March 28, 2006

GT Commends Chairman Specter and Judiciary Committee Members for Passing a Bill Out of Committee

The Judiciary Committee remained in session all day yesterday and ultimately did succeed in getting a bill out of committee. While immigrants and advocates across the nation rallied, members of the Senate debated some of the most divisive issues. We commend the bipartisan group of Senators for demonstrating patience and leadership and we applaud the Chairman for his commitment to let the committee do its work. Some of the main issues addressed today include a breakthrough bipartisan compromise regarding a guest worker program; an agreement was met to legalize longstanding agricultural workers and reform the agricultural guest worker program; there was a compromise met regarding the treatment of the 11 million undocumented immigrants present in the U.S.; changes to programs that serve students, nurses, and high tech workers were made; the provision that would criminalize good Samaritans who help illegal immigrants was stripped; more border patrol agents were added; and new penalties for building illegal tunnels under our borders.

GT will follow-up with a more in depth analysis of the bill. Please check our website for the latest developments.