Breaking News: Senate to Consider Partial Amnesty for Agricultural Workers

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) obtained passage today of an amendment to the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill to provide partial amnesty for illegal immigrants working in agriculture. The amendment would provide legal status for 1.35 million agricultural workers and lessen current protections for Americans and new foreign workers taking agricultural jobs. The amendment was adopted 17-15 in the Appropriations Committee and will be part of the bill put to the full Senate for a vote. In a parallel move, apparently Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is attempting to use a similar amendment to reopen temporary visas for unskilled workers outside the annual ceiling.

[FAIR Comment: Experience with partial amnesty provisions of this type demonstrate that partial amnesties become permanent amnesties at the end of the ‘temporary’ period. The argument becomes that the U.S. has allowed these people to put down roots and it would be unfair to try to uproot them now.]