Tough Border Security Bill Nears Passage in the House

[papau]

The schism that has developed between business lobbyists and the House Republican leadership over an immigration measure set to pass this week that would make illegal immigrants felons,but some lawmakers say it doesn't address real problems at the border (Congressman Jeff Flake (R-AZ): "We have a massive work force out there that is undocumented, and we've got to deal with them.").

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/politics/14border.html
December 14, 2005
Tough Border Security Bill Nears Passage in the House
By RACHEL L. SWARNS

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 - The Republican-controlled House is poised to pass one of the toughest border security measures in more than a decade, cracking down on illegal immigrants and their employers and defying President Bush's call for a comprehensive bill that would grant millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States a right to work here temporarily.
The measure, expected to clear the House this week, would for the first time make it a federal crime to live in the United States illegally. That provision would turn millions of immigrants into felons, ineligible to win any legal status. Currently, living in this country without a document like a visa or a green card is a violation of civil immigration law, not criminal law.

The bill would also broaden the immigrant-smuggling statute to embrace those who shield or offer support to illegal immigrants. Offenders, including employees of social service agencies and church groups, could face up to five years in prison.

The legislation would require the mandatory detention, until removal from the country, of non-Mexican immigrants who are entering the United States illegally; would increase financing for local sheriffs in border states to allow them to detain illegal immigrants; and would toughen penalties for employers who hire them.

The proposal, which would require the Department of Homeland Security to expand greatly a fledgling system intended to verify the immigration status of all the nation's employees, has been hailed by many conservatives in Congress as vital to combating illegal immigration and tightening the border with Mexico.
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