This is the newest wire story on this:
Congress nears passage of immigration reforms
By Richard Cowan 24 minutes ago
The U.S. Congress moved closer toward embracing more post-Sept. 11 security measures on Tuesday as key lawmakers approved controversial requirements making it tougher for foreigners to seek asylum and outlawing driver's licenses for illegal aliens.
The immigration control proposals were agreed to by Senate and House negotiators after weeks of wrangling. They have been attached to an emergency measure moving through Congress that mainly funds U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Passage by the House of Representatives and the Senate is expected by next week.
The stricter immigration measures are in response to last year's recommendations by a commission that studied the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and suggested ways to tighten domestic security.
Jeff Lungren, spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee, which promoted the immigration provisions, said they were "aimed at preventing another 911 type of attack by targeting terrorist travel."
The "Real ID" program aims to take driver's licenses out of the hands of anyone who cannot prove they are in the United States legally. By so doing, supporters argue that illegal aliens would not be able to board airplanes or gain access to government buildings by using a state driver's license as identification.
"Eighteen of the 19 (Sept. 11) hijackers could've used their passports but chose instead to use state-issued ID and driver's licenses and it allowed them to get on the planes without detection," Lungren said.
The commission found that lax screening procedures and failure to follow up on intelligence information contributed to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Critics of Real ID complain it would basically establish a national identification program and will be a bureaucratic nightmare for states to enforce.
According to one private study released in March, there were nearly 11 million undocumented people living in the United States.
For those seeking asylum, applicants would have to present more thorough documentation of their persecution.
"We're talking about very substantial changes that are going to seriously erode the ability of asylum-seekers to get safe haven in the United States," said Tim Edgar, who specializes in national security issues for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Lungren said tightening the asylum law is an attempt to "ferret out the fraud that is in that system."
But the ACLU's Edgar said the requirement for written proof of persecution is like asking "asylum seekers to provide what amounts to for many people a note from their persecutor."
Assuming the legislation is enacted, states would have three years to comply with the new federal standards on driver's licenses. Lungren said the measure is aimed mainly at nine U.S. states that do not require applicants to prove they are in the United States legally.
Running counter to the immigration clamp-down was one provision that expands the number of low-wage summertime workers who could enter the United States temporarily.
Lifting the existing cap of 66,000 such workers a year was in response to pressure from the U.S. companies, especially small businesses in the eastern United States, that rely on seasonal workers to shuck oysters, pick crops, landscape yards, build fences and work at tourist centers.
Some farm-state lawmakers had hoped to tackle broader immigration reforms, but that debate has been put off.
Congress nears passage of immigration reforms
By Richard Cowan 24 minutes ago
The U.S. Congress moved closer toward embracing more post-Sept. 11 security measures on Tuesday as key lawmakers approved controversial requirements making it tougher for foreigners to seek asylum and outlawing driver's licenses for illegal aliens.
The immigration control proposals were agreed to by Senate and House negotiators after weeks of wrangling. They have been attached to an emergency measure moving through Congress that mainly funds U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Passage by the House of Representatives and the Senate is expected by next week.
The stricter immigration measures are in response to last year's recommendations by a commission that studied the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and suggested ways to tighten domestic security.
Jeff Lungren, spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee, which promoted the immigration provisions, said they were "aimed at preventing another 911 type of attack by targeting terrorist travel."
The "Real ID" program aims to take driver's licenses out of the hands of anyone who cannot prove they are in the United States legally. By so doing, supporters argue that illegal aliens would not be able to board airplanes or gain access to government buildings by using a state driver's license as identification.
"Eighteen of the 19 (Sept. 11) hijackers could've used their passports but chose instead to use state-issued ID and driver's licenses and it allowed them to get on the planes without detection," Lungren said.
The commission found that lax screening procedures and failure to follow up on intelligence information contributed to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Critics of Real ID complain it would basically establish a national identification program and will be a bureaucratic nightmare for states to enforce.
According to one private study released in March, there were nearly 11 million undocumented people living in the United States.
For those seeking asylum, applicants would have to present more thorough documentation of their persecution.
"We're talking about very substantial changes that are going to seriously erode the ability of asylum-seekers to get safe haven in the United States," said Tim Edgar, who specializes in national security issues for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Lungren said tightening the asylum law is an attempt to "ferret out the fraud that is in that system."
But the ACLU's Edgar said the requirement for written proof of persecution is like asking "asylum seekers to provide what amounts to for many people a note from their persecutor."
Assuming the legislation is enacted, states would have three years to comply with the new federal standards on driver's licenses. Lungren said the measure is aimed mainly at nine U.S. states that do not require applicants to prove they are in the United States legally.
Running counter to the immigration clamp-down was one provision that expands the number of low-wage summertime workers who could enter the United States temporarily.
Lifting the existing cap of 66,000 such workers a year was in response to pressure from the U.S. companies, especially small businesses in the eastern United States, that rely on seasonal workers to shuck oysters, pick crops, landscape yards, build fences and work at tourist centers.
Some farm-state lawmakers had hoped to tackle broader immigration reforms, but that debate has been put off.
