House to Take Up Stricter Immigration Measure

And such immigrants are growing increasingly sophisticated in gaming the U.S. judicial system, overwhelming the courts, Republican aides say. The number of petitions for judicial review of deportation orders jumped from 1,654 in 2001 to 10,681 in 2004, according to the House Judiciary Committee.

Under the bill, employers would be mandated to confirm the authenticity of employees' Social Security numbers against a national database of legitimate numbers. The measure would end the "catch and release" policy for immigrants other than Mexicans who are caught entering the country illegally. All illegal immigrants apprehended at the border would have to be detained, and deportation processes would be streamlined.

Criminal penalties for smuggling immigrants would be stiffened, with new mandatory minimum sentences. Immigrant gang members would be rendered inadmissible under any circumstance. Mandatory minimum sentences would be established for immigrants who reenter illegally after deportation, and local sheriffs in the 29 counties along the Mexican border would be reimbursed for detaining illegal immigrants and turning them over to federal custody.

Many Republicans hope to go still further when the bill reaches the floor, probably Thursday. They are demanding a vote on an amendment that would end the right to automatic citizenship for any baby born on U.S. soil, and some are pushing for construction of a 2,000-mile fence on the southern border.

Latino political organizations are incensed by the bill. Cecilia Muoz, the vice president for policy at the National Council of La Raza says that the measure will overwhelm the nation's jails and law enforcement agencies without effectively stemming the flow of illegal immigrants. A parent transporting her illegal nanny to the doctor or a church housing a needy but undocumented family could be prosecuted as an immigrant trafficker.

Access to immigration courts and judicial review would be severely curtailed, and because illegal immigrants would be declared felons, their chances at naturalization would depend on never getting caught, Muoz said.

"In the spirit of trying to be tough on national security and border security, they are also conveying a real anti-immigrant sentiment," said Janet Murguia, president of La Raza.

The business lobby is not happy, either. In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) last week, R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, expressed disappointment that there is no temporary worker program and called the bill's mandate on employer verification impractical and unrealistic.

Business lobbyists have been able to thwart such measures before, but Republican lawmakers say the political atmosphere has changed. "When you're a majority party, you've got very differing and different constituencies," said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who expressed strong misgivings about the bill. "There is strong pressure coming from the borders on this one."

Tancredo said the pressure extends far beyond the frontier.

"If you go into a hospital in any city in America, you can't get served. Your kids are going to school, and their classes are overwhelmed. It goes on and on," he said.

The bill is moving so fast that business lobbyists have decided to let it pass and take a stand next year in the Senate. The tactic may ultimately work, but the political damage may have already been done, La Raza's Muoz said.

"For all the progress President Bush has made to reframe his party for my community, this is undermining all of that," she said. "We're not stupid."

Staff writer Jeffrey H. Birnbaum contributed to this report.