June 06, 2007
Senate Immigrant ID Theft Proposal Defeated
Immigration hardliners who decry the "grand compromise" measure wending its way through the Senate got a little more ammunition today, when a proposal that would bar legal status for illegal immigrants who commit identity fraud was narrowly defeated, 51 to 46.
The proposal, introduced by Texas Republican John Cornyn, was designed to add teeth to the bill he and others have decried as amnesty by stripping away the option of earned legalization for illegal immigrants who have committed felonies, including identity fraud. But the proposal was rejected by Republicans Pete Domenici, Lindsey Graham, Jon Kyl, John McCain, Arlen Specter and others who sided with the Democrats.
No doubt these lawmakers, already seen as traitors to many in their base, will have trouble living down this vote. Many illegal immigrants have committed some kind of identity fraud in order to work and live in this country, usually in the form of fake Social Security numbers. The proposal threatened to negate one of the main tenets of the controversial immigration compromise, which is to provide an alternative to mass imprisonment or deportation of the 12 million people who are in the country illegally. McCain, Graham and Specter helped engineer the bill.
In order to deflect the coming attacks, Democrats lured away lawmakers with a competing proposal from Edward Kennedy, another architect of the compromise. The Massachusetts Democrat's offer denies legalization to those who've been convicted of sex offenses, gang-related activities, drunk driving and domestic violence. Kennedy's measure received bipartisan support in a 66-32 vote.
Speaking on the Senate floor today, Kennedy rejected Cornyn's proposal on the grounds that it ignored the very realities the overall immigration bill was trying to address. "If you tried to cheat your way into the program through fraud, we'll deport you. But if you came here to work, then you can stay," Kennedy said. "But first you have to meet the tough requirements."
Cornyn said that he would not give up trying to harden the bill, arguing that any benefits offered to illegal workers in the current legislation would also be conferred on terrorists. "If we are serious about restoring the rule of law, then how in good conscience can we reward those who have repeatedly committed felonies, such as identity theft, with a path to American citizenship? In our post 9/11 world, how can we in good conscience retain a loophole that would allow members of terrorist organizations and gang members to stay here legally and possibly become U.S. citizens?" he asked.
The defeat of Cornyn's measure comes as Republican lawmakers in particular are under pressure from interest groups and their base to reject the compromise, which is backed by President Bush, as amnesty. Many of those same lawmakers, however, are also under pressure from business interests that rely on undocumented workers, knowingly or not.
A group called Texas Employers for Immigration Reform has taken to the national airwaves with an ad that portrays the comprehensive bill as the best way to protect businesses. Today, another advocacy group, Grassfire.org, launched an ad that shows three elderly ladies voyaging to the Mexico border only to ask, "Where's the fence?"
Posted at 5:47 PM
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Immigration
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