A responsible brake on illegal immigration

April 22, 2002

ATLANTA: The Southeastern Legal Foundation, the Atlanta-based constitutional public interest law firm which publicly opposed President George W. Bush's proposal last summer to extend amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens in the U.S., today applauds the efforts of U.S. Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) and the U.S. Senate for stripping a key provision of the "Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act."

The revised bill, which passed the U.S. Senate by a 97-0 vote, closed the section 245(i) provision of the Immigration & Nationality Act allowing for preferential treatment -- a.k.a., amnesty -- for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants currently residing within U.S. borders.

"Particularly at this juncture in world events, it is critical that American border control, as well as technological advances enabling effective tracking of immigrants within our borders, take effect," said Phil Kent, SLF President. "President Bush wrongly re-introduced the amnesty proposal he floated and withdrew right before September 11, 2001, and the Congress has taken responsible steps to undo the latest wrong move -- which we believe was designed to garner political favor with the emerging Latino community in the U.S."

Southeastern Legal Foundation took out a series of half-page ads in national newspapers last fall opposing amnesty and driver's licenses for illegal aliens. Both efforts have enjoyed success, as the Foundation continues to research voting activity by illegals under the federal Motor Voter law. SLF suspended policy work into the matter of legal guest worker programs once it became apparent that amnesty was again under consideration. Kent now says that "guest worker programs are a dead issue."

"By overwhelming polling margins, the American people oppose open borders, amnesty for illegals, and driver's licenses for illegals -- including majorities of legal aliens and new citizens, who played by the rules and went through the legal process," said Kent.

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