Amnesty proposal gets deep-sixed

An attempt in the Senate to grant amnesty to illegal alien guest workers has failed once again -- and a grassroots activist group is hailing the death of that measure.

Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho) tried to load up the emergency war-spending bill with a provision that would award a five-year work visa to an estimated 1.3 million illegal alien farm workers and their families. The farm worker measure was killed by Senator Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) on a procedural move. (See earlier story)
 
Ron DeJong is a spokesman for the activist group Grassfire.org, which protested the bill.  DeJong is thrilled the measure was dropped, but at the same time is saddened.
 
"This is probably the lowest, most underhanded attempt to pass an amnesty through that we have ever seen," he exclaims. "In the four previous attempts, they've never done anything like blackmailing our troops -- and that's essentially what they were doing. [This measure was] withholding bullets and gas and things that [the troops] need so that they could pass an amnesty."
 
According to DeJong, the measure amounted to "selling citizenship for $250." He explains that under the proposal, illegal immigrants -- to get on the path toward citizenship -- would have had to pay a $250 fine after proving they have worked in the U.S. illegally for 22 weeks over the last five years. "So very, very minor, little things that they [would have] had to take care of," he says.
 
The Grassfire.org spokesman says once the American public was alerted that "amnesty senators" were trying to sneak the measure through before the Memorial Day recess, it stood no chance of passing. The proposal "had no business being included" in the Iraq supplemental or any other piece of legislation, DeJong adds.