Immigration Debate Takes Another Turn

After the conference committee discussions on S.392 (Ritchie) produced no agreement between the House and Senate two weeks ago, the Senate took and amended H.3032 (Viers), a House bill relating to immigration reform, to use as a vehicle for the Senate-passed version of immigration bill. Senators sent an amended H.3032 back to the House last week. House members debated and amended H.3032 on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. As amended, the bill, among other things, removes the additional 5% penalty, includes Senate language on harboring and private employer provisions, uses the Federal e-verify system for new hires only, includes penalties for multiple offenses, and moves the effective date to July 1, 2009. The Senate is expected to take up H.3032 next week, though another bill relating to immigration reform was recalled from the Senate Judiciary Committee this week for use as another potential vehicle.