Senate to Protect Groups that Help Immigrants

This week, the Senate is working on a monumental immigration bill, which has provoked uproar throughout the nation. Los Angeles, for example, is witnessing the largest immigration rights protest the city has ever seen, with over half a million students and other activists extending their demonstration into a third consecutive day. Members of the Roman Catholic Church are against the government’s proposals on immigration. Other major cities across the nation are witnessing the same mass protest against the federal proposal to make immigration, and any assistance given to illegal immigrants, a felony crime.

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a measure that would protect social-service groups from criminal liability for assisting illegal immigrants. If this provision makes it through a full Senate vote, it will spark conflict between the Senate and the House. Last year, the House approved a measure that would make it a crime to assist illegal immigrants in any way.

The Senate Committee opened its panel with the question of whether helping illegal immigrants should be considered a felony offense. Democratic senators argued that humanitarian efforts should be exempt from criminal culpability, while Republicans argued that illegal immigrant smugglers might try to claim they provide humanitarian aid to immigrants in order to escape prosecution.

The Committee eventually settled on a fairly broad humanitarian provision, which would provide protection to those who offer food, transportation, shelter, counseling, medical care, and other services to illegal immigrants.

President Bush had his own statements to make about immigration today at a naturalization ceremony in Washington, though he made no mention of the Senate’s recent measure.

Bush wants to strengthen border controls and increase enforcement of immigration laws. He supports a proposal that would allow temporary workers a legal way to work in the United States. The president calls it a “legal way to match willing foreign workers with willing American employers to fill the jobs that Americans are unwilling to do.”

He says this plan would free up border patrol officers to focus on keeping criminals and terrorists out of our nation. While the president’s antics seem well intended, the actions by Congress thus far appear to convey the opposite approach to immigration reform, one that is quite oppressive in many regards.

The House bill calls for a 700-mile fence to be built on the US-Mexico border. Mr. Bush and other congressional representatives have spoken out against amnesty for illegal immigrants.