Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Immigration Roundup: Trudging Along on S. 744

by Laura D. Francis

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The Senate Judiciary Committee May 9 began what will likely be a long process of marking up the proposed Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744), considering that more than 300 amendments have been offered.

One of the amendments adopted May 9 includes a substitute bill from the original sponsors, the so-called “gang of eight,” bringing what had been an 844-page bill to 867 pages. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), one of the gang of eight’s leaders, said during the markup that the changes were minor—although Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) disputed that claim.

The first session concluded after consideration of 32 amendments, 21 of which were adopted.

At the first day of the markup senators focused mainly on border security, which has been a point of contention among some of the Republican committee members, especially committee ranking member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). Grassley repeatedly has expressed concern that the bill would repeat the mistakes of the last immigration overhaul legislation that was passed in 1986. Grassley has offered 77 amendments to the bill—so far five have been adopted by voice vote and one voted down 6-12.

The markup also involved a dispute over Sessions’ concerns that the bill would wind up harming American workers at a time when so many are unemployed. Schumer argued that doing nothing would be worse because undocumented immigrants already are working—the bill would bring them under the protection of U.S. labor laws so that employers can’t exploit them as a cheap source of labor rather than hiring Americans to perform the work.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), another gang of eight member, added that the bill would protect American workers from being displaced by foreign guestworkers. He also insisted that the bill would control the “jobs magnet” for undocumented immigrants coming into the United States by making the E-Verify electronic employment eligibility verification system mandatory for all employers.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has set aside May 14, 16, and 20 for more consideration, and it appears likely that the time will be used, and perhaps more, despite the committee’s fairly rapid pace. Three hundred amendments is a lot to get through.

• While the markup goes on, other hearings continue in both chambers of Congress. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security May 16 will hold the first hearings on the two bills introduced in the House—H.R. 1772, which would make E-Verify mandatory for all employers, and H.R. 1773, which would overhaul the agricultural worker program. In addition, the Joint Economic Committee May 7 and 8 held a two-part hearing on immigration’s impact on the economy, while the Senate Commerce and Transportation Committee focused on S. 744’s H-1B highly skilled guestworker program provisions.

• The State Department is proposing changes to the teacher component of its J-1 Exchange Visitor Program out of concern that the program is being used to fill labor shortages rather than for cultural exchange. Proposed changes include ensuring that the visas are temporary, additional fee transparency, and new teacher qualifications.

• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is expanding its Entrepreneurs in Residence initiative—which aims to make it easier for immigrant entrepreneurs to start businesses within the current immigration system—to other fields. As it did with EIR, USCIS is seeking the help of private sector experts in the areas of the performing arts, health care, and information technology so that the agency can facilitate visa processing for immigrants in those sectors.

• Nearly five years after a large-scale raid on the Agriprocessors Inc. meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, resulted in the arrest of 389 immigrants, one of the last defendants in the case May 3 pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to harbor undocumented aliens for profit, harboring undocumented aliens for profit, conspiracy to commit document fraud, and aiding and abetting document fraud. Hosam Amara, a manager at the plant, had fled to Israel but was extradited to the United States to face trial.

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