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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: McCain touts immigration reform plan in Miami; pushes for reform that would legalize up to 11 million migrants [illegals] Pushing for immigration reform that would legalize as many as 11 million undocumented immigrants, Sen. John McCain was preaching to the converted Thursday night at a packed town hall meeting that at times seemed part stump speech for the Arizona Republican who's eyeing a run for the White House. ''Our legislation will be taken up in the United States Senate within the next weeks and you've got to go to work,'' McCain told the more than 1,000 cheering and chanting supporters at a cavernous auditorium at Miami Dade College's Wolfson campus downtown, urging all to garner grass-roots support for the bill he and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass, have co-sponsored. ``You've got to work not only here in Miami-Dade and around Florida but around the country.'' The town hall meeting, which had the feel of a campaign rally, brought together disparate groups -- Cuban and Haitian immigrants, business and labor union leaders, Mexican farm workers and South American illegal immigrants -- all united behind the common agenda of helping the McCain-Kennedy bill prevail in the coming congressional debate. McCain's Miami visit, which included get-togethers with Cuban-American business leaders and young immigrant students, came on the same day that the Bush administration extended for a year a controversial temporary worker program for 304,000 Central American illegal immigrants living in the United States. MOST GENEROUS BILL The McCain-Kennedy bill would grant temporary work permits to illegal immigrants and then after waiting six years and paying a $2,000 fine, it would enable them to apply for green cards. It is the most generous of the bills now before Congress. A bill passed by the House in December seeks to criminalize illegal immigrants, impose stiff penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants and target for prosecution anyone, even religious or advocacy groups, if they help undocumented migrants. SALVADORAN AID Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca, meanwhile, teamed up with South Florida's three Cuban-American U.S. representatives in Miami Thursday to thank President Bush for ordering the continuation of TPS. Emilio Gonzalez, the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told The Miami Herald that TPS extension reflected an administration policy to ``help our neighbors and do the right thing in their time of need.'' The Miami Herald reported last month that Homeland Security officials were debating ending TPS for Central Americans. That spread alarm in the immigrant community, triggering intense lobbying of the White House by Miami's Cuban-American representatives and Central American community leaders. Gonzalez said the program was extended for a year instead of the regular 18 months because that was the ''consensus'' decision. Saca said that when he meets with Bush in Washington today he will also urge the president to push for broader immigration reform. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and his brother Mario Diaz-Balart gave Saca credit for helping to keep the program alive by lobbying hard on the issue. ''He is the hero of the moment,'' said Lincoln Diaz-Balart. Critics of the TPS program believe it has become an entitlement for certain illegal migrants -- while proponents argue it represents income and stability for poor Central American countries. The extension covers about 225,000 Salvadorans, 75,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans. Extensions will expire Sept. 9, 2007, for Salvadorans and July 5, 2007, for Hondurans and Nicaraguans. Among the TPS immigrants attending the Saca press conference was Yesi González, 23, of Honduras, who grew up in Miami since she was 7 years old. She now works at Padrón Cigars. ''I'm very happy because I was very worried that I would have to leave my job, and maybe the country,'' she commented.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
Yep, it's SCAMNESTY! This fight to stop the illegal invasion is really heating up. The more people hear about this so called "guestworker plan", the more they realize it's just AMNESTY, nothing more. Well, I have news for the pro- illegals, they are in for the fight of their lives!
Secure our borders, save our nation!
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