F.A.I.R. Legislative Update March 17, 2008

March 17, 2008 

In this update:

• Discharge Petition Filed for SAVE Act
• Bill Gates Asks Congress to Increase in Visas for High-Tech Foreign Workers
• House Subcommittee Approves Series of Small Immigration Bills
• Senate Passes Budget Resolution with Immigration Provisions
• Recent Floor Statements

Discharge Petition Filed for SAVE Act

Tuesday, Congresswoman Thelma Drake (R-VA) filed a discharge petition to force a floor vote in the House of Representatives on the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement Act (SAVE Act, H.R. 4088). (The Politico, March 12, 2008) The decision came after days of discussions among House Minority Leaders, who were searching for ways to pressure the Majority to take up the issue of immigration reform. A discharge petition allows rank-and-file members of the House to force floor consideration of a bill when leadership will not allow it to move forward through the normal committee process. For a discharge petition to work, supporters must get 218 Representatives to sign the petition, which forces the bill directly to the floor. Since the discharge petition was filed Tuesday, 181 members have signed it, leaving only 37 signatures needed. (To see the current signature tally, click here.)

The SAVE Act is a bi-partisan piece of legislation that enjoys widespread support. At present, 146 members have signed on as co-sponsors, 97 Republicans and 49 Democrats. According to its two chief proponents, Congressmen Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Brian Bilbray (R-CA), "The SAVE Act provides a three-pronged approach to curb illegal immigration: enhanced border security, employment verification and dramatically increased enforcement of our nation's existing laws." (Washington Times, March 14, 2008) Among other things, the SAVE Act would:

• add technology, infrastructure and personnel at the border;
• offer grants to border towns and counties to assist with enforcement of criminal law;
• bolster the alien smuggling and harboring provisions of INA §274;
• increase the number of federal judges in border states, allowing for more and better enforcement of criminal immigration and trafficking laws;

One of the most important provisions in the SAVE Act, however, is the bill's mandate that all employers use the E-Verify electronic employment verification system to check the legal status of their employees. Mandatory use of the E-Verify system would help eliminate the employment magnet that attracts many illegal immigrants into the U.S. (For more on the SAVE Act, click here.)

While proponents of the SAVE Act have been actively working to bring the bill to the floor, its opponents have been trying to craft a deal that would weaken its enforcement provisions and give amnesty to the 12 to 14 million illegal aliens currently in the U.S. On Tuesday, Bart Stupak (D-MI) held a series of meetings with Congressman Shuler, Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL) and various pro-amnesty members in hopes of brokering a compromise plan. (The Politico, March 12, 2008) According to Representative Joe Baca, Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the compromise would incorporate "some" of the enforcement language in the SAVE Act, raise the number of H-2B workers by reinstating the returning worker exemption, and grant five-year amnesty visas to the 12-14 million illegal aliens currently in the U.S. (Roll Call, March 12, 2008)

However, efforts by the Majority Leadership to broker a comprehensive immigration reform package appear to be at an impasse. A source close to the talks indicates that Majority Leadership is hesitant to put forward any immigration package lacking the imprimatur of Shuler. However, to date, Shuler has refused to accept any package that contains amnesty for illegal aliens. Meanwhile, the absence of amnesty language appears to be a deal-breaker for members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. (National Review Online, March 14, 2008)

Stay tuned to FAIR for more updates on the SAVE Act…

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Bill Gates Asks Congress to Increase in Visas for High-Tech Foreign Workers

On Wednesday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates testified before the House Committee on Science and Technology, where he pushed Congress to revamp immigration laws affecting highly skilled workers. Mr. Gates made his pitch for importing more high-tech H-1B workers by painting a gloomy scene of how current immigration law impedes the hiring and retention of highly-skilled science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates. According to Gates, the country faces a shortage of scientists and engineers that cannot be remedied through reform of the education system alone. Instead, he argued, the U.S. needs to import foreign guest workers in order to bolster the education pool of scientific and high technology sectors. For Gates, steps that would improve the situation include increasing the time that foreign students can work in the country after finishing their education in the U.S.; creating "a streamlined path to permanent resident status for highly skilled workers;" and raising both the worldwide and per-country caps on employment-based visas. (Written Testimony of William H. Gates, March 12, 2008) Many of these provisions were in the so-called "SKIL" Bill, which was part of the Bush-Kennedy Amnesty legislation that failed last summer.

Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), however, was not swayed by Gates's argument. According to Rohrabacher, increasing the number of visas to foreign workers would drive down wages to the detriment of citizens. "Just to be frank, I think some of the things you are suggesting are not going to the fundamentals." (The Politico, March 12, 2008)

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House Subcommittee Approves Series of Small Immigration Bills

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law approved a series of immigration bills and sent them to full committee. The Subcommittee approved the following bills:

• H.R. 5060, which permits foreign professional athletes to apply for an extension of their visas every five years, rather than requiring them to attain permanent residence after 10 years;
• H.R. 5069, which extends a pilot program that grants visas to investors who can establish the creation of at least 10 U.S. jobs per annum;
• H.R. 5070, which extends the soon-to-expire R-1 religious worker visa program for an additional 7 years; and
• H.R. 5071, which extends visa waivers for foreign medical graduates until June 2013.

The legislation to extend the R-1 religious worker visa program received the most scrutiny in the subcommittee hearing. The R-1 visa program was established Immigration Act of 1990 (PL 101-649), but claims of fraud and abuse have plagued the program for years. In 1999, the General Accounting Office voiced concern over evidence of fraud in the R-1 foreign religious worker visa program. (Visa Issuance: Issues Concerning the Religious Worker Visa Program, GAO/NSIAD-99-67, March 26, 1999) And in 2006, an audit conducted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of Fraud Detection and National Security discovered that 33 percent of R-1 religious worker visas were fraudulently obtained. (Religious Worker Benefit Fraud Assessment Summary, July 2006)

As introduced, H.R. 5070 would have made the program permanent. However, concerns about fraud in the program led Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren to agree to an amendment that extends the program for seven years. The amendment also required USCIS to introduce guidelines for the reduction of fraud. If those guidelines are satisfactorily implemented by December 31, 2009, the program will automatically be extended for an additional year, through 2016. The bill was approved by the Immigration Subcommittee by a vote of 8-1. (Congressional Quarterly, March 12, 2008) The next stop for these bills will be a hearing before the full House Judiciary Committee.

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Senate Passes Budget Resolution with Immigration Provisions

On Friday, the Senate adopted a concurrent budget resolution for fiscal year 2009 that contained several important immigration provisions. (S. Con. Res. 70) The resolution, which is non-binding, reflects the Senate's spending goals for the fiscal year and guides how much money is available for the numerous appropriations bills Congress passes each year. During debate, Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and David Vitter (R-LA) saw the opportunity to further certain immigration policy initiatives by offering targeted amendments. Two of these passed and one was tabled.

The Alexander amendment (S.A. 4222) takes $670,000 that was allocated to support litigation against employers with English-only workplace policies and transfers it to fund adult English literacy programs. The amendment passed on a 54-44 vote. (Record Vote No. 58) The Sessions amendment (S.A. 4231), which was adopted 61-37, directs appropriators to fund "border security, immigration enforcement, and criminal alien removal programs." (Record Vote No. 60) The amendment also requires that certain activities receive funding. These include:

• Expanding Operation Streamline, under which all illegal crossers into the U.S. are prosecuted, to all 20 border sectors;
• Requiring Homeland Security to complete the 700 miles of pedestrian fencing required by the Secure Fence Act;
• Maintaining 6,000 National Guard members along the southern border of the United States;
• Evaluating the 27 percent of the Federal, State, and local prison populations who are noncitizens in order to identify removable criminal aliens;
• Entering into Memoranda of Understanding with state and local governments to permit their officers to perform immigration enforcement functions under the 287(g) program; and
• Implementing the exit portion of the US-VISIT program at airports, seaports, and land ports of entry.

The Vitter amendment would have required that appropriations legislation deny community policing funds to any city that maintains a sanctuary policy. (S.A. 4309) Unfortunately, the amendment was tabled on a 58-40 vote. (Record Vote No. 69) In its place, an amendment by Senator Reid (D-NV) was offered and passed on a voice vote that requested appropriations for a study of the effects of sanctuary city policies on crime, racial profiling and unlawful detentions of citizens. (S.A. 4373)

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Recent Floor Statements

• Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) commented on Save Act (March 14, 2008)
• Rep. Thelma Drake (R-VA) commented on The Save Act (March 14, 2008)
• Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) commented on Local Law Enforcement Is Vital To Homeland Security Efforts (March 13, 2008)

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