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 News from Around the Americas | May 2006 
US Senate Votes for Mexico Border Fence
 Antonio Rodriguez - AFP
| | Hundreds of protesters rally on the National Mall in Washington, DC, to press Congress for immigration reform. Senators took a swipe at illegal immigration, ordering construction of a fence along hundreds of kilometers of the US-Mexico border, even as Hispanic activists pressed for immediate immigration reform. (AFP/Nicholas Kamm) |
Across the Border: A Personal Story of Peril
 Ed Gordon - NPR
May 17, 2006 · Juan slipped across the U.S.-Mexico border in the middle of the night nine years ago. Now he's a student in New York. As part of the personal history project Crossing the Boulevard, he explains the challenges he has faced as an illegal immigrant.
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Senators took a swipe at illegal immigration, ordering construction of a fence along hundreds of kilometers of the US-Mexico border, even as Hispanic activists pressed for immediate immigration reform.
As senators voted on the measure, hundreds of protestors traipsed the corridors of Congress, taking their "We Are America" campaign to lawmakers wrestling with the volatile issue in a crucial election year.
In a victory for conservatives, senators backed an amendment by Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama, requiring construction of a 600 kilometer (370 mile) triple-layered fence on the porous southern US border with Mexico.
The measure also calls for installation of vehicle barriers on a 800 kilometer (500 mile) stretch of the 3,200 kilometer (2,000 mile) long frontier.
"By passing my amendment, we are sending a signal that we are serious about stopping the flow of illegal immigrants over the border," Sessions said.
Immigration reform activists from more than 20 states traipsed through the ornate halls of the US Capitol all day, lobbying senators and representatives.
Later, up to 1,000 demonstrators gathered on Washington's National Mall, in the symbolic shadows of the Capitol, the obelisk memorial to America's first US President George Washington, and the Smithsonian Museum of American history.
Their message was that despite a lack of US passports and benefits of US citizenship, they were still part of America.
"We form part of the nation of the United States -- an integral part," said Paula Villarieal, a one-time illegal immigrant from Mexico, who carried a picture of her US-born son, army Sergeant Saul Ibarra, a 28-year-old veteran of the Kosovo and Iraq wars.
President George W. Bush stepped into the debate on Monday, announcing he would send up to 6,000 National Guard reservists to stanch the flow of illegal immigration along the US border with Mexico.
The president also backed efforts to help an estimated 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, more than half of whom are from Mexico, to work in the country legally.
On Thursday, the US leader was expected to travel to the US-Mexico border.
Wednesday's demonstration was much smaller than the up to 20,000 people hoped for by organisers.
The figure was also dwarfed by the more than 150,000 immigration reform protestors who mobbed the US capital on April 10.
Immigrant leaders want lawmakers to ditch compromise efforts on immigration reform -- and demand new laws which recognise the contribution made by illegals to the United States.
"In order for any proposal to work, all people must be brought out of the shadows," said Abdul Kamus, who is on the steering committee for the National Capital Immigration Coalition.
Protestors want "comprehensive immigration reform, earned legalization, a path to citizenship for undocumenteds in the country, a temporary worker program for people to come in the future, to come safely, orderly, also a program that protects workers from exploitation," Cory Smith, with the We Are America Alliance, told AFP.
Activists holding "We Are America" signs chanted "The people united, will never be divided," in English and Spanish, and many held US flags.
Jimmy Hernandez, a US citizen from Alexandria, a Washington suburb, said he had come to "put down a marker" for his parents who came to the United States from El Salvador, as illegal immigrants.
Though he has been in America for 30 years, Hernandez's father has still not secured permanent residency or citizenship -- so finds it tough to find work, he said.
"This kind of demo will make a big difference ... but it is up to the big guys up there," he said, pointing to the glistening dome of the US Capitol.
On May 1 over one million people marched in several US cities demanding new immigration laws and organizers are promising another massive protest on Labor Day, in early September.
The US House of Representatives has already passed a bill making illegal entry a crime, a proposal that helped spark the recent protests.
The House and Senate legislation must be reconciled, and a final bill presented to the president before he signs it into law.
Senate OKs Border Fence, Backs Citizenship
David Espo - AP
The Senate agreed to give millions of illegal immigrants a shot at U.S. citizenship and backed construction of 370 miles of triple-layered fencing along the Mexican border Wednesday, but prospects for legislation clearing Congress were clouded by a withering attack against President Bush by a prominent House Republican.
"Regardless of what the president says, what he is proposing is amnesty," said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. the lawmaker who would lead House negotiators in any attempt to draft a compromise immigration bill later this year.
The blast by Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, came on the day the White House dispatched top presidential aide Karl Rove to ease the concerns of rebellious House Republicans, and also coincided with a clash among GOP senators on the Senate floor.
"This is not amnesty, so let's get the terms right," Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska lectured fellow Republicans who condemned the bill. "Come on. Let's stop the nonsense."
"It sort of reminds me of the famous line, `Methinks thou dost protest too much,'" responded Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who repeatedly described the legislation as an amnesty bill for lawbreakers.
Rhetoric aside, the votes on the Senate floor gave fresh momentum to legislation that closely follows Bush's call for a broad bill. The measure includes steps to secure the borders, the citizenship-related provisions for illegal immigrants and a new guest worker program for as many as 200,000 people a year. Senate passage appears likely next week.
The political wheels turned as demonstrators massed within sight of the Capitol demanding greater rights for immigrants, the latest evidence of rising passions in connection with efforts to write the most significant overhaul of immigration law in two decades.
With the administration eager to emphasize its commitment to border security, officials continued to flesh out details of Bush's Monday night announcement that he would send up to 6,000 National Guard troops to states along the Mexican border.
Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, raised the possibility that Guard members could be sent over the objections of a state's governor.
"If a governor truly did not want this mission performed in their state, then the option is there for the president and the secretary of defense to federalize the Guard. And then the mission would be conducted, and then it would be without the control of the governor," he said.
Vitter led the drive to strip from the bill a provision giving an eventual chance at citizenship to illegal immigrants who have been in the country more than two years. His attempt failed, 66-33, at the hands of a bipartisan coalition, and the provision survived. In all, 41 Democrats joined with 24 Republicans and one independent to turn back the proposal. Opponents included the leaders of both parties, Sens. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Harry Reid, D-Nev. Thirty-one Republicans and two Democrats supported Vitter's amendment.
The vote to build what supporters called a "real fence" — as distinct from the virtual fence already incorporated in the legislation — was 83-16. The fence would be built in areas "most often used by smugglers and illegal aliens," as determined by federal officials. Sen. Jeff Sessions (news, bio, voting record), R-Ala., estimated the cost at roughly $3.2 million per mile, more than $900 million for 300 miles.
The provision includes a call for construction of 500 miles of vehicle barriers, adding to a system currently in place.
It marked the first significant victory for conservatives eager to leave their stamp on a measure that looks increasingly like it is headed toward Senate passage.
Construction would send "a signal that open-border days are over. ... Good fences make good neighbors, fences don't make bad neighbors," Sessions said. He said border areas where barriers are in place have experienced economic improvement and reduced crime.
"What we have here has become a symbol for the right wing in American politics," countered Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. He said if the proposal passed, "our relationship with Mexico would come down to a barrier between our two countries."
All Republicans and more than half the Senate's Democrats supported the proposal. A core group of bill supporters who have held off other more serious challenges in the past two days made little attempt to fight this one, judging it far less damaging than the attack on the citizenship provision or an attempt on Tuesday to strip out a guest worker program.
Supporters of the Senate measure credited Bush's prime-time Monday night speech with giving fresh momentum to the effort to pass long-stalled legislation.
Across the Capitol in the House, the story was different.
Sensenbrenner's remarks were unusually sharp, given his chairmanship. "He said four times this is not amnesty. Well, it is an amnesty, because it allows people who have broken the law to stay in the country," he said of the positions Bush staked out in his speech earlier in the week.
In a conference call with reporters, Sensenbrenner also said Bush had "basically turned his back" on a tough border security bill after requesting that certain provisions be included before passage last year.
The House legislation passed over strenuous Democratic opposition. It would make all illegal aliens subject to prosecution as felons and calls for construction of a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border — more than twice as long as the barrier the Senate backed during the day.
Several members of the rank-and-file have criticized Bush for his proposals. To calm their concerns, Rove attended the regular closed door meeting of the rank and file, where participants said he sought to reassure lawmakers about the administration's commitment to securing the borders.
Associated Press writer Fred Frommer contributed to this story. |
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