News

San Francisco Chronicle, May 26, 2006

“The Senate—including a majority of Republicans—voted resoundingly Wednesday to move toward passage of a sweeping overhaul of the country’s immigration laws.

The 73-25 procedural vote tested the strength of the Senate coalition backing a path to legalization for most of the 12 million illegal immigrants now in the country, coupled with a far-reaching enforcement crackdown. It stands in sharp contrast to the enforcement-only bill the House passed in December, though it has been significantly toughened by amendments…”

“A conference committee holds land mines for Democrats as well. Many Democrats and ethnic interest groups are already uncomfortable with the bills’ enforcement provisions. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund came out in opposition Wednesday, calling it a Trojan horse that divides illegal immigrants into three groups, subjecting those arriving after Jan. 7, 2004, to deportation, and ‘vastly increases detention and deportation practices and further militarizes the border.’”

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