February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Sens. Edward Kennedy and John McCain are understood to be working on a bipartisan immigration bill that will attempt to accommodate the strong and varied views in the nation’s capital on the nature and future direction of immigration law.
A McCain/Kennedy bill is still some way off, but observers indicate that there is a sense of urgency that the undocumented issue has to be tackled comprehensively, fairly and as quickly as possible.
It is understood that both Kennedy and McCain are crafting a bill that will include a path to future legalization for qualifying undocumented immigrants. Any legislation will also likely include provisions for temporary work visas, a plan favored by President Bush.
Kennedy was a prime backer of a bill in the last Congress, the so-called SOLVE Act, which provided a path to legalization. That measure, however, died with the 108th Congress and will be replaced by the bill currently being crafted by Kennedy and McCain.
Any new proposal is certain to have elements of the SOLVE Act included in its provisions. As such, it will run counter to the intention of the Real ID Act, recently passed by a wide margin in the House of Representatives.
The act has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights.
The subcommittee is chaired by Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican.
Sources indicate that the subcommittee will take its time in considering a measure that mixes national security issues with immigration matters and which, if signed into law, would make it virtually impossible for the undocumented, Irish included, to obtaining a driving permit.
Advocates for the undocumented say that such a scenario would force huge numbers of undocumented to quit the U.S. before any broad reform legislation emerges from Congress. It would also, they claim, lead to a likely surge in the use of forged driving documents.
Meanwhile, the growing immigration debate in Washington was being reflected in Dublin this week. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and the party’s spokesman on immigrant affairs, Paul Connaughton TD, met with the U.S. ambassador to Ireland, James Kenny, to discuss the plight of the undocumented Irish.
Connaughton said after the meeting that the meeting had been constructive and informative. He said that he intended to lobby U.S. politicians on behalf of the undocumented and would travel to the U.S. in June or July to do so.
“I believe that Irish political representatives can play a greater role in lobbying for the rights of Irish emigrants and in influencing the outcome of this important legislation,” Connaughton said Tuesday from his home in his Galway East constituency.
“There’s hardly a day when I don’t get calls, mostly from worried mothers who have undocumented sons or daughters in America. I Intend to go to New York and Washington to meet member of congress on behalf of the undocumented Irish and I will be urging the taoiseach to raise the matter . . . when he meets President Bush in the White House on St. Patrick’s Day.”