LEGISLATIVE UPDATE:  May 2006

By Nicole VanVeen

Immigration Update

Free Trade Agreements

School of the Americas

Immigration Update

Perhaps the hottest topic brewing in the country right now is immigration. It is not just contained within the Congress as the debates have spilled over into public protests and mass demonstrations. President Bush is pushing strongly for a guest worker program, which has divided Congress and members of his own party, among others.

There are a multitude of bills before Congress surrounding immigration. H.R. 4437, promoted by Rep. Sensenbrenner, was passed in the House of Representatives in December. This bill requires the mandatory detention of all undocumented aliens and makes illegal presence in the country a felony, among other stipulations, but it does not address President Bush's guest worker program. At the time of this writing, there were two key bills in debate before the Senate. The first bill (S. 1033) comes from Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy (co-sponsored by Senator Ken Salazar and others) and would allow unauthorized aliens in the country before 2004 to continue working legally if they pay a fine and back taxes as well as pass a background check. It would also create a guest worker program. The second Senate bill (S. 2454) comes from Majority Leader Bill Frist. Most notably Senator Frist's bill creates penalties for those employing unauthorized aliens, increases the number of visas, and applies criminal penalties to any person who entered the country through illegal means. It does not address a guest worker program.

Free Trade Agreements

On December 7, 2005, Peru and the United States struck a free trade deal after several attempts to negotiate the Andean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) with Peru , Colombia , and Ecuador failed. ( Bolivia participated in the negotiations as an observer.) Predictably, AFTA is modeled after its two contentious predecessor free trade agreements, NAFTA and CAFTA.

Given growing opposition to multi-lateral trade agreements, the U.S. has been employing a strategy of engaging in bi-lateral agreements. In reaching this deal, there was concern that the U.S. would use the agreement to create the fear that Peru would receive preferential access to U.S. markets. This tactic would then encourage other Andean nations to sign onto the agreement as well, so as not to lose this access. This fear seemed to be well founded as the U.S. struck its next free trade agreement with Colombia on February 27th .

The White House has declared its intent to put the agreement with Peru before Congress, but has not yet done so. There is some indication that a vote could take place as early as this spring. Currently the agreements with Peru and Colombia remain separate, but they could potentially be joined together and submitted to Congress.

School of the Americas

A bill (H.R. 1217) was introduced in the House of Representatives in March of 2005 to investigate thoroughly the School of the Americas , now know as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC/SOA). If this bill is passed, a formal review of the school will finally take place.

On January 17, 2001, the name “School of the Americas ” was replaced with “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.” This was primarily a public relations ploy as the school's mission has remained the same. WHINSEC/ SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers throughout its history in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence, and interrogation tactics. These graduates have used their skills to wage war against their own people, especially targeting educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. WHINSEC/SOA soldiers have committed torture, rapes, assassinations, “disappearances,” and massacres among other horrendous crimes.

WHINSEC/SOA is now closer to being thoroughly investigated than ever before, but to date from Colorado only Representatives DeGette and Udall support this bill. Please express your appreciation to them for their backing and contact the remaining Colorado Representatives to ask for their support of this crucial bill.