Kennedy Joins Senators, Religious Leaders in Urging Immigration Reform
Immigration
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
September 26, 2006
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 — With just days to go before Congress breaks for the November elections, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) joined Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), other senators and religious leaders in urging comprehensive immigration reform.
The speakers were united in their call for the humane treatment of illegal immigrants.
“Leviticus teaches us that, ‘The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born,’” Kennedy said, quoting from the Bible. “And we remember the words of Christ, from St. Matthew’s Gospel, that we are not only to feed the hungry and care for the sick, but to welcome the stranger.”
McCain also spoke at the press conference in the Russell Senate Office Building about the illegal immigrants who are already here.
“We should not have 11 or 12 million people working around in our society without any protections of our laws, who can be exploited or mistreated, almost at will,” he said. “They have none of those protections of our laws that every human being that resides in our nation should have.”
The Senate and House have both passed their own versions of the bill. Since they are different, the two chambers are currently debating revisions with the hopes of bringing a compromise version to the floor for another vote.
The Senate version of the bill, which the senators support, provides for a guest-worker program for some immigrants, something the House immigration bill does not include.
There are other major differences between the House version of the bill and the Senate one. The House bill requires 700 miles of fencing at the Mexico-United States border, while the Senate version calls for 500 miles of vehicle barriers and the hiring of thousands of Border Patrol agents. However, last week, the Senate voted to start debating a measure to add the House’s fencing portion to its own bill.
The bills are also different in their treatment of those interacting with immigrants. The House bill would make it a felony to assist an illegal immigrant in entering or remaining in the country.
“I believe it does leave open the possibility for private citizens to be prosecuted criminally for giving a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name, to someone who is here illegally,” said Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, an agency of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“That language and that idea must be stricken from any comprehensive illegal immigration bill,” he said. “The language that is in the House bill currently reminds me of nothing quite so much as the reprehensible fugitive slave law of the 1850s, that punished private citizens for assisting those who were trying to find their way to freedom.”
Kennedy said he is looking ahead to more debate on the issue.
“I think that the proposal that the House sent over is a poor substitute for the comprehensive approach,” he said.
The debate might extend past the November elections to the end of the 109th Congress.
“There is still time in this Congress for us to enact a tough but fair immigration law,” Kennedy said.
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