Legalization
All illegal immigrants would immediately receive a probationary visa to allow them to work. Six months after the bill’s enactment, all illegal immigrants who arrived before January 1, 2007 would have one year to come forward, submit an application, be fingerprinted and undergo a background check. If they pass the background check, they would be eligible for a “Z visa” for a fee of $5,000…which could be paid in installments and could cover an entire family.

Re-Structuring “Green Card” Provision
The estimated 4 million families in the immigration backlog before May 2005 would be addressed immediately and then processed within eight years. The objective is to distribute 1.1 million family-based and 140,000 merit-based visas to clear this backlog. After the backlog is cleared, there would be about 550,000 family-based visas and 380,000 merit-based visas issued annually, which would then be subjected to a point system. The system would consist of 100 total points, with half coming from employment criteria and the remaining accumulating from education level, English proficiency, and family connections in the United States.

Temporary Guest Workers
The bill would establish a guest worker program for future immigrants that is broken into three categories: Non-seasonal (Y-1); Seasonal (Y-2a and Y-2b); and Spouses and Minor Children (Y-3).

Temporary Guest Worker Wage Calculation
Should temporary guest workers be employed on construction jobs paying wages in accordance with a collective bargaining agreement, the Davis-Bacon Act, or the Service Contract Act, they are to receive those calculated wages. However, should temporary guest workers be employed on a construction project where none of the above applies, the wage calculation will be based upon published wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), including the Occupational Employment Statistics Survey - which historically has diluted actual local wage rates. If the BLS does not have applicable data, then the employer can set wages rates on data approved by the state workforce development agency, under regulations promulgated by the US Department of Labor.

Border Security and Interior Enforcement
The Secretary of Homeland Security would have to certify that certain border security “triggers” are met before the Y guest worker or Z visa programs could begin. Among the triggers are the hiring of 18,000 new US Border Patrol agents; construction of 200 miles of vehicle barriers and 370 miles of fencing; the cessation of “catch and release” policies that quickly turn detained illegal immigrants free; and the implementation of “secure and effective” identification tools to prevent employers from hiring illegal workers.

Employment Verification
All employers would be required to electronically verify the legal status of all new hires within 18 months of enactment or on the date the Secretary of Homeland Security certifies that the identification system is operational. Employers would have to verify the status of all current employees within three years of the bill’s enactment.

Sample OP-ED

There is no question in anyone’s mind that our nation’s immigration policy is broken, and that immediate steps need to be taken to fix the problem. Unfortunately, the immigration reform legislation that is currently pending before the US Senate does not fix our problems. In fact, passage of this legislation will further exacerbate the unconscionable exploitation of immigrant workers in the US building and construction industry, while simultaneously accelerating a further erosion of US workers’ living standards.

What is especially troubling is that this legislation establishes a new temporary guest worker program without any credible wage floor protections for these workers. For those of us who toil in the building and construction industry, we see how these workers are exploited and abused by unscrupulous contractors on a daily basis…and how this situation is driving down wages and living standards for American construction workers.

The exploitation of temporary and illegal workers in the construction industry is systematically destroying what is a viable path to a middle class lifestyle for millions of Americans. The current Senate bill simply allows for the continuation of the status quo. For America’s building and construction trades unions, that is simply unacceptable.

We believe that it is in the best interests of our nation and its workers that undocumented and illegal immigrants are accounted for in the economy through a process of “earned legal status.” It is not sufficient, nor is it fair, for comprehensive immigration reform to simply propose that undocumented and illegal immigrants should be granted legal status without defining a path that requires legal status to be earned.

We also believe that the a primary Constitutional responsibility of the federal government is to provide for the security of the American people, its territory and its sovereignty in order to make the United States’ homeland safe. Achievement of these goals is critical as a means of reducing our vulnerability to terrorism, and also as a means of preserving the economic conditions of its citizens and legal residents. Implementation of strong and effective border security measures with appropriate funding will help combat the threat of terrorism as well as the threat to the living standards of U.S. workers.

Enforcement of our border security must also be accompanied by fair and effective enforcement of our existing immigration laws, as well as fair and equal enforcement of federal and state labor and employment laws. Further, a mandatory electronic work-eligibility verification system is needed, and it should be accompanied by strong and effective procedures designed to protect personal and civil rights, along with substantial increases in the fines, penalties and sanctions levied against employers who violate our immigration laws.

We would hope that the United States Senate would slow down in its race to “get something passed” on this issue, and take a breath and truly examine the effects that this misguided legislation will have on those of us who are trying to maintain a decent life for our families. At the very least, they should defeat this bill and start anew.

Talking Points
SECURE BORDER, ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
AND IMMIGRATION REFORM ACT OF 2007

• Our nation’s immigration policy is broken. The number of undocumented and illegal immigrants in the United States is estimated to exceed 11.5 million, and that number is growing rapidly.

• There is very little relationship between the needs of the economy and the composition of the workforce immigrating to the US.

• US immigration policy needs to be overhauled and realistically aligned with future economic and workforce needs. This legislation does neither.

• We support authorization and funding for additional work-site agents of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of Homeland Security.

• We support increasing the fines, penalties and sanctions levied upon employers who violate our nation’s immigration law.

• We support a mandatory electronic work-eligibility verification system…which can effectively detect the use of fraudulent documents.

• We oppose the new, temporary guest worker program, as proposed in the legislation, because it will further exacerbate unconscionable exploitation of immigrant workers in the building and construction industry, and will accelerate a further erosion of U.S. workers’ economic standards.

• We believe that it is in the best interests of our nation and its workers that undocumented and illegal immigrants are accounted for in the economy through a process of “earned legal status.” It is not sufficient, nor is it fair, for comprehensive immigration reform to simply propose that undocumented and illegal immigrants should be granted legal status without defining a path that requires legal status to be earned.