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from Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 8, No. 6 – February 5, 2005
Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News
Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity
Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499;
fax 212-674-9139; wnu@igc.org. INB is also distributed free via
email (see below).
On Jan. 26, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), chair of the House
Judiciary Committee, introduced HR 418, the “Real ID Act,” with
115 co-sponsors. The bill includes a host of anti-immigrant
provisions which were left out of “intelligence reform”
legislation passed by Congress last December [see INB 12/11/04].
Among other things, the bill would bar states from issuing driver
licenses to undocumented immigrants, and set up a system of
“temporary” and “regular” licenses according to immigration
status; impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, such as
allowing officials to require written corroboration of asylum
claims; and mandate completion of a third border fence near San
Diego, overriding 16 state and federal environmental laws that
currently bar its construction [see INB 2/21/04]. In defining
grounds for inadmissibility, the bill also states that “an alien
who is an officer, official, representative, or spokesman of the
Palestine Liberation Organization is considered, for purposes of
this Act, to be engaged in a terrorist activity.”
HR 418 is expected to move quickly to the House floor, where it
may be attached as an amendment to fast-tracked supplemental
appropriations bills for tsunami relief or the US war in Iraq,
and scheduled for a vote as early as Feb. 9. Media reports
suggest Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) may also introduce companion
legislation in the Senate.
On Feb. 1, Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA)–who co-sponsored HR 418–
introduced a separate bill, HR 368, the “Driver’s License
Security and Modernization Act,” which would require that each US
state confirm an immigrant’s legal status before issuing a driver
license or other state-issued identification card. HR 368 has
been referred to the House Government Reform committee, which
Davis chairs.
Immigrant rights supporters are urged to call Congress (202-
224-3121) and the White House (202-456-1111) to express
opposition to these bills. For more information, see
http://humanrightsfirst.org and http://aila.org. [National
Immigration Forum Alert 2/2/05; Rights Working Group Alert
2/4/05; Latin America Working Group Alert 2/2/05; Text of HR 418
from http://thomas.loc.gov]
Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), the House majority leader, said on Feb. 1
that a guest worker program proposed by President George W. Bush
will not be included in debate over HR 418. Congress can consider
such measures over the next two years, said DeLay. Rep. Jeff
Flake (R-AZ), who supports both the guest worker plan and HR 418,
confirmed he would not try to combine the two proposals; he said
he considers HR 418 to be a border security measure, not an
immigration bill. [Washington Times 2/2/05]
On Feb. 3, the Senate voted 60-36 to confirm Alberto Gonzales as
attorney general. [Roll call at senate.gov] Gonzales has been
widely criticized for his positions on the use of torture in
interrogations [see 11/20/04, 1/22/05].
Immigration News Briefs (INB), a weekly English-language summary of US
immigration news, is forwarded out to the email list of the Coalition for
the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI). If you receive INB as a forwarded
message, and you wish to subscribe directly to INB, or to the CHRI email
list (which includes INB and local NYC area events, average 4-5 messages a
week), write to nicajg@panix.com (indicate “CHRI list” or “INB only”).
