|
|
| |
| Fri, Dec. 5, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
Pryor: No immigration reform without president Wednesday, Aug 30, 2006 By Doug Thompson Arkansas News Bureau BENTONVILLE - Immigration reform will not pass this year without President Bush's personal intervention with congressional leaders, Sen. Mark Pryor said Tuesday. "This is not Republicans fighting with Democrats. This is Republicans fighting among themselves," Pryor told a group of Benton County Democrats while attending a "Night with the Senators" along with Sen. Blanche Lincoln at the Whole Hog Cafe in Bentonville on Tuesday night. Third District congressional candidate Woody Anderson also spoke. The dinner and fund-raiser began at 6 p.m. and at least 100 people attended. The president appears to be the only GOP leader who could be able to resolve the impasse between supporters of the Senate and House immigration bills, Pryor said. The House bill is much stricter in deportation of illegal immigrants, while the Senate version would allow illegal immigrants who have been in the country for years to pay fines, back taxes and other penalties and eventually attain citizenship. "If you applied to immigrate legally from Mexico today, it could take 14 years," said Lincoln, when asked why Congress did not consider amnesty for the estimated 12 million people living in the United States illegally. "Those who have lived in the country illegally but contributed to this society for years need to pay fines, pay restitution and have a chance to make themselves legal, but they need to go to the back of the line. Those who just got here would be deported." The suspense and wait for immigration reform is hurting the construction industry, the lawmakers were told. Firms willing to pay cash and overlook requirements for proper documentation of workers get a competitive edge over companies trying to follow the law, the senators were told. Some called for a temporary workers' program, but that was challenged. Workers in such programs are put in a bad position, said Dr. Tom Youngblood, a pediatrician from Rogers. If such workers complain about bad working conditions or other problems with their employers, they find themselves kicked off the program, Youngblood said. |
