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Senate Approves Immigration Legislation |
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On a 62-36 vote, the Senate today approved a massive bill to change U.S. immigration law.
During two weeks of debate, senators plowed—sometimes heatedly—through dozens of amendments, defeating attempts to create a reasonable path to citizenship and strengthen labor law protections for immigrant workers. They did, however, make adjustments to the bill’s guest worker program—including requiring employers to seek qualified U.S. workers before turning to immigrant workers.
The legislation now must be reconciled with a much harsher House-passed bill.
The Senate rejected an amendment from Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) to give all undocumented workers an opportunity to earn legal residency and eventual citizenship after meeting tough requirements, including paying any taxes owed and becoming proficient in English.
The Senate bill now contains a complicated three-tiered process for dealing with undocumented immigrants that Feinstein says “would create a bureaucratic nightmare…and lead to substantial fraud.”
An amendment from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to require employers to recruit and hire U.S. workers before applying for guest worker visas was approved. The amendment also would require employers to certify they have worked through state employment agencies and labor organizations to seek U.S. workers.
While amendments from Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) to eliminate the guest worker program or phase it out over a number of years failed, an amendment from Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) to cap the temporary guest worker program in the bill at 200,000 a year passed. It also eliminates an escalator clause in the bill that would have allowed the program to grow every year.
The Senate rejected an amendment by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) that would have toughened penalties for labor law violations—including workplace safety violations—by employers in high-risk, low-wage industries that employ many immigrant workers.
An amendment from Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) that would have opened the door for employers to pay immigrant workers on temporary agricultural guest worker visas less than the minimum wage was defeated.
Other approved amendments include the provision to build a fence along large portions of the U.S.-Mexican border and to establish English as the “official” language of the United States.
In March, the AFL-CIO Executive Council issued a statement saying “America deserves an immigration system that protects all workers within our borders—both native-born and foreign.”
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