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Ted Kennedy Shifts Tactics on Immigration
Sen. Edward Kennedy has abandoned a new immigration bill under discussion in favor of legislation that could be more appealing to Republicans. Kennedy, the lead Democrat on immigration in the Senate, is now proposing using legislation produced last year by the then Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee as a starting point for immigration reform. The committee passed the bill by a vote of 12 to 6, with 4 of 10 Republicans voting for it. Kennedy "said he was shifting gears in hopes of winning Republican support and speeding the passage of immigration legislation this spring,” the New York Times reports.
Story Continues Below The committee bill included increased border security, a mandatory worker verification program, tough restrictions on legal immigration and asylum seekers, more job-based visas, a guest worker program, and a way to allow some illegal immigrants to gain legal status. It did not include a measure in legislation passed by the Senate last year, but rejected by the House, that compelled several million illegal immigrants to leave the U.S. before applying for citizenship. Kennedy and Republican Sen. John McCain had joined forces to produce a new immigration bill. But several Republicans complained that they had been shut out of the negotiations, according to the Times, and the GOP began drafting a bill of its own. Republicans are looking at how to improve the way businesses verify that employees are legal residents, how to set up a guest worker program and how to deal with illegal aliens already in the country, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sen. Arlen Specter led the GOP effort to draft its own bill, but he declared: "I think it is desirable to work jointly with the Democrats.”
During his Latin American tour, President Bush said Monday in Guatemala that he hoped an immigration bill can be completed by the fall. Meanwhile Sen. Kennedy on Tuesday said a raid last week by federal immigration authorities on a New Bedford, Mass., factory was a "human tragedy.” Writing in the New Bedford Standard Times, Kennedy said those taken into custody were "victims” of an "utterly unconscionable” failure of government. The raid swept up 361 workers at a leather goods factory, at least 20 percent of whom had already received deportation orders. They were charged with violating federal immigration law. President Bush defended the roundup, saying in Guatemala: "The United States will enforce our law.”
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