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Congressional Hispanic Caucus Blasts Democratic Leadership for not Including Amnesty in Congressional Hearings

On Wednesday, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus held a press conference on Capitol Hill in which they criticized Democratic leadership for scheduling hearings on immigration enforcement and guest worker programs instead of taking up "comprehensive" immigration reform.  The Congressional Hispanic Caucus reiterated their position that "comprehensive" immigration reform, which includes amnesty for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently in the United States, is the only acceptable way of addressing our current immigration crisis.

Expressing frustration that Democratic Leadership does not intend to address "comprehensive" immigration reform hearings announced by the Judiciary Committee last week, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) called the Democratic leadership "spineless" and Rep. Gutierrez stated, "…we are no better than the Republican majority we replaced." Gutierrez insisted that all immigrants must be treated equally in terms of job opportunities and ability to become U.S. citizens.

Shortly after the press conference, a spokesperson for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement blaming Republicans for the impasse in passing immigration reform. The statement read: "Speaker Pelosi is committed to balanced, fair and bipartisan immigration reform legislation, but unless the president and the Republican leadership engage Democrats in a positive way instead of using this issue to score partisan political points, members will only grow more frustrated with the process."

Mexican President Calderon Meets with Government, Business, and Activist, Leaders During U.S. Visit

On Tuesday, Mexican President Felipe Calderon met with his counterparts from the United States and Canada Tuesday for the latest round of meetings on the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP).  The meeting, which took place in New Orleans, gave the leaders of the three countries another opportunity to discuss "shared interests in keeping North America secure, prosperous, and competitive in today's global environment."  (Joint Statement of President Bush, President Calderon, Prime Minister Harper, April 22, 2008)  The leaders of the three countries also took private counsel with members of the North American Competitiveness Council, a high-powered group of corporate executives and business lobbyists who have an official advisory capacity in the SPP.  (The two secretariats of the organization are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Council of the Americas.)  Among the matters discussed in the private meeting were the recommendations of the Council's second annual report, which urged all three countries to reduce restrictions on international commerce, integrate regulatory standards, and standardize fuel and safety standards.  (The Times-Picayune, April 23, 2008)

After his meeting with President Bush and Prime Minister Harper, President Calderon flew to Dallas, where he held a private meeting with over twenty-five Texas executives at an event sponsored by the Institute for Mexicans Abroad.  In his pitch to these business leaders, Calderon described Mexico's economy as fundamentally strong and said that investment there would help reduce the pressure on Mexicans to migrate to the U.S.  "Our goal is not to see every year Mexican people trying to cross the border to the United States; our goal is to create opportunities for our people in Mexico," said Calderon.  (Houston Chronicle, April 23, 2008)  Later Calderon told with members of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad that while he remained committed to asserting rights on behalf of Mexicans living legally and illegally in the U.S., "It's not my dream to spend the rest of my life seeing how Mexicans risk their lives crossing the river or desert to find opportunities."  He also joked about having family members in the U.S. illegally, stating that he would only reveal their whereabouts after the U.S. overhauled its immigration laws.  (Dallas Morning News, April 23, 2008)

DHS Scrapping Virtual Fence Prototype
On Wednesday the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it now plans to scrap the $20.6 million prototype of the highly touted virtual fence.   The decision to scrap this portion of the fence, which runs along a 28 mile section of the border south of Tucson, Arizona, comes just two months after DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the virtual fence.  Unfortunately, barely five days after Homeland Security unveiled the 28-mile segment of virtual fence, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) informed the House of Representatives that the virtual fence had fallen short of expectations. In testimony before two House Homeland Security subcommittees, the GAO reported that Project 28, the virtual fence pilot project, failed to meet the goals and strategic needs of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).  (GAO Testimony, Secure Border Initiative: Observations on the Importance of Applying Lessons Learned to Future Projects, GAO-08-508T, February 27, 2008)

Boeing is now set to replace Project 28 with a series of towers equipped with communications systems, new cameras and new radar capability.

Greg Giddens, executive director for the Secure Border Initiative program office at DHS explained, "Project 28 was not intended to be the final, state-of-the-art system for catching illegal immigrants.  I think some people understood that and some didn't. We didn't communicate that well." (Associated Press, April 23, 2008)

Rep. Castle Introduces Bill to Punish Countries That Do Not Repatriate Illegal Aliens

Representatives Mike Castle (R-DE) and Charles Dent (R-PA) introduced a bill last week that would withhold federal financial assistance to any country that refuses to accept or unreasonably delays accepting its nationals who have been ordered removed from the United States.  Under the bill, H.R. 5761, if a country does not accept its national within 90 days of receiving a request from the U.S., that country will lose any funding it may receive under the Foreign Assistance Act. 

H.R. 5761 is designed to close a loophole created by two Supreme Court cases, Zadvydas v. Davis decided in 2001 and Clark v. Martinez decided in 2005. Under these cases, the federal government must release the alien within 180 days after the issuance of a final removal order if there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.  Once released, there is a high likelihood that they will ignore orders to leave the country.

According to an April 2006 Report by the office of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, these cases have, "in effect, created a mini-amnesty program for tens of thousands of illegal aliens who are subject to removal from the U.S.  It also encourages individuals from non-cooperating countries such as China, India, and Iran to make attempts to enter the U.S. illegally."  The same report also indicates that as of December 2005, there were more than 544,000 absconders in the United States. (Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, Detention and Removal of Illegal Aliens, April 2006) In 2007, Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimated there were 595,000 fugitive aliens, which is down slightly from the previous year's number of 633,000. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Press Release, December 4, 2007.) 

This bill is the companion bill to S. 2720, introduced in March by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and cosponsored by Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), John Cornyn (R-TX), James Inhofe (R-OK), and David Vitter (R-LA)  as part of a package of immigration reform proposals. (Legislative Update, March 10, 2008)

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SOURCE:FAIR Legislative Update