William Fisher

NEW YORK, Apr 18 2005 (IPS) — Three-quarters of U.S. voters support immigration reforms that are both "tough" and "fair", with provisions to legalise guest workers, reunify families, and offer residency for undocumented immigrants who are already here, according to a new poll by two leading advocacy groups.

"We decided to see what the American people really thought about immigration given all the heat and noise portrayed in the media," said Judith Golub of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), which co-sponsored the survey with the National Immigration Forum.

"The opinion research confirmed what we thought – that American voters are ready for comprehensive immigration reform," she told IPS. "We hope that the president and the Congress follow the American people’s lead and put something concrete into action soon."

The vast majority of respondents believe that deporting the 10 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States is unrealistic. More than 80 percent said that if an immigrant has been in this country working, paying taxes, and learning English, there should be a way for them to become a citizen.

"Our current system keeps families separated for long periods of time, makes it difficult for U.S. businesses to employ needed workers, and forces people to live underground, fearful that our government will separate them from their families and jobs," AILA said in a statement.

"The current enforcement system fails to prevent illegal immigration and wastes precious resources that should be spent on enhancing our security, not on stopping hard-working people from filling our labour market needs."

The survey found that most voters do not base their support for political candidates on the immigration issue. However, even those that do are solidly in favour of the reforms proposed in the poll.

The results, based on a telephone survey of 800 likely voters nationwide, signal that most people reject the piecemeal approach contained in the so-called REAL I.D. bill. That bill passed the House of Representatives and is now awaiting action by the Senate.

Its sponsor, Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, wants his bill attached to a massive "must pass" spending measure now wending its way through the Senate. That measure funds U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and provides aid for tsunami victims.

But Senate Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist appears to be resisting this tactic, and President George W. Bush has also said he prefers a more comprehensive approach to immigration.

The REAL I.D. Act sets tougher security standards for the issuance of drivers’ licenses, including proof of lawful presence in the U.S. All states would be required to comply, to "eliminate weak links in domestic identity security."

It would also set up tough physical security requirements to reduce counterfeiting, and close the three-mile hole in the fortified U.S./Mexico border fence near San Diego, California.

But it is the bill’s asylum provisions that have drawn the fiercest fire from human rights organisations. These would tighten the asylum system, which Sensenbrenner says has been "abused by terrorists", allow immigration judges to determine witness credibility in asylum cases, and make all terrorism-related grounds of inadmissibility causes for deportation.

Mark Dow, author of "American Gulag: Inside U.S. Immigration Prisons", told IPS: "Sensenbrenner continues the congressional tradition of targeting genuine asylum-seekers to score rhetorical points against terrorists. He is simply unconcerned with the damage that his political maneuvering may do to human beings and their families."

Most of the Sensenbrenner immigration provisions were included in the House version of the Intelligence Reorganisation Act at the end of 2004, but were removed because of strong opposition from the Senate and the White House. The intelligence measure enacted into law many of the recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission.

Sensenbrenner rejects the idea of putting the president’s proposals and his own together. He believes Congress should act first to prevent illegal immigrants from getting driver’s licenses and pass other immigration restrictions.

"I think it’s important to get this legislation enacted and we ought to divide the debate between security and immigration. If we mix the two, the word will get out that immigrants are a security threat," Sensenbrenner said.

Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, asserted that, "The federal government must prove it can protect the nation’s borders before Congress can pass a guest-worker programme."

He vowed that the House will insist that the emergency war-spending bill contain the immigration security provisions that passed in the chamber – placing House Republicans and some conservative Democrats squarely on a collision course with much of the Senate, as well as the White House.