Immigration bill will come back to Senate, leaders say

POSTED: 10:27 p.m. EDT, June 14, 2007

Story Highlights• Compromise reached requires $4 billion for security, enforcement


WASHINGTON (CNN)

Just a week after an immigration reform bill appeared to stall on the Senate floor, Senate leaders reached a bipartisan deal Thursday evening to bring it back for consideration as early as the end of next week.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a joint statement announcing debate on the measure will resume after the Senate finishes work on an energy bill expected to take up most of next week.

Details of the agreement have so far not been disclosed. However, senators and aides familiar with the deal said it will allow for consideration of about 20 amendments once debate resumes.

Reid pulled the bill from the floor last week after most Republicans balked at cutting off further amendments and moving toward a vote. The Democratic leader said he was willing to revive the bill if it was clear there was enough Republican support to move the bill forward.

A tentative agreement was reached after a full day of negotiations in an office near the Senate floor. Reid, McConnell and key architects of the bill then met to reach final agreement on the details.

Thursday's breakthrough came just hours after President Bush threw his support behind an amendment -- sponsored by Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina -- that would provide an additional $4.4 billion for border security and work site immigration enforcement. The amendment is a bid to answer concerns from some GOP critics that the security aspects of the bill weren't tough enough.

"We're going to show the American people that the promises in this bill will be kept," Bush said.

In addition to beefing up border security and increasing the number of Border Patrol agents, the immigration measure would create a guest worker program, which would allow migrant workers from other countries to work temporarily in the Untied States.

The most controversial aspect of the bill is the creation of a pathway to legalization and eventual citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country, an idea which critics dismiss as "amnesty."

But Bush, speaking Thursday to the Associated Builders and Contractors -- a group whose members rely on immigrant labor -- insisted once again that the bill's pathway to legalization is not amnesty.

"Amnesty is forgiveness with no penalty for people who have broken our laws to get here," he said. "This bill requires illegal workers to pay a fine to register with the government, to undergo background checks, to pay their back taxes, to hold down a steady job and to learn English in a set period of time."

Bush also said some opponents of the bill seem to "believe that we could just kick (illegal immigrants) out of the country."

"That's just totally impractical. It won't work," Bush said

Bush says as Congress fails to pass immigration bill, problem grows worse

By David Espo
ASSOCIATED PRESS

6:23 a.m. June 15, 2007

WASHINGTON – Left for dead a week ago, legislation to strengthen border security while bestowing legal status on millions of illegal immigrants is showing signs of life. President Bush said on Friday it's time for Congress to act.

“Each day our nation fails to act, the problem only grows worse,” the president said at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. “I will continue to work closely with members of both parties, to get past our differences, and pass a bill I can sign this year.”


Senate leaders announced plans Thursday night to revive the White House-backed measure as early as next week, although neither Majority Leader Harry Reid nor his GOP counterpart, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, made any predictions the bill ultimately would pass.
Instead, they issued a statement that said in its entirety: “We met this evening with several of the senators involved in the immigration bill negotiations. Based on that discussion, the immigration bill will return to the Senate floor after completion” of sweeping energy legislation that has occupied the Senate this week.

There was no immediate reaction from the bill's numerous Senate critics, who have consistently attacked the legislation as conferring amnesty on the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the country.

Bush, at the prayer breakfast, said, “We must meet our moral obligation to treat newcomers with decency and show compassion to the vulnerable and exploited, because we're called to answer both the demands of justice and the call for mercy.

“Most Americans agree on these principles,” the president said. “And now it's time for our elected leaders in Congress to act.”

The immigration legislation's revival represented at least an interim victory for Bush, who returned home from Europe earlier in the week and plunged into a campaign to rescue his top domestic priority.

On Tuesday, the president made a rare visit to the Capitol to ask Republican senators to give the bill a second chance. Two days later, responding to a request from pivotal GOP senators, he threw his support behind $4.4 billion in immediate funding for “securing our borders and enforcing our laws at the work site.” As drafted, the legislation called for the money to become available over a period of several years.

Under a plan that key lawmakers presented to Reid and McConnell, Republicans and Democrats each will have 10-12 opportunities to amend the measure, with the hope that they will then combine to provide the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster by die-hard opponents.

Officials said the Bush-backed plan for accelerated funding would be among the changes to be voted on. So, too, a proposal by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, to toughen a requirement for illegal immigrants to return to their home country before gaining legal status.

But in a gauge of the complexity of the rescue effort, officials said the Senate's decision last week to terminate a temporary worker program after five years would not be subject to change before a vote on final passage. Many of the bill's strongest supporters opposed the five-year provision.

Also to be protected from immediate change is a provision giving law enforcement agencies access to personal information that immigrants provide on their applications for legal status.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the confidentiality of the discussions.

The bill was sidetracked last week after it gained just 45 of the 60 votes needed to advance. Republicans accounted for only seven of the 45 votes, and Reid said, “We'll move on to immigration when they have their own act together.”

The bill includes measures designed to seal the border to future illegal immigrants, while cracking down on the hiring of workers who are in the country unlawfully.

But the provisions relating to the legal fate of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants has drawn the most controversy.

The bill allows illegal immigrants who were in the country as of Jan. 1, 2007, to come forward, pay fees and fines, pass a background check and receive an indefinitely renewable four-year Z visa to live and work legally in the U.S.

Ultimately, holders of Z visas could qualify for citizenship if they learn English and hold down jobs. Heads of households would have to return to their home countries, whether or not they sought a green card bestowing permanent legal resident status.

The bill also creates a new employment-based point system for new immigrants to qualify for green cards based on their education and skill level, and eliminates or limits visa preferences for family members of U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents.

On the Net:

The text of the bill, S. 1348, may be found at thomas.loc.gov

No debating role immigrants play in building Okla. town

Mike Shannon, the city manager of Guymon, Okla., isn't paying much attention to the immigration bill that's being debated in Congress.

Immigrants have been “the saving grace of this community,” he said. “I don't think anybody cares if they are legal or illegal.”

Guymon is the largest city in Oklahoma's panhandle, a windswept region so flat that in some spots, you can see 15 miles in every direction. Until 1996, it appeared to be headed the way of many rural American towns: The population had dipped below 8,000, its schools were closing, and its tax base was eroding.

But then Seaboard Corp. opened a giant hog-packing plant at the edge of town, and Guymon reversed course.

Today, Seaboard employs more than 2,000 people, a Super Wal-Mart is rising from the prairie, a new school is opening, and the city budget is balanced and growing. The population is nearing 15,000, almost entirely because of the Mexicans and Guatemalans who help slaughter the 17,000 hogs that Seaboard processes each day.

A small grocery store in town is called Su Nueva Patria Mercado de Comida, or The Grocery Store of Your New Country.

While the nation's political leaders debate whether to legalize the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States, the people of Guymon are doing what much of America has been doing – willingly or not – in the past decade: merging two cultures, one step at a time.

“To me, we're making history – I feel like we're on the front lines here,” said Valerie Furnish, who teaches English at Guymon High School and lives on a 40,000-acre ranch that her husband manages. She added, “I know we're going to rise to the challenge.”

Benjamin Vega, who manages the night cleaning crew at the Seaboard plant, is among those trying to rise to the challenge. I met him as he rested for a moment at the restaurant he and his wife bought six months ago. He laid new floors, replaced the ceiling and built all the tables himself.

Vega and his wife, Maria, have four U.S.-born children and consider Oklahoma their home. Since the family came to Guymon from Georgia 10 years ago, they've opened a Mexican market, a bakery and the restaurant, plus two more markets across the state line in Kansas. They've also built a two-story home for themselves – all while Vega has worked full time at the plant. At one point, he also served as a volunteer firefighter.

On some days, Vega, who will turn 40 next month, gets only an hour or two of sleep. He is driven, he said, by “the desire to succeed, the desire to be somebody, the desire to have something for my kids.”

“They are Americans once they go to school and pledge to the flag,” Vega said. “They are following the American dream.”

Vega became a legal U.S. resident in 1986, when Congress offered its last amnesty plan. He became a citizen in 1998. His wife, who was brought to the United States as a child, is also a legal resident. She has passed the citizenship test but hasn't filled out the final papers for citizenship.

The Vegas' eldest daughter, Jasmine Amparo, 15, wants to be a pediatrician. Jesús Alvador, 16, wasn't sure he wanted to go to college until Vega promised to enroll with him. After Jesús graduates from high school, they'll drive an hour to Liberal, Kan., to study heating and air conditioning at a community college so they can open a father-son business. Vega said he'll sleep in the car while Jesús drives.

Vega is optimistic that his children will have a good future in the United States. He believes his hard work will help guarantee that.

But the recent escalation of tensions in the immigration debate has him worried. He fears the rising anger he sees on TV talk shows will spill over into Guymon – and that someone might hurt one of his children.

“I'm afraid, to be honest, because on the outside and the inside my children are part Mexican,” Vega said. “I'm afraid one of them may say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time. . . . This is gun country, and anybody can come up and shoot a kid.”

Although Vega and his family are legal residents, many of Guymon's Latinos are not, and Vega knows that at any moment his friends, or his children's friends, could be deported. In December, about 300 people were detained after immigration agents raided the Swift meatpacking plant in nearby Cactus, Texas.

The possibility of a raid at the Seaboard plant has created “a lot of fear, a lot of desperation” that the immigration legislation would relieve, Vega said. If those who are in Guymon illegally knew they were safe, he thinks they would buy homes and invest in the community, as he has.

“I have built my dreams in this city,” he said. “I don't want to move from Oklahoma, from the area that has been good to me.”

Shannon, the city manager, said he has always thought the immigration of Latinos was good for the United States.

The newcomers will eventually become Oklahomans, he said, just as all newcomers do if they can adapt to life on the Plains. The only difference, he added with a grin, is that when the Latinos arrived, “they already had the tan.”

In the next couple of years, Shannon predicts, the City Council will get its first Latino representative. And he doesn't doubt that the town, which is about 60 percent Caucasian, will eventually become predominantly Latino.

“It doesn't bother me a bit,” he said. “The people that are here are going to be here long-term. . . . We're moving forward at a pace Guymon has never seen.”

The only problem Shannon admits to is the language barrier.

His wife, Lori, teaches English as a second language in prekindergarten through first grade, a job she loves because the children are so adaptable. But Furnish, the high school teacher, said it's more difficult to work with teenagers who arrive speaking little or no English and may resent being thrust into a strange culture.

Extra money should be invested in the schools before a meatpacking plant is allowed to open, she said, not parceled out after the workers have arrived.

Furnish talked to us at her home on the Hitch Ranch, an Oklahoma landmark that has been owned by five generations of the Hitch family. Her college-educated sons, Jack and Jordan, are the fourth generation of the Furnish family to work on the ranch. Like her husband, Rick, they are true Oklahoma cowboys who dress in boots, spurs and an occasional silk bandana.

Rick Furnish, 55, who once rode the professional rodeo circuit, has a degree in business administration with a minor in political science. He follows the national news closely and is clear about what he'd like to see in an immigration bill. He supports an amnesty program – as well as provisions to keep more people from coming to the United States illegally. He also believes newcomers should learn English and adapt to American life.

He doesn't expect the immigration problem to be solved in his lifetime, but that doesn't bother him.

“Lots of people get upset about what we're going to leave our kids,” he said, his eyes traveling over the land that is tended by his crew, which includes not only his sons but two much-valued, Mexican-born cowboys. “There's always going to be problems. When you inherit them, fix them.”

Illegal Immigrants Received Poor Care In Jail, Lawyers Say Treatable Illnesses Grew Grave, They Claim

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 13, 2007; Page A04

At his home in East Los Angeles, Francisco Castaneda of El Salvador faces a grim truth: His cancer is spreading, from his groin to his lymph nodes and toward his stomach, a progression that could soon end his life.

As he undergoes painful chemotherapy, Castaneda's lawyers are saying that the spread of the disease could have been prevented if government doctors had aggressively treated a small lesion that grew while he was held for 10 months in a San Diego prison as an illegal immigrant facing deportation. In a recently filed federal tort claim, Castaneda's lawyers charge that the "neglect allowed the development of metastasis penile cancer that will likely cause Mr. Castaneda's death in two years."

Castaneda's case is one of several that lawyers are investigating on behalf of illegal immigrants who they say were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with manageable illnesses and released with infections that threatened life and limb.

The extent of poor medical treatment for illegal immigrant detainees is an open question. Tom Jawetz, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, noted that detainees often speak little or no English, are unaware of their rights, have no access to appointed counsel and disappear after being deported. Still, lawyers say that scores of detainees have not received proper care, leading to disfigurement and even death.

"It's all too common in the treatment of federal detainees," said Adele Kimmel, a lawyer for Public Justice and a co-counsel in Castaneda's case. "They get treatment that you might see in a Third World country, and it's really a stain on our system of justice to treat detainees this way."

ICE officials denied claims of medical mistreatment, noting that detainees undergo physical examinations within 12 hours of entering detention. "I deny the assertion that we don't properly treat detainees," said Tim Shack, medical director for the Division of Immigration Health Services, which provides health-care services for ICE. "We deliver excellent medical care to detainees."

A December report by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security said that the system is generally well run. But the report also noted that four of five facilities in its study had "instances of non-compliance" regarding health care, "including timely initial and responsive medical care."

Basic care is provided by medical staff members where detainees are housed. Shack said that tens of thousands of requests for treatment beyond basic care are submitted each year and that about 90 percent are approved. ICE allocates $70 million each year to the Division of Immigration Health Services for medical treatment, he said.

In addition to documenting injuries and illnesses, the ACLU is trying to determine whether medical negligence has contributed to 20 deaths since 2004.

Among those who died while in ICE custody were a man from Sierra Leone who collapsed at a Virginia jail after saying he did not get medicine for a kidney ailment, a woman from Barbados who died in another Virginia jail after telling her sister that she received no medicine for a uterine fibroid that caused hemorrhaging, and a South Korean woman who died after cellmates appealed to authorities for help over a period of weeks, lawyers said.

Tim Perry, assistant director of the Division of Detention Management for ICE, denied that the deaths were the result of negligence and said autopsy results will prove that.

Castaneda was taken into ICE custody in March of last year. He was scheduled to be deported for violating parole after serving time for a robbery conviction. Records show that he suffered from genital warts.

Illegal Immigrants Received Poor Care In Jail, Lawyers Say
The physician who examined him requested that he see a urologist so that he could undergo a biopsy to test for cancer. Two months went by before the request was approved.

The urologist, John R. Wilkinson, said that Castaneda's wart "may represent either a penile cancer or a progressive viral based lesion" and said that it required "urgent diagnosis and treatment."

But Immigration Health Services officials denied an offer from the urologist to admit Castaneda for a biopsy as "not cost effective," according to the tort claim, a procedural step that probably will lead to a lawsuit. After the lesion started to bleed, fester and grow between June and August, the officials continued to deny doctors' requests for a circumcision and a biopsy, saying the procedures were "elective," not an emergency.

But the problem worsened. "I was surprised, because I was bleeding and it was hurting a lot," Castaneda said. "The only thing they gave me was Motrin. I couldn't sleep at night because it was hurting a lot. I was afraid for my life at that time."

After a fourth specialist ordered a biopsy in January for what he said was "most likely penile cancer," doctors scheduled the procedure. But Castaneda was released from the custody of ICE a few days before the examination, "presumably so it would not have to pay for the procedure," according to the claim.

Castaneda later went to the emergency room at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., where a biopsy determined he had cancer. His ***** was amputated on Feb. 14, but the cancer had spread.

"I'm stressed out . . . thinking it could have been prevented," he said.

Shack said Immigration Health Services officials did not immediately schedule a biopsy because the urologists had a difference of medical opinion. "I don't see this as improper care. I think this is good care," he said. "It's just unfortunate that this had a bad outcome."

In a similar case involving a Liberian detainee in 2005, officials in York County, Pa., questioned the federal government's commitment to treating one of its detainees, Benedictus Yarzue, who was in deportation proceedings for various crimes, including manslaughter and illegal entry into the United States.

Yarzue filed a complaint at the York County Prison in March of that year: "I have a prostate problem which I am in pain. I went to see a doctor and she said I need to see a urologist." Immigration Health Services denied the request, frustrating the prison's medical staff, which referred the case to the county solicitor.

"Yarzue was very, very frustrating," said York County Solicitor Don Reihart. "INS was not providing the care we deemed was required. If they turned us down, we were put in a position to give the care and pay for it or move him somewhere else."

Shack recalled the case in a recent interview, saying the request was denied because the prison staff did not follow procedures such as educating Yarzue about correct care to avoid problems, giving him medicine and examining him to determine whether urine was properly expelled after his frequent trips to the bathroom.

York County officials feared that Yarzue had cancer. Shortly after the county sued, he was transferred to another jail. He was deported to Liberia in August, and his whereabouts are unknown.

In another case that lawyers are investigating, they claim that an illegal immigrant detainee, Martin Banderas of Mexico, might lose a leg because Immigration Health Services officials would not approve a culture to determine whether he had developed gangrene from a cut he suffered in a shower.

After the cut opened in December, doctors removed dead skin from Banderas's leg and treated him with antibiotics. During the treatment, it was discovered that Banderas, 40, was diabetic. The wound grew worse.

"It started to make bubbles around the ankle," Banderas said in an interview. "It was an orange color, and the pain was real bad. They gave medicine for the pain. I couldn't walk."

Shack responded to the charges with disbelief. "I have 173 pages of records showing that he was properly monitored," he said. Banderas was placed in an infirmary at the prison in San Diego, run by Corrections Corp. of America, where doctors and nurses work around the clock, he said.

"He was not among the general population. He was receiving 24-hour care," Shack said.

But the issue, said Conal Doyle, the lawyer for Castaneda and Banderas, was whether the leg had developed gangrene and whether a culture was needed to detect it.

"These are some of the worst cases I have seen," he said.

Jun 14, 7:47 PM EDT

Mexico AG calls U.S. policy 'cynical'

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina called U.S. policies on drugs and firearms "cynical" and "absurd," some of the toughest language used by Mexican officials prodding Washington to cut U.S. drug demand and stem the flow of guns they say fuel violence here.

"American law to me is absurd because people can easily acquire firearms," the newspaper El Universal newspaper quoted Medina as saying at a conference on Wednesday. Medina's office on Thursday confirmed he had made the statements.

Mexican officials have repeatedly complained that the U.S. must do more to stop the flow of potent weapons - including assault rifles and even .50-caliber machine guns - that drug gangs often purchase in the United States.

Last week Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Washington is taking steps to address Mexican concerns about the arms flow. He made the comments at a regional meeting in Mexico also attended by Medina.

In his speech Wednesday, Medina said U.S. domestic drug consumption has fueled trafficking and drug gang shootouts here.

"They are cynical regarding this (consumption) issue," Medina was quoted as saying in Reforma newspaper.

President Felipe Calderon's administration has repeatedly complained that Washington needs to do more to fight drug consumption and aid Mexico in its battle against cartels. Since taking office in December, Calderon has sent more than 24,000 troops to areas plagued by drug violence.

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State lawmaker shot to death in northern Mexico

ASSOCIATED PRESS

8:02 p.m. June 12, 2007

MEXICO CITY – A state lawmaker was shot dead Tuesday in the northern city of Monterrey, which is suffering a wave of drug gang-related violence that has left dozens dead.
Nuevo Leon state Congressman Mario Rios, 44, was driving on a busy downtown street when gunmen traveling in at least two cars fired a hail of bullets. Rios, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party was killed, said a state police spokesman who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about this case.

At least 80 people, including 25 police officers, have been killed in Nuevo Leon, across the border from Texas, this year.
Authorities say the Sinaloa and Gulf drug cartels have been targeting each another, as well as police officers, with a wave of killings, most in Mexico's north and along the Pacific Coast.

President Felipe Calderón has launched a nationwide offensive against the gangs, sending 24,000 federal police and soldiers to areas ravaged by violence.

But killings have continued unabated. According to local media tallies, there have been more than 1,000 drug slayings this year.

Computers to cut traffic-line fraud
Handheld devices will accept credit cards

By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

June 7, 2007

TIJUANA – In an effort to combat corruption, Tijuana's police department is introducing a new way to pay traffic tickets: Swipe a credit card through the officer's handheld computer.

The concept is intended to prevent bribery situations in which tourists and residents either willingly, or under pressure, hand over money to officers who stop them on real or invented traffic violations.

The devices, which include Global Positioning System chips, will allow authorities in a central location to keep tabs on infractions and who is involved in the traffic stops.

“This is a frontal attack against corruption,” said Luis Javier Algorri Franco, Tijuana's secretary of public safety. “When an officer stops someone, it will be monitored.”

The program is part of the city's growing reliance on technology for public safety. The city is using more than 400 video cameras in public areas for crime prevention and 38 cameras to register speeding infractions, Algorri said.

Of about 250 traffic officers, 59 were given the devices last week. Over the next few months, Algorri expects all traffic officers will have machines.

City officials didn't provide information on the makers or cost of the devices

The officers will use the computers to report traffic violations to a central system, where a records check will determine whether the person being stopped has outstanding warrants or tickets. The machine will display the fee for the traffic violation and print out a receipt for payments.

People paying fines shouldn't give the officer their credit or debit cards. Instead, they should swipe their cards through the device themselves, Algorri said.

People can still pay tickets by mail or in person at designated collection centers, he said. They also have the right to a hearing before a municipal judge if they think they are being unfairly targeted.

A typical traffic fine for a tourist ranges from about $60 to $250, and if people pay using the handheld machine, they will get a 60 percent discount, Algorri said. To encourage officers to use the devices, they will be given 5 percent of the fees they collect from infractions.

“Technology will help us become a more secure city,” Algorri said.


Anna Cearley: (619) 542-4595; anna.cearley@uniontrib.com

Filner backs Mexican man's claim vs. U.S.

UNION-TRIBUNE
June 5, 2007

TIJUANA – U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, said yesterday that he will intervene in favor of a Mexican printer who spent nearly a year in a Mexican jail after soldiers found marijuana hidden inside a car he bought at an auction of vehicles seized by the U.S. Customs Service.

At a news conference in Tijuana's Rio Zone, Filner said he will present a “congressional reference” to allow the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to consider Francisco Rivera's petition for compensation from the U.S. government.

Rivera and his brother-in-law, Alfonso Calderón, were arrested after soldiers found 30 pounds of marijuana in their car at a checkpoint outside Ensenada. The two insisted the marijuana was in the car when Rivera had bought it at the auction in San Diego.

They were released in 2003 on the orders of a Mexican appellate court.

The men sued the U.S. government, but a U.S. federal claims court ruled that only Rivera, who bought the vehicle, had standing to sue. A 2004 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a separate case prevented their case from going forward, because the arrest occurred outside the United States.

Screening for all workers in store with immigration overhaul

By Suzanne Gamboa
ASSOCIATED PRESS

12:05 a.m. May 30, 2007

WASHINGTON – The nation's employers say a major problem with system overload is on the way if Congress forces them to prove, electronically, that all their workers are legal.

Currently, 16,727 employers check employees through a system previously known as Basic Pilot and now called the Electronic Employer Verification System. They have checked 1.77 million employees, according to Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency within the Homeland Security Department.

Current immigration law leaves it to employers to verify that they are hiring legal workers. But that law, passed in 1986, has not been enforced strictly.

Immigration legislation pending in the Senate would require that Social Security numbers, identification and other information supplied by all U.S. workers be run through the electronic system. If the proposal becomes law, employers would have to check all new hires within 18 months of its enactment, and check all other employees within three years.

That could mean millions more employers logging on to a system that, right now, is still under development.

“I just don't think this is a realistic approach,” said Susan R. Meisinger, president of the Society for Human Resource Management, a suburban Washington-based association of human resources professionals. To get to all new hires in a year, she said, the Homeland Security Department would have to sign up 20,000 employers a day.

There are an estimated 7 million to 8 million employers and 140 million employees in the U.S., business and labor officials say. Under the Senate proposal, employers who have illegal workers on the payroll could face fines from $5,000 per worker to up to $75,000 and six months in jail per worker.

Screening proponents say the requirement is needed because too many employers are hiring illegal immigrants, whether knowingly or unwittingly.

The worker check system can't verify the accuracy of all information submitted to an employer, including drivers licenses and state identification cards obtained with stolen or borrowed birth certificates.

That was a problem for the pork and beef processor Swift & Co., which had been using the system for 10 years when its six plants were raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year. More than 1,200 immigrant workers were arrested; Swift itself wasn't charged.

Di Ann Sanchez, vice president of human resources at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, anticipates a bottleneck when the airport has to ensure its 1,800 employees are legal – even those employed for decades.

“If you've got all these employers hitting that system, is the system reliable to do it and not come back with a false negative or be so overloaded that it won't allow employers to hire as quickly as we need to?” Sanchez said.

Jock Scharfen, deputy director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told Congress last month that a recent study found the system could not initially confirm eight of every 100 people checked.

Not all of those who were not confirmed are illegal workers. Sometimes the system flags naturalized citizens whose citizenship status hasn't been updated, or women who didn't change their names on Social Security records when they married.

Confirmations are returned to employers in about three seconds, Scharfen said. The Senate bill allows up to three business days for initial responses to queries and 10 business days to confirm whether the worker is legal.

Chris Bentley, spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agency is “confident the foundation has been laid so there can be rapid expansion of the program as needed.”

The system has given accurate and timely responses to the 800 branches of Long Island, N.Y.-based Adecco Group North America, a firm that helps companies find temporary and contract workers, said Bernadette Kenny, senior vice president for human resources.

Kenny, however, is not confident that will continue when more employers are using the system.

“The current proposals do not seem to account for the huge technology or infrastructure support that would be needed to expand it,” Kenny said. “If you added every employer in America, even in my simple mind, without greatly expanding that platform, it would crash.”

Employers now collect information from the I-9 forms filled out by every U.S. worker when they are hired. They submit the information, usually name, birth date, Social Security number and citizenship or immigration status to the Internet-based system. A Social Security database is checked to verify the person is a citizen.

Noncitizens' information is checked with a Homeland Security immigration database. Anyone whose status can't be verified has eight days to call a toll free number and can't be fired or have adverse employment action taken against him. DHS said it usually resolves such cases in three business days.

Critics are skeptical that Homeland Security can set up an employer verification system to handle all workers in four years. They note the agency has postponed a system to track foreigners entering and leaving the country.

Homeland officials are testing a program now with about 50 employers that will allow checks of photos on green cards, used by legal permanent residents, to verify identities. The Senate proposal also calls for testing a system in which employers would submit workers' fingerprints.

htpp://www.hrinitiative.org/

The HR Initiative for a Legal Workforce

represents human resource professionals in thousands of small and large U.S. employers across every sector of the American economy. The HR Initiative and its members are seeking to improve the current process of employment verification by creating a secure, efficient and reliable system that will ensure a legal workforce and help prevent unauthorized employment, the key to genuine immigration reform.

The keys to effective employment verification.
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"How To Ensure A Legal Workforce"

The HR Initiative urges you to help make certain that an effective employment verification system is a central tenet of any comprehensive immigration reform policy.

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 15, 2007

President Bush Attends National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast

JW Marriott Hotel
Washington, D.C.

8:15 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Gracias. Siéntese, por favor. (Applause.) Buenos días. Si. I thank my friend, Luis. This isn't the first time he's introduced me. I'm proud to be back. I thank you for the chance to come to the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. Appreciate the opportunity to be with Hispanic American pastors and priests and community leaders and faith-based activists from all over the United States. I thank you for coming, and thanks for having me come. I appreciate your leadership, I appreciate your compassion, and I thank you for your abiding faith in the power of prayer.

I'm pleased that two Senators who have got corazones grandes -- (laughter) -- on the immigration bill are with us today -- Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Mel Martinez. Thank you all for coming. (Applause.)

Y también, Congresswoman Grace Napolitano y Luis Fortuno. Thank you all for coming, proud you're here. (Applause.) Thank the veterans and members of the military who are here today. I thank the pastors and community leaders.

At this breakfast we set aside our politics and come together in prayer. That's what we're doing. When we pray we acknowledge our total dependence on Almighty God. We put our future in His hands, and we find that prayer lifts our spirits and changes our lives.

This morning we have many things to pray for. We pray for our families and our loved ones and our friends. We pray for the strength and safety of our nation. We pray for wisdom and grace in times of trial. And we pray to give thanks for the many blessings that God has bestowed upon America.

Among those blessings are millions of talented men and women of Hispanic origin who call this country home. Our nation is more vibrant because of the contributions made by Hispanic Americans in all sectors of our society -- in arts, to business, to religion, to education. Our nation is more hopeful because of the Hispanic Americans who serve in the armies of compassion, who are surrounding neighbors in need who hurt with love; people who are helping to change America one heart and one soul and one conscience at a time.

Many of you at this breakfast devote your lives to serving others. By doing so, you're answering a timeless call to love your neighbor as yourself. You really represent the true strength of America, and I thank you for being of service to our country.

This prayer breakfast has come a long way since it started five years ago. We could have held it in a little tiny closet. And now, as Luis tells me, it's oversubscribed the minute it gets announced. It's a good sign for our country, isn't it? People want to come together in prayer.

Instead of a single morning meeting, you have now come to Washington for a three-day conference. And I appreciate the chance -- you've had a chance to go to Congress and discuss your concerns with members of Congress. I appreciate your support for policies that expand home ownership. We want more Americans saying, welcome to my home, come and see my piece of property. I appreciate the fact that you're promoting small businesses. We want more Americans realizing the dream of owning their own business. And by the way, the Latino small business community is strong, and we intend to keep it that way.

I appreciate your working to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS. I appreciate you working hard to make sure every child gets a good education. Thank you for your concern for our country. You're demonstrating El Sue o Americano es para todos. (Applause.)

And I thank you for making comprehensive immigration reform your top priority. I share that priority. These Senators share that priority. I appreciate the fact that you understand that this debate can be emotional, and it's complex. I appreciate the fact that you understand that members need to hear from you about where you think this country ought to go when it comes to immigration reform. There's a lot of emotion on this issue, and it makes sense to have people from around the country come and sit down with members of Congress to talk rationally about the issue.

Our responsibilities are straightforward -- we've got to enforce the border, basic duty of a sovereign nation. We've got to create a lawful way for foreign workers to fill jobs that Americans are not doing. Our economy depends on them. And we must resolve the status of illegal immigrants already in our country without amnesty and without animosity, because that is the only practical way to fix the problem that has been decades in the making. We must help new immigrants assimilate. That's what has always made our nation strong. People in America must have confidence in this country to help people assimilate.

Mel Martinez's parents put him on an airplane because they didn't want him raised in a tyrannical society on the island of Cuba, and here he now sits as a member of the United States Senate. I was deeply touched at the Coast Guard Academy, when I was sitting there as the Commander-in-Chief of a bunch of kids who just got bars on their shoulders, and the head of the class got up to speak, and he talked about his migrant grandfather; this Hispanic American started his speech to his classmates -- because I was there, there was a lot of cameras, maybe the country -- talking about his migrant grandfather. Isn't it a fabulous country where a migrant grandfather can come and have a dream and work hard, and there's his grandson talking about the promise of America in front of the President of the United States and his classmates. That's the beauty of America. (Applause.)

We must meet our moral obligation to treat newcomers with decency and show compassion to the vulnerable and exploited, because we're called to answer both the demands of justice and the call for mercy.

Most Americans agree on these principles. And now it's time for our elected leaders in Congress to act. You don't have to worry about these two Senators; they're acting, they're in the lead. Each day our nation fails to act, the problem only grows worse. I will continue to work closely with members of both parties, to get past our differences, and pass a bill I can sign this year. (Applause.)

One of the reasons that America leads the world is that we've always welcomed people who are determined to embrace our democracy and stand for freedom. We see that determination every day in the hundreds of thousands of Hispanic Americans who wear the uniform of the United States military.

Today we're joined by a group of Hispanic American soldiers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I thank these brave men for stepping forward to protect our freedom. I join all of you in praying for their full recovery. And I'm honored to be their Commander-in-Chief. (Applause.)

Our nation is blessed to call these men fellow Americans. We thank God for sending us such brave and selfless people. We ask that He give His -- give us the wisdom and grace to be worthy of the sacrifices they make, and the ideals of liberty they defend.

Thank you very much for letting me come by again. Y tambi n, que Dios les bendiga. Amen. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

END 8:25 A.M. EDT