Recent Wave of Immigration Bills Do Little to Reform
Feature Story by Stephanie Somerman - 10/23/2006
After months of disagreement between the Senate and the House on how to tackle comprehensive immigration reform, Congress rushed through several enforcement bills that opponents are calling unjust and inhumane.Two of the bills, H.R. 6094 and H.R. 6095, focus on expanding detention and deportation authority. Both were passed on partisan lines. A third, H.R. 6061, enacted with bipartisan support, approved the construction of a 700 mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border at certain crossing hot spots in Arizona, Texas and California.
The Community Protection Act (H.R. 6094) passed on September 21. The bill, according to the ACLU, "would broaden the constitutionally dubious practice of indefinite detention," an argument supported by two previous Supreme Court rulings that limited the practice.
In addition, H.R. 6094 would limit the legal avenues immigrants can utilize to challenge detention, and channels all claims through one federal court.
Later that day, the House passed H.R. 6095, the Immigration Law Enforcement Act, which encourages state and local police officers to enforce federal immigration laws, and which makes it harder for courts to order certain forms of relief in immigration lawsuits.
The ACLU opposed both bills because they "waste scarce resources, unacceptably reduce or eliminate due process for both legal and undocumented immigrants, expand constitutionally suspect detention removal powers and procedures, and threaten civil liberties."
Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), also voiced strong opposition in a September 21 speech. "These bills are incredibly offensive to anyone who believes in due process of law and a system of checks and balances," said Henderson. "Letting Congress interfere with the ability of courts to do their job in immigration cases is going to set a very dangerous precedent that will hurt all Americans when their rights are in danger."
Public support for enforcement-only legislation is not very strong, according to a June study by the Center for American Progress, which examined public opinion polls on immigration enforcement and reform. "Our analysis shows that the public favors a tough, but not punitive approach to immigration enforcement," said Ruy Teixeira, a Joint Fellow at the Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation.
Many in Washington, including the civil rights community, speculate Congress went forward with this legislation in an effort to appear firm on illegal immigration for the upcoming election. Henderson strongly objected to such an approach: "Civil and human rights shouldn't be a partisan political issue. Period."
While H.R. 6094 and 6095 are not expected to be addressed by the Senate, the Safe Fence Act did pass both chambers of Congress and is likely to become law.
