The House Judiciary Committee took a first step down the path toward better immigration enforcement on Thursday, December 8, 2005, when it marked up H.R. 4437 - the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. Democratic members of the Committee seemed to stake out a position based on the premises that:

enforcement will not work without a guestworker program;

meaningful employer verification is needed;

the immigration agencies need adequate resources to succeed; and,

much of what the bill does is wrong and at times even unconstitutional.

Democrats offered some amendments, a few of which were accepted by the Chairman and adopted by voice vote. Beyond those largely non-substantive additions, Democrats offered amendments:

substituting the bill’s employer verification provisions; replacing them with those of the Kolbe-Flake guestworker bill; and, inserting that measure’s call for a new guestworker (H-5A) program (Rep. Howard Berman [D-CA]); and,

striking the bill’s mandatory minimum sentences (Rep. Bobby Scott [D-VA]).

Both of these amendments were voted down, as were amendments by Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) to strike mandatory employer verification for existing employees and to remove increased penalties for violations of paperwork requirements, which Chairman Sensenbrenner argued would eviscerate the bill and result in “indentured service.”

Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee offered two amendments addressing the detention of alien minors, but withdrew them both, noting that she would propose them again on the floor.

The bill passed by a final vote of 23-15. The tallies are noted below: