Feinstein Urges Senate to stop CAFTA

Date: Thursday, July 17, 2003 3:48 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

http://feinstein.senate.gov/03Releases/r-trade.htm

Senator Feinstein, Republican Colleagues Urge President to Withdraw Proposed Free
Trade Agreements with Chile and Singapore
July 17, 2003

Washington, DC - Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and
Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today urged President Bush and U.S. Trade Representative
Robert Zoellick to withdraw proposed Free Trade Agreements with Chile and Singapore
because of the inclusion of immigration worker provisions that should be subject to
separate consideration by Congress.

"We are writing to urge that you withdraw the transmittal of the legislation implementing
the Free Trade Agreements with Chile and Singapore," the Senators wrote in letters to
President Bush and Trade Representative Zoellick. "We ask that you renegotiate or
reconfigure the trade agreements without the immigration provisions and re-transmit a
new version of the implementing legislation to Congress."

Senators Feinstein and Sessions both voted against the bills in Judiciary Committee today
and Senator Graham reluctantly voted "Aye," after noting that although he opposed the
inclusion of the immigration provisions, he had made a previous commitment to the
Administration vote for it. The bills passed out of Committee on an 11-4 vote and are
expected to be considered by the full Senate next week.

"Currently, the United States has an unemployment rate of 6.4 percent, the highest it has
been in 9 years. In California, the unemployment rate is 6.7 percent," Senator Feinstein
told the committee. "In the San Francisco Bay Area, the technology boom and subsequent
bust has created a huge pool of unemployed skilled labor. For example, San Jose has an
unemployment rate of 9.4 percent. More and more out-of-work technology workers are
filing complaints with the government or going to court to protest perceived abuses with
the H1-b and L-1 visa programs.

And yet, the Administration has seen fit to push through free trade agreements with
immigration provisions of which very few of us could predict the consequences," Senator
Feinstein said. "How many of us really understand the scope of these provisions and the
impact on our U.S. and immigrant workers?"

Senator Feinstein continued: "Trade agreements are not the appropriate way to enact
immigration laws. Such agreements have a lasting impact. They cannot be amended or
corrected by legislation should Congress find that there were unintended consequences,
such as U.S. worker displacement or a greater susceptibility to fraud."

In their letters to President Bush and the Trade Representative Zoellick, the Senators
wrote: "We are very concerned about the U.S. Trade Representative's inclusion of
immigration provisions in the Free Trade Agreements with Chile and Singapore. We
believe they interfere with Congress' plenary powers to regulate the nation's immigration
policy, including the admission of foreign nationals.

Article I, section 8, clause 4 of the Constitution provides that Congress shall have power
to "establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization." The Supreme Court has long interpreted
this provision of the Constitution to grant Congress plenary power over immigration
policy. As the Court found in Galvan v. Press, 347 U.S. 522, 531 (1954), "that the
formulation of policies [pertaining to the entry of aliens and their right to remain here] is
entrusted exclusively to Congress has become about as firmly imbedded in the legislative
and judicial tissues of our body politic as any aspect of our government." And, as the
Court found in Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753, 766 (1972) (quoting Boutilier v.
INS, 387 U.S. 118, 123 (1967)), "[t]he Court without exception has sustained Congress'
'plenary power to make rules for the admission of aliens and to exclude those who
possess those characteristics which Congress has forbidden.'"

Moreover, as drafted, the provisions of the trade agreements would substantially erode
the current H-1B labor attestation. Today, the labor attestation process is one of the only
safeguards in the H-1B system for ensuring that employers do not abuse temporary
workers or undermine the U.S. labor market.

Current H-1B laws require additional attestations of "H-1B dependent" employers, whose
workforce comprises at least 15 percent H-1B foreign professionals. Specifically,
dependent employers seeking temporary workers must attest that they are actively trying
to recruit U.S. workers for the positions filled by the foreign workers. They must also
attest that they have not laid off U.S. workers 90 days prior to or after hiring H-1B
nonimmigrants. These additional requirements are not mentioned anywhere in the
agreements with Singapore and Chile. However, we believe such requirements necessary
to ensure that employers who repeatedly participate in temporary visa programs abide by
all laws governing the entry of the foreign workers.

Another concern is that, as drafted, visas for the temporary foreign workers under the
agreement would be indefinitely renewable. This, in effect, could transform what on
paper is a temporary entry visa program into a permanent visa program. The
Administration has agreed to inserting language in the implementing legislation to
require renewals to be counted against the numeric H-1B cap after six years. While this is
a desirable step, it does not address the concern that each visa holder would be permitted
to remain in the United States for an indefinite period of time. Thus, employers could
renew their employees' visas each and every year under the agreements, with no limits,
while also bringing in new entrants to fill up the annual numerical limits for new visas.
This effectively would obliterate Congress' ability to limit the duration of such visas
when it is in the national interest to do so.

In the end, we believe trade agreements are not the appropriate vehicle for enacting
immigration laws. Such agreements have a lasting impact. They cannot be amended or
corrected by legislation should Congress subsequently find that there are unintended
consequences.

We ask, therefore, that you withdraw the implementing legislation of the Free Trade
Agreements with Chile and Singapore and re-transmit legislation without the immigration
provisions."

Support this Newsletter and ZaZona.com by donating:
www.zazona.com/Donations.htm

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe send an email to

Rob Sanchez is board member of NAEA - www.NAEA.US

Back to archives