Home News Tribune Online 03/28/06
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Pascual Hernandez arrived in Metuchen from Mexico two weeks ago.
"I came to do something better with my life, because I need to work, " said the 32-year-old. "I didn't come to be a bad guy."
In Washington yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved sweeping election-year immigration legislation that clears the way for 11 million illegal aliens to seek U.S. citizenship without having to first leave the country.
The action follows days of street demonstrations that stretched from California to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.
Fernando Perez, 32, who has been living in New Brunswick for three years, said immigrants face a tough road ahead.
"I hope that the marches achieve something, but I think it's going to be a little difficult, especially because here everyone looks at you with some kind of racism," said Perez, a Mexican.
The Senate committee met as several thousand demonstrators rallied at the foot of the Capitol. Some were clergy members who donned handcuffs and sang "We Shall Overcome," the unofficial anthem of the civil-rights era.
"The first Christian value is love thy neighbor," read some of the signs.
Martin Perez, president of the Latin Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, said it is important for everyone to support the demonstrations.
"In the 1960s, the fight was to allow black people the right to vote; now it's time to fight for the rights of immigrants," Martin Perez said.
In general, the bill is designed to strengthen the Border Patrol, create new opportunities for "guest workers" and determine the legal future of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.
The most controversial provision would permit illegal aliens currently in the country to apply for citizenship without first having to return home, a process that would take at least six years or more. They would have to pay a fine, learn English, study American civics, demonstrate they had paid their taxes and take their place behind other applicants for citizenship, according to aides to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who played a pivotal role in fashioning the legislation.
Ciriaco Martinez, 36, who was born in Mexico and lives in Metuchen, said the government needs to address security issues instead of penalizing immigrants.
"Terrorism is one thing, and another thing is people who come to work," said Martinez, a restaurant worker for the past year. "Putting up a blockade is not going to stop the terrorists."
Others immigrants in Central Jersey voiced support for a guest-worker program.
"It doesn't matter if they only give us a work permit for three or four years, that would be enough for me," said Reinaldo Maldonado, 43, a Honduras native living in New Brunswick, where he is a day worker.
Miguel Ochoa, 22, is a Mexican day laborer living in New Brunswick.
"We are not asking for them to give us our papers, but they could give us a little more help, like at least a temporary work permit," he said.
In Washington yesterday, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans also agreed to strip out proposed criminal penalties for residents found to be in this country illegally.
"All Americans wanted fairness and they got it this evening," said Kennedy. The 12-6 vote was unusual, with a majority of Republicans opposed to the measure even though their party controls the Senate.
Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., voted for the bill but signaled that some of the provisions could well be changed by the full Senate once debate begins there today.
At several critical points, committee Democrats showed unity while Republicans splintered. That created a majority that allowed Democrats to shape the bill to their liking.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., won approval for a five-year program to permit as many as 1.5 million agriculture workers into the country.
"It will provide the agriculture industry with a legal work force and offer agriculture workers a path to citizenship," she said.
The vote was 11-5, with Republicans casting all the votes in opposition.
In addition, Kennedy prevailed on a proposal to allow an additional 400,000 green cards for future immigrants, regardless of the industry where they find jobs.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and other conservatives said anything but a requirement for illegal immigrants to return home amounted to amnesty, and he said he had national opinion on his side.
"Well over 60 percent of Americans in all the polls I see think it's OK to have temporary workers, but you do not have to make them citizens," said Kyl, who is seeking re-election this fall.
"We have a fundamental difference between the way you look at them and the way I look at them," Kennedy observed later.
After a weekend of enormous rallies ― as many as 500,000 in Los Angeles ― thousands of students walked out of class in California and Texas to protest proposals in Congress to crack down on illegal immigrants.
In Detroit, protesters waved Mexican flags as they marched to a downtown federal office building.
"Do you see the community? Do you see how many people didn't go to work today," asked Janet Padron, a 22-year-old resident of Allen Park, Mich.
Her remark underscored one of the complexities confronting Congress and the Bush administration as they grapple with the issue of immigration.
The agriculture industry is "almost entirely dependent on undocumented workers," said Feinstein. "It is unrealistic to think the workers will go home, because they work here and the agriculture industry is dependent on them."
Bush has said he favors a guest-worker program, but it is unclear whether the administration would insist on a provision to require illegal immigrants already in the country to return home before they are allowed to apply for citizenship.
Contributing: Staff writer Zoila Velastegui and The Associated Press
