Death of bill pleases officials

While local lawmakers were happy to see the death of the immigration reform bill on Thursday that would have legalized millions of illegal immigrants, they said the issue could be a topic of debate for presidential candidates.

The federal bill’s demise was a victory for Republican conservatives who strongly opposed establishing pathways to lawful status for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

The Bush/Kennedy bill fell short of generating the 60 Senate votes needed to end debate and move ahead with final passage of the bill, getting just 46-53 votes in favor of limiting the debate.

Many critics assailed the bill as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants.

Others viewed the bill as a temporary Band-Aid.

“It would not have solved the illegal immigration problem; it would have expanded it and perpetuated it,” said Rep. John Campbell, who represents Laguna Beach. “We have to enforce the immigration laws we have before we put new ones on the books.”

Some say the bill’s death is a direct reflection on the American public’s frustration with the government’s failure to devise a suitable plan to the immigration problem. Many senators changed their position on the issue after receiving an influx of phone calls, e-mails and letters from the public, Campbell said.

Minuteman ‘victory’ seen

In Laguna Beach, where the city-sponsored Day Labor Site has been a flashpoint in the illegal immigration debate, Minuteman Project member Eileen Garcia declared victory for her side.

Garcia said she phoned and faxed California Sens. Boxer and Feinstein, and other legislators, daily for the past week to express her opposition to the bill.

“What happened today in the Senate is a direct result of the people rising up,” Garcia said. “I think that this is what the people want.”

Garcia said she approved of the enforcement aspects of the bill, but said these were outweighed by the “amnesty” elements, allowing illegals to remain in the country.

Garcia said the end of immigration reform spells doom for the Laguna Day Labor Site, because local police will be forced to enforce immigration laws.

“It’s getting to a point where some action is going to be taken in Laguna Beach,” Garcia claimed. Garcia filed a lawsuit in October seeking to prohibit the city from using taxpayer funds to subsidize the labor center.

Supporters disappointed

David Peck of the Cross-Cultural Council, which oversees the operation of the Day Labor Site, said he is disappointed the bill floundered, but did not expect it would make a difference in the site’s operation.

“Clearly we need [immigration] reform in a number of ways,” Peck said. “To miss the opportunity is really disappointing.”

Referring to the Minutemen’s role in stopping the bill, Peck commented, “I’m sorry they’re so ignorant and out of touch with the needs of this country.”

The Laguna Beach City Council voted recently to grant the Cross-Cultural Council $22,000 to help operate the labor site.

The federal bill focused on producing a work site system that would verify legal status of workers and created security provisions that would have increased the number of agents at the border.

In addition, the bill would have created a temporary-worker program that would bring in 200,000 immigrants a year, and allow eligible illegal immigrants who had been on a probationary legal status until that point to receive the bill’s “Z Visa.”

“It’s up to them [the Senate] to fix this problem, to secure our borders and not to make this country look like Swiss cheese,” said Huntington Beach State Sen. Tom Harman, a vocal critic of immigration laws. “Some rule of law needs to be followed. We’re just not enforcing that. The federal government is at fault. The bill was a demonstration of their ineptitude.”