Senate to Consider Fence Bill, Push for Guest Worker Amnesty Remains

"The Senate, which has been the major obstacle to strict border-security legislation this year, will take up a bill this week that calls for constructing 700 more miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. 'It's time to secure the border with Mexico,' Majority Leader Bill Frist said last night before filing the parliamentary motions to force the House-passed bill onto the Senate floor in a final effort to get a major immigration bill on the president's desk before the elections," the Washington Times reports.

The LA Times and Wall Street Journal ran separate pro-guest worker stories yesterday. The Times coverage focuses on the grower's perspective - more workers; lower wages and fewer worker protections. 'We are willing to take losses now, because we are buying time,' said [farm manager Luawanna] Hallstrom, who notes that a number of colleagues have scaled down operations or moved them south of the border. 'On paper, you'd look at it, and say, 'It's not making sense.' But I spent 20 years on this issue, and I'm not willing to give up.' She continues to push the federal government for a more grower-friendly program. Government-mandated wages, she says, should be brought into line with regional averages for each commodity. And she says growers need more flexibility in housing and a shortened period during which they must hire qualified locals, because hiring them in some cases means laying off foreign workers. (Worker advocates are fighting to maintain the wage and housing requirements.)"

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