Visa plan troubles activists

Guest-worker proposal emphasizes job skills

By Lisa Friedman, Washington Bureau
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Article Launched:05/11/2007 11:39:55 PM PDT

WASHINGTON - With a major vote on immigration again looming in the Senate, advocates lashed out Friday at an emerging plan that includes issuing visas to foreigners based on employment skills and education levels instead of family ties.

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Activists fighting for lenient treatment of the estimated 12million illegal immigrants in the U.S. said they remain optimistic about the newest incarnation of immigration reform. But now, they said, their biggest worries involve the future of legal immigration.

"Some of the proposals on the table are deeply troubling," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.

In particular, he and others pointed to discussions about a guest-worker program that does not give temporary workers a shot at citizenship, and a "merit-based" visa system that assigns would-be immigrants points based on job skills and education levels.

"When we hear slogans like `temporary means temporary' or that the number of green cards isn't likely to be adjusted, when many of us believe the problems we now have are because we don't have enough immigration slots, or when we hear about a point system that is a radically new concept ... we're concerned that we may end up reproducing the problems that we have now," Sharry said.