 |
|
|
 News from Around the Americas | December 2005 
House Approves Border Fence
 Suzanne Gamboa - Associated Press
| | Raul Ramos holds up his grandson Javier Breton, 2 1/2, to look through the U.S./Mexico border fence on Friday, December 16, 2005 in Tijuana, Mexico. A sign and flowers had been placed on the border wall by human rights advocates to protest the soaring rate of migrant fatalities, which they cite to beefed up U.S. border security forcing migrants to take more dangerous options to enter the U.S. undocumented. Recently, congress approved legislation to complete a stretch of a secondary border fence, which would go through an environmentally sensitive area and would sit not far from where Ramos is standing. (AP Photo/David Maung) |
Washington — The House continued to struggle Friday over how best to shut down illegal immigration, approving the construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border but putting off debate on an explosive proposal to deny citizenship to babies born in this country to illegal immigrants.
The legislation on strengthening border controls and cracking down on the hiring of illegal immigrants was headed for a vote late Friday after the House Rules Committee, which determines allowable amendments, rejected the birthright amendment. No vote had been taken as of press time.
U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., proposed that, within the bounds of the 14th Amendment, birthright citizenship be granted only to children of U.S. citizens and permanent legal aliens.
Deal said he would continue pushing the issue.
"It is a major magnet that is a huge component of the illegal immigration problem," he said, citing figures that as many as 10 percent of births in the United States are to illegal immigrants. That translates to up to 400,000 a year, he said, enough for an entire new congressional district. "That's a staggering thought."
Late Thursday, the House passed a measure, 260-159, calling for construction of a fence in parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The measure is an amendment to a larger immigration enforcement bill backed by the White House.
The bill was nearly derailed Thursday when several Republicans said they opposed it because it did not include a guest worker program.
President George W. Bush urged Congress almost two years ago to enact a guest worker program that could allow illegal immigrants to stay in the country temporarily to fill jobs unwanted by Americans. He repeated that message during a recent visit to the Mexican border.
Under his plan, undocumented immigrants would be allowed to get three-year work visas. They could extend those for an additional three years but would then have to return to their home countries for a year to apply for a new work permit.
Tougher Provisions Sought
Others in the House were unhappy because the immigration bill lacked tougher provisions, including one denying citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants in the United States.
"Those people who are against this bill don't want any changes in the existing system except perhaps amnesty, or, excuse me, 'earned legalization,' or perhaps citizenship, for those who have broken the law," said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., a chief sponsor and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., said negotiations had been ongoing after Republicans met behind closed doors to close ranks on the immigration bill. He said the meeting helped build momentum to pass the border fence measure.
"What would be the best Christmas present to the American people is pictures of concrete being poured" for the fence, Tancredo said. "This is a good thing."
The fencing would total 700 miles, and priority for construction would be near Laredo, Texas. The city is across the border from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where warring drug cartels have been blamed for more than 140 murders this year. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us