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House measure rejects 'amnesty'

By Stephen Dinan
November 7, 2007

More than 80 House Democrats and Republicans yesterday teamed up to propose a new immigration-enforcement bill, saying they reject the Senate's two attempts at "amnesty" and signaling that only an enforcement measure can pass this Congress.

Led by Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, a freshman Democrat who won election with a tough immigration-enforcement message, the bill also challenges conventional wisdom by showing a large number of rank-and-file Democrats agree with most Republicans that the first step should be a get-tough approach on border security.

That new approach includes going after businesses that hire illegal aliens, better information-sharing among federal agencies such as the IRS, Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to track illegal aliens, and an increase in enforcement agents both at the border and in the nation's interior.

"The reason you're seeing so many of us standing here today, Democrats and Republicans, is this is the immigration reform bill the American people have been waiting for," said Rep. Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, a freshman who is one of 44 Democrats signing on as original co-sponsors, along with 40 Republicans.

The bill is a rejection of the approach adopted by President Bush, who has insisted on coupling enforcement with a rewrite of the legal immigration system and a path to citizenship for illegal aliens — an approach the Senate has twice tried unsuccessfully, including a resounding defeat earlier this year.

Mr. Shuler's bill, which he wrote with Rep. Brian P. Bilbray, California Republican and chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus, is a slimmed-down version of the enforcement bill that passed the House in 2005, though without that bill's felony penalty for being in the country illegally and without language that religious groups said could make criminals out of ministers and priests.

"When the Senate got together in a bipartisan way, their solution was amnesty. When the House got together, the solution was interior enforcement, border security," said Rep. Zach Wamp, Tennessee Republican.

With an estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the country, the issue has jumped to the fore of the political debate. But those who want to see a legalization program say the federal government has been boosting enforcement for years and it hasn't worked.

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