
earn legal status than to try to replace a large part of the agriculture
work force."
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- Although there have been votes on security issues, and
the Senate recently passed a nonbinding amendment to the budget to add
2,000 Border Patrol agents in fiscal year 2006, Roy Beck, executive director
of NumbersUSA, said Mr. Craig's amendment would be the first broad fight
over illegal immigration in some time.
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- "The Senate has not had any real roll-call votes
on whether to get tough on or reward illegal aliens since 1996, so this
will be a defining moment," said Mr. Beck, whose group lobbies for
stricter immigration controls. "A lot of these senators' constituents
don't really know whether they favor illegal immigrants or oppose illegal
immigrants."
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- Both congressional aides and lobbying sources said the
Bush administration would prefer to see a comprehensive bill pass rather
than Mr. Craig's bill, and Mr. Cornyn has begun a series of hearings aimed
at producing such a broad bill later this year -- something Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, also would have preferred.
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- "Our preference would be to have this debate on
some other vehicle, but if there's going to be a debate on immigration,
we want all aspects of the debate to be included," spokesman Bob Stevenson
said.
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- Mr. Craig's office says his bill isn't amnesty. "It's
not; it's rehabilitation," Mr. Tobias said.
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- He said the bill would apply to 500,000 workers and another
200,000 to 300,000 spouses and children. Opponents say it would apply to
1 million workers and 2 million spouses and children.
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- Mr. Craig's measure, which achieved 62 co-sponsors in
the last Congress, has only 43 this year.
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- Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican, had signed on,
but has since withdrawn his name as a sponsor. His spokesman said the real
question was why his name was ever part of the measure. "He was never
a sponsor this year. It was mistake on somebody's part," said Adam
Elggren, though he could not say what changed from last year, when Mr.
Hatch also was listed as a sponsor.
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