Senator Frist on the Issues: Immigration

Americans have become increasingly concerned about lax border security and the large numbers of illegal immigrants entering the country. Last Friday, March 16th, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist circumvented the Senate Judiciary Committee and introduced his own bill—Securing America’s Borders Act (SABA).

The 243 page bill provides for reform including border enforcement, interior enforcement, unlawful employment of aliens, backlog reduction and visas for students and aliens with advanced degrees, and immigration litigation reduction.

One NY Times article by Rachel Swarns stated,

“Mr. Frist said his bill would include several measures already hammered out in negotiations under way in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which had included an increase in the number of border guards, more fencing along the Mexican border and faster deportation of illegal immigrants. But Mr. Frist's bill would not create the temporary worker program that President Bush has urged to legalize the status of the 11 million illegal immigrants thought to be in this country.”

Frist hopes to have the bill go to vote by the Senate during the week of March 27th. This turn of events most interests me because Senator Frist is drawing attention to himself. I don’t claim to be familiar with the ethical, legal and political implications of immigration policy, so let me direct you to a couple sources that I found useful.

Human Events Online takes the stance that immigrants should not get amnesty, and even provides of a list of senators and the way they’re likely to vote. John Gizzi wrote “Bush Defines Amnesty as 'Automatic' Citizenship,” in which he explores Bush’s stance on the issue.