BILL WOULD PAVE WAY TO CITIZENSHIP BIPARTISAN HOUSE MEASURE AIMED AT LEGALIZING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.Byline: Staff and Wire Services A bill that would create a pathway to U.S. citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants was introduced Thursday in Congress, drawing immediate praise from immigrant advocates in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . The bipartisan House bill would allow illegal immigrants to pay $2,000, take English classes, wait six years, and leave the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. at least briefly to become legal permanent residents and citizens. It also would create a temporary worker program for 400,000 people a year and increase penalties for businesses that employ illegal immigrants. "This bill deals with immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. on a comprehensive basis -- illegal immigration "Illegal alien" and "Illegal aliens" redirect here. For other uses, see Illegal aliens (disambiguation). Illegal immigration refers to immigration across national borders in a way that violates the immigration laws of the destination country. and legal immigration, enforcement and family unification, the need for business to have a work force and the work force's need for being able to work legally with labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are a group of legal rights and claimed human rights having to do with labor relations between workers and their employers, usually obtained under labor and employment law. and protections against exploration," said John Trasvina, president of the Mexican American Mexican American n. A U.S. citizen or resident of Mexican descent. Mex  i·can-A·mer Legal Defense Fund in Los Angeles.
But critics say the bill is nothing but a giveaway to lawbreakers. "Anything like that is intolerable," said Al Garza, executive director of the Arizona-based Minuteman Civil Defense Corps The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps is a group headed by Chris Simcox dedicated to preventing illegal crossings of the U.S. border arguing that the government is not sufficiently concerned with securing the U.S. , a sister organization of the Minuteman Project based in Orange County. "We're not going for any kind of comprehensive immigration reform," Garza said. "We want to address border security, and anything less than that is intolerable. This is just another form of amnesty in disguise." The bill was introduced just three days before the one-year anniversary of massive rallies held throughout the United States to protest a House bill that would have criminalized illegal immigration. An estimated half-million protesters marched through downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or in the city's largest-ever demonstration. Activists plan more rallies for Sunday to push for citizenship for undocumented residents. During a bilingual news conference held on Capitol Hill, lawmakers appeared optimistic about the chance for passing the new bill, with Republicans thanking President George W. Bush for his support for the basic principles in the bill. But the Senate is not acting as quickly as the House. Negotiations on a companion bill continue between Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., and the White House is working with other key Republicans on a separate track. Initially, senators had planned to introduce the Kennedy-McCain legislation before the House bill. McCain, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination, has denied reports that he is locking heads with Kennedy about the legislation. |
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