Desertdog
Member
Republicans debate how tight border should be
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-04-28-gop-immigration_x.htm
SAN DIEGO — In an isolated canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch, about 15 miles south of this city's downtown, a man with a wan smile and a grimy baseball cap peeked over the 10-foot-high wall that divides the USA from Mexico. He said his name was Hector Guevara. In slightly accented English, he amiably answered the questions of the startled journalists below.
A Border Patrol vehicle drives along the U.S./Mexican border.
By Matt York, AP
They were waiting for several members of Congress to show up for a news conference. Guevara was waiting for something else.
"I need the opportunity to trespass," he said. Guevara's goal was to get back to his wife and two daughters in Los Angeles and the construction job he held until immigration authorities raided his workplace. "Eleven bucks for one hour is good."
Guevara and the rusty metal barrier that he and a friend were trying to scale are at the center of a debate raging 2,200 miles away in the nation's capital. In Southern California, the border wall divides two nations; in Washington, it marks a fault line in the Republican Party.
(seems to me about 3 rolls of razor wire would be a lot cheaper and less scalable than this fence. Dd)
President Bush says he supports efforts to secure the nation's border, but he also wants to permit workers like Guevara who came here illegally but have families and employers who depend on them in the USA to become legal "guest workers."
'Real ID' addresses security issues
Republican leaders have attached the Real ID Act of immigration proposals, including the border fence, to an emergency bill that would provide funding for troops in Iraq. A look at some of the provisions:
Driver's licenses: States would have three years to create counterfeit-proof cards. The plan is aimed at preventing people illegally in the USA from boarding airplanes. The National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures say the deadline is impossible to meet.
Asylum: People seeking asylum in the USA would have to demonstrate that they are victims of persecution. This provision is an attempt to put an end to people gaming the system. National Conference of Catholic Bishops spokesman Kevin Appleby says it would send legitimate asylum seekers "back to their persecutors."
To other Republicans, including four congressmen who hosted the news conference in Smuggler's Gulch, Guevara represents an argument for tighter border security, even if it means overriding local environmental agencies. "In a time of war, lots of laws are waived," Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., says.
On Capitol Hill at the moment, Bush's Republican critics are in the driver's seat. Legislation that Congress appears poised to send Bush within the next few weeks would permit the Border Patrol to fortify the last 3 miles of the 14-mile barrier that divides San Diego and Tijuana, the two largest cities on the U.S.-Mexican border.
The last 3 miles run near a network of federal, state and county parks known as the Tijuana Estuary. The makeshift barrier of upended landing mats snakes over dusty mesas and down steep canyons to an end deep in the riptide zone of the Pacific Ocean. The ending is just past a picnic area that former first lady Pat Nixon once dedicated as a friendship park between the two nations.
Even those who decry the wall as a monument of fear, such as Christian Ramirez of the American Friends Service Committee, admit that it has been effective.
Filling the gulch
When construction on the barrier began in the early 1990s, illegal border crossings were so numerous here that the California Highway Patrol erected signs warning motorists to watch out for desperate families running across highways. Border Patrol apprehensions in the region have dropped from a peak of 500,000 annually to 138,000 last year. The neighborhood where Ramirez grew up near the border "was an area of great conflict," he says. "Now we have relative tranquility."
To facilitate construction and better seal off the area, the Border Patrol wants to lop off the tops of mesas and dump 2 million cubic yards of dirt into Smuggler's Gulch. It would make the jobs of border agents easier and safer. In 2002, Border Patrol agent Catherine Hill was killed when her Jeep fell off a steep embankment at Smuggler's Gulch.
But the California Coastal Commission contends that all the earth moving would minimally enhance border security while threatening to choke the Tijuana Estuary, an internationally recognized wetland, with sediment. The legislation Congress is considering would allow the Department of Homeland Security to override the Coastal Commission's objections and make its ruling exempt from court review.
U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, a Democrat who represents the district where the wall is located, is against the Border Patrol's plans. California's Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has expressed misgivings. But Hunter, Ed Royce and Randy Cunningham, three Republican congressmen from neighboring San Diego districts, are pushing legislation that would allow the Border Patrol to override the Coastal Commission's objections. It's part of a package of border security measures known as "Real ID," because it also contains provisions that would require states to produce counterfeit-proof driver's licenses.
President Bush says he'll sign the bill, even though it has become a rallying point for people opposed to his guest-worker plan.
Immigration split
At a gathering on Capitol Hill this week, dozens of people wearing "Real ID" buttons cheered as several Republican congressmen criticized the president's plan, which they say would amount to rewarding lawbreakers. "It's amnesty lite," Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., said.
Among the speakers at the event were leaders of the Minutemen, an Arizona citizens group that has been conducting armed patrols to stop illegal immigration at the state's border with Mexico.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., demanded that Bush apologize for calling the group's members "vigilantes."
One key Senate supporter of President Bush's guest-worker plan, fellow Texan John Cornyn, argued this month for holding up action on Real ID until its provisions could be considered as part of a larger immigration proposal. Cornyn, who chairs the Senate subcommittee on immigration, said he hopes to have comprehensive immigration legislation ready for Senate floor action this summer.
But House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican who authored the Real ID Act, is insisting it be attached to a must-pass bill that would provide funds for troops in Iraq. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., considers the immigration proposals "a terrible piece of legislation" but says Democrats won't be able to vote against the bill because of the troop funding.
The president and his critics are motivated by the same statistic: More than 10 million people are living illegally in the country, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Despite post-9/11 security enhancements, illegal entries don't seem to have stopped.
In a sense, the Arizona Minutemen are a byproduct of the San Diego wall: As fewer illegal immigrants are caught crossing the Southern California border, the figures in Arizona have shot up. The Border Patrol's Tucson office reported 491,771 apprehensions last year. In 2000, the figure was 616,346. That compares with 227,529 in 1995.
Conservatives such as Tancredo are angry that Bush has funded only one-tenth of the new Border Patrol agents that Congress has authorized. They're even angrier that Bush is considering the guest-worker program.
Cornyn and other Bush allies in Congress argue that deporting a population rivaling that of Pennsylvania isn't practical.
The president says it's time to bring "millions of hardworking men and women out of the shadows."
Other members of his party see the issue differently. "The president's a great president," says Cunningham, who represents San Diego's northern suburbs. "But I disagree on this."
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-04-28-gop-immigration_x.htm
SAN DIEGO — In an isolated canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch, about 15 miles south of this city's downtown, a man with a wan smile and a grimy baseball cap peeked over the 10-foot-high wall that divides the USA from Mexico. He said his name was Hector Guevara. In slightly accented English, he amiably answered the questions of the startled journalists below.
A Border Patrol vehicle drives along the U.S./Mexican border.
By Matt York, AP
They were waiting for several members of Congress to show up for a news conference. Guevara was waiting for something else.
"I need the opportunity to trespass," he said. Guevara's goal was to get back to his wife and two daughters in Los Angeles and the construction job he held until immigration authorities raided his workplace. "Eleven bucks for one hour is good."
Guevara and the rusty metal barrier that he and a friend were trying to scale are at the center of a debate raging 2,200 miles away in the nation's capital. In Southern California, the border wall divides two nations; in Washington, it marks a fault line in the Republican Party.
(seems to me about 3 rolls of razor wire would be a lot cheaper and less scalable than this fence. Dd)
President Bush says he supports efforts to secure the nation's border, but he also wants to permit workers like Guevara who came here illegally but have families and employers who depend on them in the USA to become legal "guest workers."
'Real ID' addresses security issues
Republican leaders have attached the Real ID Act of immigration proposals, including the border fence, to an emergency bill that would provide funding for troops in Iraq. A look at some of the provisions:
Driver's licenses: States would have three years to create counterfeit-proof cards. The plan is aimed at preventing people illegally in the USA from boarding airplanes. The National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures say the deadline is impossible to meet.
Asylum: People seeking asylum in the USA would have to demonstrate that they are victims of persecution. This provision is an attempt to put an end to people gaming the system. National Conference of Catholic Bishops spokesman Kevin Appleby says it would send legitimate asylum seekers "back to their persecutors."
To other Republicans, including four congressmen who hosted the news conference in Smuggler's Gulch, Guevara represents an argument for tighter border security, even if it means overriding local environmental agencies. "In a time of war, lots of laws are waived," Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., says.
On Capitol Hill at the moment, Bush's Republican critics are in the driver's seat. Legislation that Congress appears poised to send Bush within the next few weeks would permit the Border Patrol to fortify the last 3 miles of the 14-mile barrier that divides San Diego and Tijuana, the two largest cities on the U.S.-Mexican border.
The last 3 miles run near a network of federal, state and county parks known as the Tijuana Estuary. The makeshift barrier of upended landing mats snakes over dusty mesas and down steep canyons to an end deep in the riptide zone of the Pacific Ocean. The ending is just past a picnic area that former first lady Pat Nixon once dedicated as a friendship park between the two nations.
Even those who decry the wall as a monument of fear, such as Christian Ramirez of the American Friends Service Committee, admit that it has been effective.
Filling the gulch
When construction on the barrier began in the early 1990s, illegal border crossings were so numerous here that the California Highway Patrol erected signs warning motorists to watch out for desperate families running across highways. Border Patrol apprehensions in the region have dropped from a peak of 500,000 annually to 138,000 last year. The neighborhood where Ramirez grew up near the border "was an area of great conflict," he says. "Now we have relative tranquility."
To facilitate construction and better seal off the area, the Border Patrol wants to lop off the tops of mesas and dump 2 million cubic yards of dirt into Smuggler's Gulch. It would make the jobs of border agents easier and safer. In 2002, Border Patrol agent Catherine Hill was killed when her Jeep fell off a steep embankment at Smuggler's Gulch.
But the California Coastal Commission contends that all the earth moving would minimally enhance border security while threatening to choke the Tijuana Estuary, an internationally recognized wetland, with sediment. The legislation Congress is considering would allow the Department of Homeland Security to override the Coastal Commission's objections and make its ruling exempt from court review.
U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, a Democrat who represents the district where the wall is located, is against the Border Patrol's plans. California's Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has expressed misgivings. But Hunter, Ed Royce and Randy Cunningham, three Republican congressmen from neighboring San Diego districts, are pushing legislation that would allow the Border Patrol to override the Coastal Commission's objections. It's part of a package of border security measures known as "Real ID," because it also contains provisions that would require states to produce counterfeit-proof driver's licenses.
President Bush says he'll sign the bill, even though it has become a rallying point for people opposed to his guest-worker plan.
Immigration split
At a gathering on Capitol Hill this week, dozens of people wearing "Real ID" buttons cheered as several Republican congressmen criticized the president's plan, which they say would amount to rewarding lawbreakers. "It's amnesty lite," Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., said.
Among the speakers at the event were leaders of the Minutemen, an Arizona citizens group that has been conducting armed patrols to stop illegal immigration at the state's border with Mexico.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., demanded that Bush apologize for calling the group's members "vigilantes."
One key Senate supporter of President Bush's guest-worker plan, fellow Texan John Cornyn, argued this month for holding up action on Real ID until its provisions could be considered as part of a larger immigration proposal. Cornyn, who chairs the Senate subcommittee on immigration, said he hopes to have comprehensive immigration legislation ready for Senate floor action this summer.
But House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican who authored the Real ID Act, is insisting it be attached to a must-pass bill that would provide funds for troops in Iraq. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., considers the immigration proposals "a terrible piece of legislation" but says Democrats won't be able to vote against the bill because of the troop funding.
The president and his critics are motivated by the same statistic: More than 10 million people are living illegally in the country, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Despite post-9/11 security enhancements, illegal entries don't seem to have stopped.
In a sense, the Arizona Minutemen are a byproduct of the San Diego wall: As fewer illegal immigrants are caught crossing the Southern California border, the figures in Arizona have shot up. The Border Patrol's Tucson office reported 491,771 apprehensions last year. In 2000, the figure was 616,346. That compares with 227,529 in 1995.
Conservatives such as Tancredo are angry that Bush has funded only one-tenth of the new Border Patrol agents that Congress has authorized. They're even angrier that Bush is considering the guest-worker program.
Cornyn and other Bush allies in Congress argue that deporting a population rivaling that of Pennsylvania isn't practical.
The president says it's time to bring "millions of hardworking men and women out of the shadows."
Other members of his party see the issue differently. "The president's a great president," says Cunningham, who represents San Diego's northern suburbs. "But I disagree on this."
$ 11.00 per hour pretty much sums up the real problem. :banghead: 
