Senators Cornyn and Kyl have offered up immigration reform legislation:
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, and U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Chairman of the Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security subcommittee, introduced comprehensive border security and immigration reform legislation on Tuesday.
The Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act of 2005 will dramatically strengthen enforcement, bolster border security, and comprehensively reform our immigration laws. The key components of the bill include enhanced border security and interior enforcement, employer accountability, and reform that addresses temporary workers and the current illegal population.
“This bill strengthens our border enforcement and comprehensively reforms our immigration system,” Sen. Cornyn said. “We need both stronger enforcement and reasonable reform of our immigration laws.”
Sen. Kyl said: “People rightfully ask: if the current laws at the border and at the workplace are not being enforced, why should we believe new laws will be? Our bill answers that question by putting in place both stringent legal requirements and the assets necessary to ensure that we can control the border and prevent illegal hiring in the United States.”
As senators from Texas and Arizona, Cornyn and Kyl represent approximately 85 percent of the nation’s southern border. In preparation for the bill, the two Senators have carried out a thorough review of the nation’s immigration laws this year, including chairing seven hearings on various aspects of the issue.
The bill can be found here in .pdf format.
Rick
Gee, I dunno. This is really radical, as it actually seems to be a Federal function covered by the Constitution. So its chances are thereby lessened.
Cordially…
BinkyBoy
Will this go just like every other piece of recent legislation and be a totally unfunded order? It may sound good on paper, but will the funds for it be protected and guaranteed?
I congratulate them for trying, but until the flow of illegal immigrants is significantly slowed I just will take the pessimistic view that nothing will change, some asshole corporatist will make a boatload of money and we won’t be any safer than before.
Emma Zahn
Sounds good. Hope it doesn’t get watered down. One of the absolute stupidest thing I’ve had to do is call the Social Security Administration to verify that the name and number match. It was stupid because they refuse to give any guidance on what to do about mismatches. So the person I worked for hired them anyway knowing full well they were illegal aliens. He figured he had plausible deniability — no one said it was illegal and, after all, he didn’t make the call, I did. I got out of there as soon as I could.
p.lukasiak
the only thing that will stop illegal immigration is cracking down on those who hire illegal immigrants. Just like illegal drugs, as long as there is a demand for illegal immigrants, there will continue to be a supply for them.
Cornyn and Kyl’s approach, which appears to spend the lions share of its funding on more border patrols, sounds more like a way to spend more federal dollars in their states than on actually reducing the demand for illegal immigrant labor.
Pan is a non...
The federal government cannot reduce the demand for illegal immigrant labor. What they can do is repeal all minimum wage laws so that corporations can legally hire U.S. citizens to do tedious and thankless labor.
p.lukasiak
The federal government cannot reduce the demand for illegal immigrant labor.
nonsense. all the government needs to do is fine a few employers $1000 per day per illegal immigrant employee, and the problem with take care of itself.
Its all about risk/benefit ratios — raise the risk of hiring illegals to an unacceptable level (not merely in the size of fines, but much more money spent on enforcement) and the problem takes care of itself.
BinkyBoy
But, but but thats anti-corporatism! You must hate America and its businesses, p.luk
I have yet to see a conservative defend against that approach, other than to stammer, spit and name call. Fining businesses and farmers for hiring illegal aliens sounds like an excellent plan
Lee
We are not going to stop the flow of illegal immigration with more enforcement on either side. If we fine the businesses they will just pass that additional cost on to the customer. If we put more people on patrol, the will find ways around it.
There are 3 ways to stop illegal immigration.
1. Raise the limit of immigration so that everyone is legal (as an interesing side not, I’m pretty sure that immigration did not become ‘illegal’ untl the 1920’s and the eugencis push)
2. Raise the standard of living in Mexico so people no longer have to cross the border for a chance at a decent life.
3. Annex Mexico (hell just buy it outright)