Contentious debate and widespread protests erupted this past
week as lawmakers in the House and Senate began debating an
immigration reform bill that would tighten restrictions on
immigrants trying to cross the border between the United States and
Mexico.
The House bill, HR 4437, was proposed by Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist and has already passed through the House and is
currently being debated in the Senate. If passed by Congress, the
bill would make it a felony to be in the United States without
documentation.
The legislation has met with opposition from those who view the
proposed reforms as unfairly harsh on undocumented immigrants
living in the U.S.
As a result, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a
bipartisan alternative bill Monday that would allow some of the
estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. to become legal
citizens.
The debate over immigration has sparked controversy on both
sides of the aisle.
The Republican Party has split among those who want tougher
restrictions on border crossing, tighter law enforcement and more
severe penalties for illegal immigrants, and those who seek more
liberal reforms, including a guest-worker program that would make
it easier for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship status.
But some Republican lawmakers say the proposed guest-worker
program would reward those who break the law.
“The so-called “˜guest-worker proposals’ being
considered are nothing more than a mechanism to provide amnesty to
millions of illegals living in the United States,” said
California Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, in a statement. “I
firmly believe these proposals reward lawbreakers and are unfair to
law-abiding legal immigrants.”
Miller cosponsored a bill that would establish a 700-mile fence
along the border between the United States and Mexico. The fence is
among the most controversial of the reforms proposed, and President
Bush said last week that constructing one along the border is
impractical, and he does not support the idea.
On the other side of the debate, 500,000 people took to the
streets in Los Angeles on March 25 to protest the tougher reforms.
Similar pro-immigration rallies took place in cities in the
southwestern United States and along the West Coast. And last week
an estimated 40,000 middle and high school students across Southern
California staged walkouts in protest of the proposed reforms.
Alvaro Huerta, director of community education and advocacy for
the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said he
believes the widespread protests show a level of activism among
immigrants that he hopes can be parlayed into comprehensive,
less-restrictive immigration reforms.
“There’s definitely a sense of awakening and a sense
of empowerment among the immigrant community,” he said.
“We’re going to continue to talk to our Congress
members (and) make sure they know that the immigrant community is
paying close attention to the debate.”
Lawmakers will continue debating the proposed reforms and try to
compromise on a version of the bill that can pass in both the House
and the Senate.
With reports from Bruin wire services.