http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0545
Released 29 May 2006 By CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
256 S. OCCIDENTAL BOULEVARD
LOS ANGELES, CA 90057
Telephone: (213) 388-8693 Facsimile: (213) 386-9484
For Immediate Release May 27, 2006
Contact: Andrew Stevenson (213) 388-8693, Peter Schey (323) 251-3223
Statement by Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law President Peter Schey: While Immigrants Rise Up, Congress Falls Down
As the principle legal organization that has represented hundreds of thousands of immigrants in court cases seeking legalization under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), and having assisted the Congress when it addressed IRCA for several years and again when it drafted the LIFE Act in 2000, and having worked extensively over the past several months with members of the Senate and local coalitions and community-based organizations to arrive at a comprehensive immigration reform package, we are deeply disappointed with and must now oppose the Senate's recently passed immigration bill unless it is dramatically improved in a Conference Committee, the chances of which are now exceptionally slim.
We are fully dedicated to and recognize the urgent need for comprehensive immigration reform that fully protects U.S. and foreign-born workers within our borders and addresses the nation's legitimate national security concerns, The bill adopted by the Senate on Thursday entirely fails to satisfy these fundamental principles.
Nevertheless, with immigrants and others in favor of fair and rational immigration reform now on the march throughout the country, we believe that the drive for positive immigration reform is irreversible. Upcoming elections could well change the complexion of the House of Representatives making real immigration reform much more likely. We intend to work with local coalitions, community-based and national organizations, and concerned members of Congress to make sure that the goal of comprehensive immigration reform remains on the legislative table until it is accomplished.
While some have applauded the architecture of the Senate immigration bill, a careful review of the entire bill discloses one disastrous and irrational provision after another. Taken as a whole, the bill will not come close to legalize the majority of undocumented immigrants. In fact, it will undoubtedly greatly increase the size of the undocumented population over time because of its draconian enforcement measures that entirely block traditional avenues for undocumented immigrants to legalize their status. If the bill becomes law, within 20 years the undocumented population will reach about 20 million. The bill is designed to drive undocumented immigrants deeper underground and intensify their fugitive status, which will simply increase their exploitability and whatever adverse impact they have on U.S. workers.
The three-tier legalization program is absurdly complex, unworkable, and will likely not include even half the undocumented people already residing permanently in the U.S. No more than 3 million immigrants (according to IRCA data) will qualify for tier one legalization based upon more than five years of continuous residence. Even these immigrants will only obtain 'temporary' status for eight years (given current visa backlogs of over 20 years), and will wait about 16-18 years to become citizens and be able to vote for the first time. Relatively few migrants will ever qualify for permanent residence under the second tier 'temporary worker' and third tier 'guest worker' programs because they will not have the necessary family relationships or qualifying low-skilled jobs to win permanent resident status. For those who do succeed, they must wait over 20 years before they can become citizens and participate in the democratic process. This is an obstacle course to legalization and citizenship, not a reasonable path.
The Senate's interior enforcement provisions will criminalize all immigrants who entered the country unlawfully, although making them guilty of misdemeanors, rather than felonies as proposed by the House in the Sensenbrenner bill. Evading inspection is made a 'continuous' crime that doesn't end until the immigrant is 'discovered.' With other provisions and laws that encourage local police to get involved in immigration enforcement, the criminalization of those who enter without inspection will result in mass warrantless arrests and detentions of Latino and other people of color in communities throughout the country.
The Senate bill also criminalizes the use of false or altered documents to obtain jobs, and makes any immigrant who worked using someone else's name or social security number ineligible for visas in the future. These provisions will impact most undocumented workers. They will become criminals because they used someone else's name or documents to obtain employment in order to survive and feed their families. They will be ineligible for visas in the future, but are unlikely to ever leave the country. These provisions, like many other iron-fist measures in the bill, will not force people to leave the country. These measures will simply drive immigrants deeper underground, make them more exploitable, and over the next several years bloat the size of the undocumented population.
The Senate bill overturns recent Supreme Court decisions in order to permit the 'indefinite detention' of immigrants believed to be removable. It forces immigrants to abandon their right to appeal erroneous deportation decisions in order to preserve their right to 'voluntary departure.' It makes it even more difficult for legitimate asylum seekers to win protection from deportation to countries where they face torture and imprisonment. It broadens the definition of 'aggravated felonies' to crimes that are neither felonies or aggravated, and then provides for mandatory detention and deportation of all such 'felons' regardless of their present immigration status or length of residence in the country. It will cause the deportation of thousands of immigrants who have United States citizen children. It also strips the federal courts of their historic role in reviewing and correcting unlawful policies enforced by immigration officials in violation of laws enacted by Congress, as well as erroneous decisions reached in individual cases. These court-stripping measures will permit prejudice, ignorance of the laws, and even wide-scale lawlessness to permeate the decisions and policies of immigration officials.
If the Senate bill included only its legalization provisions, as flawed and short-sighted as they are, we would support such a bill as offering something that was better than nothing. If the bill offered only the Dream Act to legalize the status of certain immigrant students, we would fully endorse it. If the bill included only provisions to increase the availability of visas and reduce the current massive visa backlogs, we would unquestionably support it. However, as presently constructed, the bill offers a hopelessly flawed legalization as a velvet glove to some immigrants, and a sledge-hammer approach to all other immigrants. This approach may grant something akin to indentured servitude to a few million immigrants, but it will drive the majority, as well as new entrants, far deeper underground, intensify their fugitive status, increase their exploitability, and over time substantially expand the size of the undocumented population. That's a combination that we, as a human rights organization, are bound to reject.
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!
Los Angeles: (213)403-0131
New York: (212)330-8172
Washington DC: (202)595-8990
The National Immigrant Solidarity Network (NISN) is a coalition of immigrant rights, labor, human rights, religious, and student activist organizations from across the country. We work with leading immigrant rights, students and labor groups. In solidarity with their campaigns, and organize community immigrant rights education campaigns.
From legislative letter-writing campaigns to speaker bureaus and educational materials, we organize critical immigrant-worker campaigns that are moving toward justice for all immigrants!
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