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Thursday, November 1, 2007
Cornyn could offer alternative farm immigration measure
Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said Thursday that he is working on an alternative to an immigration bill known as AgJobs, shorthand for the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act.
The AgJobs bill would give thousands of illegal immigrant farm workers a chance to work in the United States legally and a path to citizenship.
Cornyn said his plan would include a guest worker program for agricultural workers but no pathway to citizenship.
It is unclear whether AgJobs will get a vote in the Senate. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the measure’s chief sponsor, may try to attach it to an upcoming farm bill.
If it comes up, Cornyn may offer the alternative.
“It’s somewhat up in the air now,” Cornyn said, in a conference call with reporters.
The Texas senator also said that he would prefer to pass a broader immigration reform rather than “sector-specific immigration proposals.”
New York governor sued over plan to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is being sued — twice.
The public watchdog group Judicial Watch, famous for going after former President Bill Clinton, has filed a lawsuit against Spitzer on behalf of a New York taxpayer.
The suit contends that Spitzer’s plan to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants violates state law.
“Eliot Spitzer wants to use his public office to sanction illegal behavior and put all of us at risk through his plan to give driver licenses to illegal aliens,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. “If Governor Spitzer wants to change the rules, he has to follow the rules - which means going through the New York state legislature and otherwise following New York law.”
On Thursday, several Republicans in the New York state assembly also filed a lawsuit to stop Spitzer’s plan.
The controversial program to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants is a hot political topic. Sen. Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was criticized for giving a confusing answer about the issue at a debate Tuesday night.
To read more about the Judicial Watch lawsuit, click here.
New York Times: Hillary Clinton immigration answer “fodder” for critics
In a front page story, the New York Times on Thursday delves into Sen. Hillary Clinton’s confusing answer during a recent debate about whether she supported driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.
The paper says “her verbal twists and turns provided her opponents with fodder for their central critique of Mrs. Clinton…that she was trying to have it both ways on the issue, much as she was trying to portray herself as antiwar while voting to authorize the use of force in Iraq.”
It also said the episode “underscored the tensions for Mrs. Clinton as she seeks to court various interest groups who are the building blocks of winning the Democratic nomination.”
To read the Times article, click here.
To read more about Clinton’s answer during the debate, click here.
Immigration raid at museum of military history
Federal immigration agents arrested 30 workers building a museum of military history near Fort Benning, Ga., the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on its website Thursday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 27 Mexicans and three Guatemalans on charges of immigration violations.
The workers will be processed for deportation, ICE spokesman Richard Rocha told the paper.
According to the article, Rocha said that the federal agents entered the work site of the new National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center and checked the IDs of all workers. They asked workers to come down off ladders so they could check their papers. Those considered to be illegally in the country were transported to an ICE detention center.
To read more, click here.