WASHINGTON — The immigration debate took center stage as Congress returned Monday and readied for a showdown on an overhaul of U.S. law that could dramatically affect apparel manufacturers and retailers.
Senate Republican leaders are likely to try to break an impasse on legislation that stalled two weeks ago and consider a compromise to establish a guest-worker program, tighten border security and establish procedures for illegal immigrants who live and work here to earn citizenship.
Immigrants, advocacy and labor groups have held huge demonstrations in the past few months to protest a House bill passed in December that focused on enforcement of immigration laws and, if signed into law, would make it a felony for an estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants to be in the country without documentation. They also want Congress to pass a law that charts a path to citizenship.
The apparel industry has employed new immigrants, legal and illegal, for decades — the number of undocumented workers is difficult to assess — but business groups maintain any measure that would criminalize immigrants working here will have an negative impact on employers.
“Certainly, something that criminalizes the workforce is going to be a cause of concern,” said Stephen Lamar, senior vice president at the American Apparel & Footwear Association, who noted the group has not taken a position on any of the immigration bills. “If [Congress] were to suddenly implement a bill that picked up and shipped a whole bunch of people back to another country, that could have a huge adverse impact on employers.”
Mark Levinson, chief economist and policy director at UNITE HERE, said organized labor does not support a temporary guest-worker program, such as the one touted by President Bush, but is pressing for legalization of all undocumented workers.
Levinson said passage of the House bill galvanized the protests.
“For us, what is important is a pathway to citizenship and that workers, no matter what the status, have their rights protected,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R., Tenn.) has said he hopes to pass immigration legislation before Congress breaks for the Memorial Day recess. If the Senate passes a bill, it will go to a conference committee, where a battle over reconciling the two bills would likely take place.
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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) took to the Senate floor, and referring to Bush, said, “His party is split,” Reid said. “What does the President of the United States want to do?”
Bush, during a speech Monday in Irvine, Calif., urged the Senate to overcome the impasse and pass a bill quickly. He again called for a temporary guest-worker program and stronger border patrol enforcement, but left it to Congress to determine what steps to take to deal with the illegal immigrants.
“Massive deportation of the people here is unrealistic,” Bush said. “It’s just not going to work … And this is one of the really important questions Congress is going to have to deal with.”
The President said the Senate had an “interesting” approach in considering treating immigrants who have been here for five years or less one way and those who have been here five years or more another.
“I think that people ought to be, obviously, here to work on a temporary basis,” Bush said. “The definition of temporary will be decided in the halls of Congress.”