Local Marchers Join Nationwide Immigration Bill Protests Sunday

KWTX | April 9 2006

Opponents of a U.S. House bill that includes punishment not only for illegal aliens, but also for those who help illegal aliens, will march Sunday morning in Waco as part of a nationwide protest.

The march begins at 11 a.m. at St. Francis Catholic Church at 301 Jefferson and ends at Heritage Square.

Local students and religious and civic leaders will speak as part of the protest.

Organizers expected hundreds to participate in the march and rally to protest the House bill, which would make illegal immigration a felony, rather than a civil offense and would also make it a crime to help illegal aliens.

A compromise Senate bill that would have separated undocumented workers into three categories, giving those with the most time already spent in the U.S. a leg up on staying and applying for citizenship, failed to advance Friday.

The bill only got 38 of the 60 votes it needed to advance during a key procedural test.

Republicans say the bill failed because Democrats were trying to squelch their amendments, while Democrats contend Republicans were trying to kill their own bill by filibuster.

Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter says the bill didn't go forward because "there's a political advantage for Democrats not to have an immigration bill."

But Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid says, "Amendments were being offered by people who didn't want the bill."

Further work on the bill will have to wait until after a two-week recess.

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