More on Immigration Reform

The debate in Congress over immigration reform is intensifying. The Republican Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania, is circulating his proposal for immigration reform. Unlike President George Bush’s first immigration reform proposal, Spector’s plan rejects contains no "path to permanent residence" for undocumented workers. And, Spector rejects another important feature of the Bush plan: the right of undocumented workers here to change to temporary worker status without leaving the United States. Under Spector’s plan, the USCIS would require undocumented workers to return to their home countries before to apply for a visa before returning to the United States as temporary workers.

Would undocumented workers in the United States participate in a program like Spector’s? Not a chance. U.S. consulates abroad are notoriously arbitrary when considering visa applications. Few workers will want to risk getting denied a visa, then being stuck abroad.

Immigration reform will be much talked about prior to the 2006 Congressional elections but it is unlikely that an immigration reform bill will pass Congress until at least 2007. President Bush appears to be backing down from supporting a path to permanent residence for undocumented workers. Without a permanent residence provision, immigrant communities, including the Mexican community, which Bush is trying to court, will oppose the legislation, viewing it as a plan to exploit immigrant labor. A temporary worker plan where workers must return home, as proposed by Senator Spector is so unworkable, that both immigrants and the business community will likely oppose it. Finally, many in the Republican party oppose any plan that gives any benefit to undocumented workers until improved enforcement is in place, the so-called "two phase" approach to immigration reform.

More to come.