Senate Votes Against
Enforcement of Immigration Laws
y
defeating an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK,
the U.S. Senate voted last month to grant amnesty to illegal
aliens without requiring enforcement of existing immigration
law. The amendment, designed to change S. 1348, the Bush-Kennedy
amnesty legislation, would have required that eight provisions
of current immigration law be fulfilled before illegal aliens
could take advantage of the bill's amnesty provisions. The
eight conditions specified by the Coburn amendment were
the following:
1. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must achieve
and maintain operational control of the U.S. border as required
by the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which was approved by the
Senate last year by a vote of 80 to 19;
2. All total miles of the fence required by the Secure Fence
Act of 2006 must be completed;
3. All computer databases of illegal aliens maintained by
DHS must be fully integrated as required by the Enhanced
Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002;
4. The exit portion of the US-VISIT system must be implemented
as required by the Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility
Act of 1996 (IRIRA);
5. Federal government must enforce the provisions of IRIRA
that prevent states and localities from adopting so-called
"sanctuary" policies that protect illegal aliens
from police scrutiny;
6. DHS must fully employ operational equipment at each port
to comply with the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry
Reform Act of 2002;
7. Aliens with border entry cards must be prevented from
entering unless their biometric card is matched to them
as required by Section 1101 (a) (6) of Title 8 of the U.S.
Code;
8. Aliens likely to become a public charge must be denied
entry pursuant to section 212 (a) (4) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S. Code, 1182 (a) (4)).
The amendment would have required that the agencies responsible
for implementing those provisions of law report to the president
when their repsonsibilities under the law have been fulfilled.
Then the amnesty provisions of the new immigration reform
legislation would have become operational. The Senate defeated
the amendment (#1311) on June 7 by a vote of 54 to 42, with
3 not voting.
Here is the roll call vote. A "yea" vote was to
adopt the amendment; a "nay" vote was to defeat
it.
YEAs -42
Alexander (R-TN); Allard (R-CO); Baucus (D-MT); Bayh (D-IN);
Bond (R-MO); Bunning (R-KY); Burr (R-NC); Chambliss (R-GA);
Coburn (R-OK); Cochran (R-MS); Coleman (R-MN); Conrad (D-ND);
Corker (R-TN); Cornyn (R-TX); Crapo (R-ID); DeMint (R-SC);
Dole (R-NC); Dorgan (D-ND); Ensign (R-NV); Enzi (R-WY);
Grassley (R-IA); Gregg (R-NH); Hatch (R-UT); Inhofe (R-OK);
Isakson (R-GA); Landrieu (D-LA); Lott (R-MS); McCaskill(D-MO);
McConnell (R-KY); Nelson (D-NE); Pryor (D-AR); Roberts (R-KS);
Rockefeller (D-WV); Sessions (R-AL); Shelby (R-AL); Smith
(R-OR); Snowe (R-ME); Stabenow (D-MI); Sununu (R-NH); Tester
(D-MT); Thune (R-SD); Vitter (R-LA).
NAYs -54
Akaka (D-HI); Bennett (R-UT); Biden (D-DE); Bingaman (D-NM);
Boxer (D-CA); Brown (D-OH); Brownback (R-KS); Byrd (D-WV);
Cantwell (D-WA); Cardin (D-MD); Carper (D-DE); Casey (D-PA);
Clinton (D-NY); Collins (R-ME); Craig (R-ID); Dodd (D-CT);
Domenici (R-NM); Durbin (D-IL); Feingold(D-WI); Feinstein
(D-CA); Graham (R-SC); Hagel (R-NE); Harkin (D-IA); Hutchison
(R-TX); Inouye (D-HI)Kennedy (D-MA); Klobuchar (D-MN); Kohl
(D-WI); Kyl (R-AZ); Lautenberg (D-NJ); Leahy (D-VT); Levin
(D-MI); Lieberman (ID-CT); Lincoln (D-AR); Lugar (R-IN);
Martinez (R-FL); Menendez (D-NJ); Mikulski (D-MD); Murkowski
(R-AK); Murray (D-WA); Nelson (D-FL); Obama (D-IL); Reed
(D-RI); Reid (D-NV); Salazar (D-CO); Sanders (I-VT); Schumer
(D-NY); Specter (R-PA); Stevens (R-AK); Voinovich (R-OH);
Warner (R-VA); Webb (D-VA); Whitehouse (D-RI); Wyden (D-OR).
Not Voting - 3
Johnson (D-SD); Kerry (D-MA); McCain (R-AZ).
