Border Security

WASHINGTON - The bipartisan coalition behind a contentious overhaul of immigration laws stuck together on a series of test votes Thursday, turning back challenges from conservative critics as the Senate Judiciary Committee refined legislation to secure the borders and grant eventual citizenship to millions living in the country illegally. In a cavernous room packed with lobbyists and immigration activists, the panel rejected moves to impose tougher conditions on border security before those who entered the country illegally could take steps along a new pathway to citizenship.

In the best of times, the pressure on officers who guard U.S. borders is tremendous, contradictory and maddening. Keep contraband, terrorists and illegal immigrants out. Hurry legitimate trade and travelers through. But these are not the best of times. A nation that was attacked Sept. 11 by foreign nationals is scrambling to prevent future attacks even as more than 500 million people cross its borders each year. The technology in use is outdated. Red tape and overlapping government bureaucracies complicate matters further.

After months of blaming attacks on foreign fighters, U.S. officials yesterday announced a $300 million plan to beef up enforcement along Iraq's porous 2,260-mile border by adding more forces, sensors and computer tracking of visitors. Iran comes first. U.S. and Iraqi authorities will close 16 eastern border crossings this week, leaving just three entry points for millions of Shiite Muslim pilgrims and other would-be guests. The Syrian border comes next. "Foreign terrorists are present in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - Sweeping immigration legislation would improve U.S. security by helping authorities to know who is in the country, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday, as supporters of an immigration overhaul marshaled arguments against opponents trying to slow it down in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. Testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Napolitano said a wide-ranging bill circulating in Congress devotes more money to securing the border, requires employers to verify their workers' identity and implements new systems to track people as they leave the country - something that might have helped when one of the suspected Boston bombers traveled to Russia last year.

Another terrorist strike in the United States is inevitable, yet the government doles out homeland security money for pork-barrel spending and has failed to develop an adequate airline screening list of potential hijackers, the panel that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks said yesterday in its final follow-up report. Panel chairman Thomas Kean, the former New Jersey governor, said there was still no unified list of terror suspects for use by air-travel screeners. And as for spending, Newark, N.J., for instance, used homeland security money to buy air-conditioned garbage trucks, and Columbus, Ohio, used it on body armor for firehouse dogs.

President Bush blames Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), and Reid blames Majority Leader Bill Frist (R., Tenn.), for the collapse of the hastily arranged immigration compromise bill. Hopefully, the two-week Senate recess provided a cooling-off period. Months of posturing and pandering have not produced what America needs: a workable solution to the illegal-immigration crisis that is both just and fair. The two opposing sides - those who would prefer a bill consisting primarily of border-security measures and those who would prefer something that resembles amnesty - must now put the best interests of the nation above their self- interests as sparring politicians.

When Congress returns from recess and takes up immigration again, what would you like to see in any legislation passed? On border security? On pathways to citizenship, guest-worker programs, or amnesty for the more than 11 million people in the country illegally? Send your ideas in 200 words or less by Tuesday. E-mail metroletters@phillynews.com. Please put "immigration" in the subject line. Or, mail the Readers Editor, The Inquirer, Box 41705, Philadelphia 19101; Fax: 215-854-4483.

WASHINGTON - President Obama leaves Thursday for meetings in Mexico and Costa Rica as fragile talks continue at home over an overhaul of immigration law, a monumental task that will require him to enlist the support of Latin American officials while making sure that immigration does not dominate the trip. Obama and new Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto broadly share the goals of normalizing the status of millions of Mexicans living illegally in the United States and creating guest-worker programs.

Michael Barone is a columnist for U.S. News & World Report Is it possible that the House and Senate will agree on an immigration bill? For most of June, the answer seemed to be no. The House Republican leadership announced it would not appoint members of a conference committee to reconcile the border-security-only bill the House passed in December with the border-security-plus-guest-worker-plus-legalization bill passed by the Senate in...

Immigration reform and border security are front and center in the political arena for a very good reason. The American people recognize the challenges presented by these issues, and they are demanding reforms that secure our nation's borders and enforce our laws. House Republicans want to end the flood of illegal immigrants that endangers our national security and jeopardizes our efforts to make America safe in a post-9/11 world. We recently announced five principles to guide our efforts as we work with the Senate on legislation that secures our borders and puts a premium on strict enforcement of our laws: Provide additional resources to federal and state authorities to strengthen border patrol efforts.

WASHINGTON - The bipartisan coalition behind a contentious overhaul of immigration laws stuck together on a series of test votes Thursday, turning back challenges from conservative critics as the Senate Judiciary Committee refined legislation to secure the borders and grant eventual citizenship to millions living in the country illegally. In a cavernous room packed with lobbyists and immigration activists, the panel rejected moves to impose tougher conditions on border security before those who entered the country illegally could take steps along a new pathway to citizenship.

WASHINGTON - President Obama leaves Thursday for meetings in Mexico and Costa Rica as fragile talks continue at home over an overhaul of immigration law, a monumental task that will require him to enlist the support of Latin American officials while making sure that immigration does not dominate the trip. Obama and new Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto broadly share the goals of normalizing the status of millions of Mexicans living illegally in the United States and creating guest-worker programs.

WASHINGTON - Sweeping immigration legislation would improve U.S. security by helping authorities to know who is in the country, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday, as supporters of an immigration overhaul marshaled arguments against opponents trying to slow it down in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. Testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Napolitano said a wide-ranging bill circulating in Congress devotes more money to securing the border, requires employers to verify their workers' identity and implements new systems to track people as they leave the country - something that might have helped when one of the suspected Boston bombers traveled to Russia last year.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. immigration system would undergo dramatic changes under a bipartisan Senate bill that puts a new focus on prospective immigrants' merit and employment potential, while seeking to end illegal immigration once and for all by creating legal avenues for workers to come here. The bill would put the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally on a 13-year path to U.S. citizenship that would cost each $2,000 in fines plus additional fees, and would begin only after steps have been taken to secure the border, according to an outline of the measure.

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan deal on immigration legislation would need tough enforcement and even stricter penalties for those who came to the United States illegally, a leading Republican at the center of negotiations said Sunday. Sen. Marco Rubio, who's among the eight senators writing a plan expected to come out Tuesday, tried to promote the framework for the emerging overhaul that would provide a path toward citizenship for those who came to the country illegally or overstayed their visit.

WASHINGTON - Federal authorities would be required to establish vast new border fences and surveillance as part of a bipartisan Senate plan aimed at allowing the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants to earn permanent residency and, potentially, citizenship, aides familiar with the proposal said Wednesday. The provisions would call on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to increase surveillance to cover 100 percent of the southwestern border and to apprehend 90 percent of the people who attempt to enter the United States illegally, said the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Is a bipartisan immigration deal at hand? It's close. Two weeks ago, the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce worked out a guest-worker compromise that allows in foreign workers on a sliding scale of 20,000 to 200,000, depending on the strength of the economy. Nice deal. As are the other elements of the Senate's bipartisan Gang of Eight plan - the expansion of H-1B visas for skilled immigrants, serious tracking of visa overstayers, and, most important, a universal E-Verify system that would make it very risky for any employer to hire an illegal immigrant.

President Obama said he was confident that an immigration bill would pass in the next several months, as key senators charged with crafting the legislation indicated that their process was almost complete. Speaking to reporters after touring the U.S.-Mexico border with other lawmakers, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D., N.Y.) said a bipartisan Senate group was "90 percent" done with its draft of a bill to revamp U.S. immigration law. "Bottom line is, we are very close," Schumer, who is part of an eight-member group working on the proposal, said Wednesday at the news conference in Arizona.

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of senators is nearing agreement on a comprehensive immigration bill that would put illegal immigrants on a 13-year path to citizenship, officials with outside groups keeping up with the talks said Thursday. The legislation also would install new criteria for border security, allow more high- and low-skilled workers to come to the United States, and hold businesses to tougher standards on verifying their workers are in the country legally, according to outside groups and lawmakers involved.

WASHINGTON - Budget cuts set to hit federal agencies next year would be "deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments, and core government functions," the Obama administration said in a report released Friday outlining the impact of a law Congress passed and President Obama signed last year. The report details how the $110 billion in annual cuts would be spread out across 1,200 government programs, trimming military spending roughly 9 percent and domestic spending - such as education, environmental cleanup, welfare services, and border security - 8 percent.