Pastor asks Bush to back immigration reform bill
by Brian Indrelunas on Apr. 06, 2007, under LocalPHOENIX – President Bush has the opportunity to define his presidency by supporting a bipartisan immigration reform bill, Arizona congressman Ed Pastor said Thursday.
“This could be the piece of legislation that saves this administration,” Pastor said.
The congressman, a Democrat representing central and south Phoenix, Guadalupe and part of Glendale, also said the United States has a responsibility to address global warming and should pull its troops out of Iraq.
Pastor said the proposed Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act (STRIVE), sponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., would fulfill Bush’s stated immigration goals.
The House bill would put more law enforcement on the border, set up a guest-worker program and allow those living in the United States illegally to pursue citizenship.
“Once we have that in place, that should bring order to the border because the people coming through will be people you know,” Pastor said.
Illegal immigrants seeking citizenship would be fined and would have to return to their home countries and re-enter the United States legally, a requirement referred to as “touchback.”
Pastor said he doesn’t like the touchback provision but said compromise is needed for immigration reform to become reality.
“If it’s going to get me 218 votes and gets the process going, I’ll go along with it,” he said of the votes needed to pass the bill in the House. “There are 12 million people whose lives depend on a rational decision.”
The bill would guarantee access to education for children who entered the U.S. illegally with their parents. Pastor said it would supersede Arizona’s Proposition 300, which bars illegal immigrants from qualifying for in-state tuition or receiving state-funded financial aid.
“They are the future of this country. They are the future work force,” Pastor said. “We are denying them a practical education for all intents and purposes.”
Bush’s visit to southwestern Arizona, scheduled for Monday, comes almost a year after he traveled there to tout plans to station 6,000 National Guard members at the border. Since that visit, Bush signed into law a bill calling for 800 miles of additional border fencing.
Pastor said that bill didn’t provide a real solution to immigration-related problems.
“The whole fence was all political,” Pastor said. “The reality is anytime you build a fence, people find ways to get around it.”
Pastor also said the federal government has a responsibility to address global warming and should take a cue from states that have already begun to tackle the issue. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and governors of four other western states pledged earlier this year to reduce their states’ greenhouse gas emissions. Pastor said it’s bad policy for the Bush administration to ignore the worldwide issue of climate change by denying its existence.
Pastor said other nations should take more responsibility for Iraq’s stability. He said neighboring countries would have to take notice if the United States brought home its troops.
“They don’t have to worry about what’s going on in Iraq as long as we’re there,” Pastor said.
Pastor, who voted against the initial authorization to use military force in Iraq, said it’s time for the United States to leave now that the country has a new constitution and government.
“They say, ‘What’s going to happen if we leave?’ Well, what the hell’s happening now?” Pastor said. “We’re caught in the crossfire of a civil war.”
