Senate passes strict illegal-immigration bill

Nation's Restaurant News, May 13, 1996

WASHINGTON -- The Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that would crack down on illegal immigration by making it harder for aliens both to enter the United States and work here.

In a 97-to-3 vote, law-makers passed a measure that would increase the number of border-patrol agents almost 50 percent, to 4,700, over the next four years and expand the number of Immigration and Naturalization Service investigators by 20 percent, to 600. It would also fund a larger detention center and fence along the Mexican border near San Diego.

In addition, the bill would establish several as-yet-unspecified projects intended to help employers and social workers verify the eligibility of job and social-service applicants.

"On balance, it's not a bad bill," said Christina Howard, a lobbyist with the National Restaurant Association. "It doesn't reduce the number of legal immigrants, and it doesn't increase fines for employer-sanctions violations."

Most objectionable to the NRA is the ambiguity of the employment-verification projects, Howard said. Unlike the House bill -- which proposes to establish a toll-free number in states with large immigrant populations for voluntary use by employers -- the Senate bill neither specifies the type of project nor the region it would cover. In addition, the Senate projects would be mandatory.

"The Senate bill lists goals for the ultimate system but allows them to try out lots of different things," Howard noted. "Our concern is, Who's going to pay for it and at what risk to the employer and the employee?"

The Senate and House bills must now be reconciled.