TALKING POINTS:
LOOKING AHEAD AT THE SENATE DEBATE

(Background/Internal Document Only)

January 2006

As 2006 commences, legislative advocacy on comprehensive immigration reform will focus on the Senate, and particularly, the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chaired by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). Sen. Specter’s committee is expected to “mark-up” immigration reform legislation early this year, perhaps as early as February, in anticipation of a bill being considered by the full Senate shortly thereafter. With this in mind, our message strategy needs to evolve slightly to address the state-of-play in the Senate.

Below are some bullets that we hope capture this subtle change in messaging our advocacy and media work across the country.

An enforcement only approach represents more of the same failed, lopsided, and heavy-handed approaches that do nothing to fix the broken immigration system. With the passage of the HR 4437, the House of Representatives made clear that they are more interested in attacking immigrants than tackling the bigger and more complicated problem of fixing an out-of-date immigration system that no longer serves America’s needs. Their enforcement-only approach to immigration has done nothing to control illegal immigration and generally make a bad situation worse.

The Senate must take the higher road and deliver serious, workable proposals. In the Senate, there is a much deeper understanding of why a comprehensive approach to fixing all of the various components of our failed immigration policies is necessary. Rather than a shot-gun loaded with a bunch of random anti-immigration pellets – like what the House fired off in December – we expect the Senate to seriously debate legislation that is both sound policy and sound politics, and to do so in a bipartisan fashion.

For reform to work it must be workable and comprehensive. True reform must include the following key elements: 1) deal effectively with undocumented immigrants working and living in the United States; 2) provide for the future flow of workers and close family members; 3) devise tailored, targeted, effective enforcement of more realistic policies; and 4) support the successful integration of newcomers in the communities where they settle. Anything less cannot work and it is not true reform.

Real reform must include elements of the McCain-Kennedy/Secure America bill. The best possible bill out of the Senate will be one that includes key elements of reform (see bullet point above). The McCain-Kennedy bill is the only bill on the table that includes these principles. As the legislative process goes forward, we want the final bill in the Senate to have as much elements of the original McCain-Kennedy bill as possible, ensuring that it is fair, workable, and actually fixes the problems with our immigration system.

Our bottom line: no families, no citizenship, no worker rights = NO deal! To truly fix our broken system we need to bring people out of the shadows and onto a path to legality; we need wider legal channels so workers can come to the U.S. with a visa and with labor rights; and we need to ensure that American families can be reunited with their loved ones in a timely fashion.

Diverse constituencies support our version of comprehensive immigration reform. Business, labor, faith based, immigrant rights organizations and countless others support immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship for the undocumented, protect workers, reunites families, restores the rule of law and promotes citizenship and civic participation. There is a large coalition mobilizing to make their voices heard in the Senate and beyond.

We cannot wait any longer, we need real solutions and we want them now. Our families cannot wait another year or two for reform; too many are already separated by borders or ripped apart by deportations. Our economy cannot wait; the growth of our communities and the dynamism of our economy demands a stable, legal, workforce with labor rights and protections. Our border communities cannot wait; there is already too much death, chaos, and lawlessness. Our children cannot wait; too many are facing unsure futures without a clear path to being on the right side of the law. Our nation cannot wait; we simply must have control over immigration in a post-9/11 world with an immigration system that allows for a safe, legal, and orderly flow of people across our borders on our terms.

 

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