GOP senator: Filibuster guest-worker program

Sen. John Kyl

A filibuster by Republicans is in order if President Bush presses forward in the new Congress with legislation to establish a guest-worker program with a path to citizenship, says Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Kyl, however, speaking yesterday to nationally syndicated radio host Laura Ingraham, said he was uncertain whether or not Republicans would have the 40 votes necessary to block the legislation.

"I would certainly hope that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would not be complicit in passing legislation that is not wise, that for example, would put everybody on a path to citizenship and say that temporary workers get to get U.S. citizenship, and so on," Kyl said, according to HotAir.com

(Story continues below)

In January, Democrats will have a 51-49 majority over Republicans in the Senate. A supermajority of 61 votes would be needed to prevent a filibuster.

"I would certainly hope that we would have the 40 votes to be able to stop [the legislation], but, I don't know, we're going to have to wait and see; it'll be very close," said Kyl, who won re-election to another six-year term last week.

Arguing for the guest-worker program, the Bush administration has insisted it's not practical to deport the millions of foreigners who are in the country illegally.

"The cost of identifying all of those people and sending them back would be stupendous. It would be billions and billions of dollars," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in an interview last year.

"One of the reasons I think that we've been focusing on the idea of a temporary worker program as part of a larger strategy for border security is because it would be a way to siphon off people who really want to do nothing more than work here, put them into a regulated program – we would know who they are – we would then be able to send them back at the end of a period of three years or six years," he told Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel program "Hannity & Colmes."

"They would have made some money, they could take it back home, and then we could focus our other resources on the people that don't want to do it the right way, and we could get those people sent out."

Last May, just 36 senators – three of them Democrats – voted against a bill that included a guest-worker program. The Senate was unable to work out a comprise before the Nov. 7 midterm elections with the House, which passed legislation rebuffing Bush's desire for foreign workers to gain legal employment.

Last summer, Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., announced a compromise plan called the "No Amnesty Reform Act," which would require all illegal aliens to leave the United States and apply at "Ellis Island Centers," operated by private companies in Mexico under a license from the U. S. government. They would then obtain a "Good Neighbor Safe Visa" qualifying them to re-enter the U.S. as "guest workers."

As But members of a group called the Secure Borders Coalition have opposed Pence's proposal, labeling it "amnesty lite." The group argues the plan would provide for the "wholesale importation of aliens and a path to citizenship for them."

Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist told WND in August he believed the result of the Pence plan would be to flood the U.S. with millions more illegal immigrants.

"Probably within hours of the Ellis Island Centers opening, counterfeit copies of the required documentation to re-enter the U.S. will be available on the streets of Los Angeles and dozens of other U.S. cities," he said.

Related offers:

Get Pat Buchanan's new best-selling book, "State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America."

Get "Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders," by Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist

Get Rep. Tom Tancredo's "In Mortal Danger" direct from the people who published it – WND Books.

Michelle Malkin's "Invasion"

Illegal aliens invading U.S.: Expose puts you on southern border as citizens battle human flood

Previous stories:

Another town gets tough on illegals

Cities across nation crack down on illegals

Sting rounds up 25 foreigners for sex crimes

How open borders turn Americans into roadkill

ACLU probes trooper who nabbed 14 illegals

U.S. announces end of 'catch and release'

White House to back Pence reform bill

Illegal immigration sparks 'race war' in cities, prisons

Illegal aliens linked to gang-rape wave

Gang expert backs Tancredo charges

Town targets businesses hiring illegal immigrants

Mexican drug cartels take over U.S. cities

Feds arrest 2,100 in illegals sweep

Suspected illegal 'tries to rape girl'

Study: 1 million sex crimes by illegals

5 illegals face deportation after killing principal

Tancredo blasts Senate 'amnesty'

'Illegal runs red light,' kills popular principal

Illegal-alien offenders flout U.S. justice system

Illegal 'hits American jackpot' with $44,000 job, crime spree

Murder suspect – an illegal with driver's license

Illegal, 17, runs down hero cop

3 illegals beat pregnant woman

Illegal alien accused of triple homicide

Illegal alien wanted for hunter murder

'Cop-killing' illegal snagged in Mexico

Alleged cop killer an illegal immigrant