Immigration News: October, 2004 - Volume 11

Congress: 9-11 Report, Platforms

The bipartisan commission that investigated the September 11, 2001 attacks reported that all of the hijackers broke U.S. immigration laws, and some of their immigration violations could have led to their detection and arrest. Seven of the 19 hijackers used fraudulent passports, and three were on US watch lists that were not entered into immigration inspectors' databases (www.9-11commission.gov).

The commission recommended that intelligence agencies identify and track the travel patterns of suspected terrorists. Since 9/11, the CIA has established a passport analysis program to improve the detection of counterfeit passports and started a program to detect and disrupt terrorist travel facilitators, but these activities have so far not been connected directly with similar DHS activities.

The House (HR 10) and Senate (S 2845) approved different bills to implement the recommendations of the 9-11 Commission and reorganize US intelligence agencies before adjourning on October 8, 2004 for the elections. The House bill includes a variety of immigration-related provisions opposed by the Bush administration and migrant advocates, including a ban on states issuing driver's licenses to unauthorized foreigners, speedy deportations without judicial review, and allowing foreign criminals and suspected terrorists to be detained indefinitely in the US or sent back to countries that condone torture. The Senate approved a provision in its bill that would allow DHS to specify the data that driver's licenses would have to include for it to meet federal standards, and then require them for access to airplanes and other modes of transportation.

The House bill would also make it easier for immigration judges to reject asylum applications, and would increase the burden of proof imposed on asylum seekers who are accused of being terrorists by their home governments.

Platforms. Democrats and Republicans met and nominated John Kerry and George W. Bush to be their candidates. About 40 percent of the delegates and alternates to the Democratic National Convention in Boston were minorities, as were 17 percent of those to the Republican National Convention in New York City. The Democratic platform asserts that "Today's immigration laws do not reflect our values or serve our security, and we will work for real reform;" Kerry promised to send a comprehensive immigration reform to Congress within 100 days.

The Republican platform supports "reforming the immigration system to ensure that it is legal, safe, orderly and humane" and promises to increase the ceiling for H-1B foreign professionals and H-2A farm workers, but opposes amnesty for unauthorized foreigners "because it would have the effect of encouraging illegal immigration and would give an unfair advantage to those who have broken our laws." The Republican platform supports turning unauthorized foreigners who have found US employers into guest workers, urging enactment of a plan to "allow workers who currently hold jobs to come out of the shadows and to participate legally in America's economy." The platform also calls for reorganizing the family unification preference system "to give priority to spouses and children, rather than extended family members."

There was much speculation about whether Bush could increase his share of the Hispanic vote, which was 35 percent in 2000 and 21 percent for Bob Dole in 1996. An estimated nine million of the 35 million US Hispanics are expected to vote in 2004.

Costs. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a report in August 2004 that concluded that unauthorized foreigners in the US paid $16 billion in federal taxes and used $26 billion in federal tax-supported benefits in 2002. CIS predicted that the gap between taxes paid and benefits received would rise if there were a legalization program, since incomes would not rise as much as access to tax-funded benefits.

Using 2002 CPS data, the CIS emphasized that the major reason for the tax-benefit gap is low wages, not extensive use of benefit programs: "The primary reason they [unauthorized] create a fiscal deficit is their low education levels and resulting low incomes and tax payments, not... heavy use of most social services."

Other Legislation. In mid-September 2004 there was a National Week of Action in cities across the US in support of bills that legalize at least some unauthorized foreigners; it was held a year after the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, modeled after the Freedom Rides for civil rights in the 1960s. The priorities for the groups supporting the rallies and marches include the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minorities Act (DREAM), which would give immigrant status to some students, and AgJOBS, which would offer earned legalization to some farm workers.

An estimated 65,000 unauthorized foreigners a year graduate from US high schools each year, and eight states allow them to go to public universities in their states at in-state tuition rates. DREAM, introduced in July 2001 with the support of almost half of US senators, would give those who entered the US before age 16 and are in the US at least five years an immigrant status after they complete at least two years of college or military service.

The Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act of 2003 (AgJOBS,) had the support of 63 U.S. senators and 117 representatives in the House in September 2004. However, it did not come to a vote in the Senate, where proponents hope that strong bipartisan majority support will ease its passage through a House that includes the 75-strong Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, which opposes AgJOBS.

AgJOBS aims to legalize hired farm workers by granting a temporary legal status to unauthorized workers who have done at least 100 days of farm work in 2002-03. If they continued to do farm work over the next six years, they and their families could become legal US immigrants. Meanwhile, AgJOBS would make it easier for farmers to obtain foreign guest workers, explaining their support.

A group of Republicans including Jack Kemp issued an appeal in August 2004 for a new guest worker program to "provide the workers we need, while restoring the rule of law and helping us secure our borders against genuine national security threats." Their memo continued: "Once we introduced a more realistic law -one that provided adequate legal avenues for those seeking work and those who employ them -there would be no excuse for anyone who broke it." President Bush has said little about his guest worker proposal since it was introduced in January 2004; it would give unauthorized foreigners in the US renewable three-year work permits, but not an immigrant status.

States. Arizona has begun requiring residents of the 19 states that do not require a "lawful presence" to get a license to present a second form of identification to obtain Arizona driver's license. The 19 states that have no lawful presence requirement for driver's license applicants are: Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

Proposition 200, Protect Arizona Now, qualified for the November 2004 ballot, setting the stage for another Prop 187-style debate over what states can and should do to deal with unauthorized migration. Proposition 200 would require proof of legal status before voting or receiving nonfederal welfare benefits in Arizona, and much of the debate concerned its potential impacts. Business and heath care organizations and unions oppose the initiative.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger persuaded the Legislature to repeal a law that was signed by ex-Governor Gray Davis allowing unauthorized foreigners to obtain California driver's licenses. In August 2004, Schwarzenegger said he would support such a license only if it was clearly marked as granted to an unauthorized foreigner, which critics said was reminiscent of the Star of David worn by Jews in Nazi Germany. Until 1993, unauthorized foreigners could get driver's licenses in California. On September 11, 2001, 18 of the 19 hijackers held valid driver's licenses.

California has 36 million residents in 2004 and projects 51 million in 2040, suggesting a slower rate of population growth, 400,000 a year, down from previous projections that the population would grow by 600,000 a year. The Hispanic birth rate has dropped from 3.4 babies per woman in 1990 to 2.6 in 2003, with the sharpest drop for foreign-born Hispanic women.

John Moreno Gonzales, "The Hispanic Vote," Newsday, September 6, 2004. Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, "Immigration Laws Might Have Stopped Sept. 11 Plot," Los Angeles Times, August 23, 2004.