05/02/06 A Day without Immigrants

A day without immigrants. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Many businesses were shut down yesterday as the immigration issue in the U.S. heats up. Thousands of illegal immigrants, family and friends gathered for marches, prayers and demonstrations to show their importance to the country. The protests took many forms. Some were not going to work while others were not buying anything, still others attended lunchtime rallies. Some big businesses were shutting down operations: Six of 14 Perdue Farms plants will close; Gallo Wines in Sonoma, Calif., was giving its 150 employees the day off; Tyson Foods Inc., the world`s largest meat producer, planned to shut five of its nine beef plants and four of six pork plants. One of the major factors playing into the boycott is The Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437), introduced by Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI). The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Bill in December. The House version of the Bill included provisions that would redefine undocumented illegal immigrants and anyone found guilty of providing them with assistance as felons. Recent polls suggest a majority of Americans would support legislation being debated in the Senate that would allow many illegal immigrants to join a legal guest worker program and later apply for citizenship. Last week, the President discussed immigration reform with members of the senate. PRESIDENT: I will report to the American people that there is a common desire to have a bill that enforces the border, a bill that has interior enforcement -- in other words, a bill that will hold people to account for hiring somebody who is here illegally -- but a bill that also recognizes we must have a temporary worker program, a bill that does not grant automatic amnesty to people, but a bill that says, somebody who is working here on a legal basis has the right to get in line to become a citizen. I thank the members, both Republicans and Democrats, for taking on this really hard, hard assignment. It`s important that we reform a system that is not working. It`s important that we uphold the values of the United States of America. It`s important that we treat people with dignity. And I strongly believe that we have a chance to get an immigration bill that is comprehensive in nature to my desk before the end of this year. And again, I want to thank both the Republicans and Democrats for the spirit of hard work. I particularly want to thank Senator Kennedy and Senator McCain for taking the lead on this important bill on the floor of the United States Senate. And I assured the members that I look forward to working with them as they try to get a bill out of the Senate by Memorial Day and into conference. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.