After a week and a half of debate that
saw liberals speaking conservative and
Democrats teaming up with Republicans,
the final issue boiled down to the
amnesty question.
The original bill says the illegals who
can prove that they were living in the
U.S. before January one, 1982,
would be given amnesty in the form of
resident status.
But Florida Republican Bill McCollum put
forward an amendment to kill the amnesty
provisions altogether.
Now, how is legalization in this bill
or amnesty, as it's called, unfair?
Well, it's unfair, clearly very unfair
to the millions who have stood in line
for years for the opportunity to come to
the United States legally.
Do we allow this
festering situation to continue
or do we give some hand and
say, look, you people have come here out
of desperation?
Your only plea has been that you give be
given an opportunity to work,
to earn a living, to support your
families. In the end, the amendment
failed. And after a few more amendments
and a check to see if everyone was happy
with the way the 69 changes had been
dealt with, the 1984 Immigration
Act was approved.
Now that the House bill is done, a
compromise has to be worked out between
it and the Senate version.
What happens then?
We'll look for criminal penalties to be
added to the employer sanctions
provision, switch to a more complex
amnesty program and a possible throw
away of the section that allows
foreigners to come in for temporary farm
work.
Peter Quantock is Channel 5 News on
Capitol Hill.