Dueling Senate bills target immigration, border security
Bills would revamp visa program, as well as enhance enforcement and border security.
Senators discussed three bills Tuesday that are designed to address immigration and border security issues, with lawmakers calling for a revamped visa program and enhanced U.S. cooperation with Canada and Mexico.
A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing set for July 27 will consider a bipartisan measure introduced by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz. and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and a bill being drafted by Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee Chairman John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.
McCain and Kennedy detailed their bill Tuesday during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. Foreign Relations Chairman Lugar also has a bill pending.
The McCain-Kennedy bill would set up a program for illegal immigrants to get temporary visas after paying a $500 fine. That would put them on a track to either become permanent residents or return home in six years.
McCain told the panel that an immigrant dies in the Arizona desert every day and that makes immigration the leading issue, even greater than Social Security, in his part of the country. "It's an issue of national security, a humanitarian issue that affects everyone in the Southwest," McCain said.
Cornyn said his bill will target both enforcement and border control. Sections of Cornyn's bill dealing with enforcement have been sketched out, but details of a visa program have yet to be written.
Like the McCain-Kennedy bill, the Lugar legislation calls for greater coordination between United States and its neighbors, but would take a military-style approach to border control.