Signs of Movement on Migrants

A move to lower the barriers to immigrants who want to live and work in the United States is picking up steam again, two years after it was stalled by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Both Republicans and Democrats have proposed creating guest-worker programs and granting legal status to undocumented workers already in the United States. Business and labor are seeking a deal that would help fill low-end jobs.

“I think we are out of the shadows of Sept. 11,” said B. Lindsay Lowell, director of an immigration research center at Washington’s Georgetown University. But he added: “I see it as a difficult thing to push through. You have to have all the players in the right place at the right time to make it happen.”

President Bush is the player who is not yet in place -- although he and Mexican President Vicente Fox were on the verge of a breakthrough two years ago on a package that would have combined an expanded guest-worker program with amnesty for undocumented workers.

“The major person missing is Bush,” said Cecilia Munoz of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group. “That is interesting, considering he arguably started this whole debate.”

Continuing weakness in the U.S. economy has not deterred immigration-reform backers, who range from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

“Whether we are in the middle of a jobless recovery or not, Americans are not taking these jobs,” said Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), coauthor of an immigration-reform bill with McCain. “They are not interested in turning down beds at hotels and working in the fields.”

A major hurdle to the reform effort looms in the GOP-controlled House, where key lawmakers oppose liberalizing immigration policy. They argue that any sort of amnesty would only encourage more illegal immigration. And they say the country needs to restrain immigration until post-Sept. 11 security measures are fully worked out.

“On immigration, the House has more political minefields than the Senate does,” said Randel K. Johnson, a senior lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Reform advocates say that could change if Bush weighs in on their side. “We need to have presidential leadership to move this debate forward,” said Kolbe.

While the economic forces behind illegal immigration -- factors such as willing workers in Mexico and unfilled low-wage jobs in the United States -- have not changed, the rhetoric of debate has.

Previously, amnesty proponents based their case on equity issues. They argued that most of the estimated 8 million undocumented immigrants already in the country are law-abiding, tax-paying members of society, and should be rewarded with legal status.

Now, security has become the most commonly cited justification for amnesty. The United States can be better protected if illegal immigrants come forward and identify themselves to the federal government, proponents argue. Providing more legal routes into the country for future migrants would also improve security, they contend.

“We must establish a system by which to allow people seeking work to enter the country in a safe manner, through controlled ports of entry, freeing up federal agents ... to focus their efforts on the individuals who do pose a potential threat to our national security,” McCain said as he introduced his bill this summer.

The term “amnesty” itself has all but disappeared from the debate. McCain calls his plan a visa program. And Kennedy staffers, outlining a bill the senator intends to introduce soon, speak of “earned legalization.”

McCain’s bill would create two visa programs, one for undocumented workers already here, another for workers who want to come to the United States. Both programs would offer a route for immigrants to obtain a green card, after passing background checks and a waiting period of six years or longer. Undocumented workers already here would have to pay a $1,500 processing fee termed a “fine.”

Critics say a major flaw in McCain’s bill is that it fails to address a backlog of millions of family reunification cases. Relatives of U.S. residents who have been waiting for years to come here legally would have to stay in line, while illegals already in the country would be able to get approval.

McCain is finding out that the politics of immigration are as fractious as ever. U.S. Latino groups have pointedly snubbed his bill, saying it doesn’t go far enough, even though the Mexican government responded warmly. In the House, fellow Republicans have given his bill a chilly reception.

“The division among Republicans is very sharp on this issue,” said Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors curbs on immigration. “There are very few Republicans who will be able to support something successfully labeled as an amnesty.”

Business groups are betting that will change. “With regard to long-term demographics, the data is clear,” said Johnson, the business lobbyist. “There will be workforce shortages, and immigration still has to be part of the solution.”

Labor unions, which are seeking new members from the ranks of Latino hospital workers and janitors, are organizing a national bus caravan that would travel to Washington this month to build support for immigration reform. Buses participating in the “Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride” will stop in some 80 cities before arriving here Oct. 1. Riders will head to Capitol Hill to lobby members of Congress.

Farm worker legislation may provide an early test of whether immigration reform can move forward.

Republicans and Democrats, growers and labor, have been working for much of the year on a compromise that would streamline and expand the current temporary agricultural worker program, while allowing many farm workers already here illegally to get work permits and, eventually, green cards.

The talks broke down last week, congressional staffers said, and on Thursday participants were on the verge of introducing competing bills. But by Friday, negotiations were on again, with the goal of quickly producing a bipartisan bill. Among the participants are Kennedy, Rep. Howard L. Berman, (D-North Hollywood), Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) and Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah).

Meanwhile, the White House has little to say.

With the disbanding of the old Immigration and Naturalization Service, the administration is focusing on reorganizing a bureaucracy split among three different agencies of the new Homeland Security Department. Some officials say it is premature to saddle the system with a massive project like an amnesty or a broad guest-worker program.

But Kolbe said he and McCain personally lobbied Bush this summer on their bill and he seemed open to the proposal.

“I’m not saying he endorsed our legislation, but he expressed support for many of the principles involved,” said Kolbe. “He agrees that this is an issue we need to debate.”