Voted in 1996 to continue chain migration

Sen. Daschle in 1996 voted against the Simpson Amendment to S.1664. It was a vote in favor of a chain migration system that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million. Sen. Daschle supported provisions that allow immigrants to send for their adult relatives. Then each of those relatives can send for their and their spouse's adult relatives, creating a never-ending and ever-growing chain. The bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. The Simpson Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. But Sen. Daschle helped kill the reform by voting with the 80-20 majority against the amendment. Sen. Daschle's vote helped continue a level of immigration that the Census Bureau projects will result in a doubled U.S. population in the next century.

Voted in favor of chain migration in 1996

Sen. Daschle voted in 1996 against the Feinstein Amendment to S.1664. The Feinstein Amendment would have reduced annual admission of spouses and minor children of citizens to 480,000 and significantly reduced annual limits other categories of chain migration such as parents of citizens and adult unmarried children of citizens. By voting against the Feinstein Amendment, Sen. Daschle voted in favor of a system of chain migration that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million today. In 1996 the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. The Feinstein Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. The Feinstein Amendment would have had an overall impact of reducing U.S. population growth by about 1.2 million over 10 years, but it was defeated by a vote of 26 to 74.

Voted for huge increase in 1990

Sen. Daschle helped pass in 1990 that increased the numbers in all categories of immigration. America’s immigration tradition had been around 250,000 immigrants a year until the 1980s when numbers rose dramatically to more than 500,000 a year. After Sen. Daschle voted in 1990 in favor of raising limits, immigration has now snowballed to around 1,000,000 (one million) a year, contributing the majority of U.S. population and labor growth, congestion and sprawl.

	Cosponsored legislation to import more low-skill foreign workers in 2004
	Sen. Daschle cosponsored S. 2252, the Save Summer Act of 2004. Introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), S. 2252 would have raised the annual cap on H-2B visas for 2004 by 40,000, for a total of 106,000 H-2B visas. This would have allowed thousands of low skill foreign workers to enter the U.S. and compete with American workers.

	Voted for a foreign worker bill with no anti-fraud measures in 2000.
	Sen.Daschle voted for S.2045, the Abraham foreign worker bill to nearly triple the number of foreign high-tech workers. On the heels of the release of a GAO report finding no proof of a high-tech worker shortage and evidence of abuse in the H-1B program, Sen. Daschle voted for this foreign worker bill that contained no worker protections or anti-fraud measures. The bill passed the Senate 96-1.

Nearly doubled H-1B foreign high-tech workers in 1998

Sen. Daschle helped the Senate pass S.1723 in a 78-20 vote. Enacted into law, it increased by nearly 150,000 the number of foreign workers high-tech American companies could hire over the next three years. Although the foreign workers receive temporary visas for up to six years, most historically have found ways to stay permanently in this country. Sen. Daschle voted for more foreign workers even though U.S. high tech workers over the age of 50 were suffering 17% unemployment and U.S. firms were laying off thousands of workers at the time.

Attempted to protect U.S. high-tech workers in 1998
Before the Senate passed the H-1B doubling bill (S.1723), Sen. Daschle voted for a Kennedy amendment that would have protected American workers from the worst abuses that the federal Inspector General found in the H-1B program. He voted to required U.S. firms to check a box on a form attesting that they had first sought an American worker for the job. That failed 39-59.

Attempted to protect U.S. high-tech workers in 1998
Before the Senate passed the H-1B doubling bill (S.1723), Sen. Daschle voted for the Kennedy amendment (A-2418) that would have protected American workers from the worst abuses that the federal Inspector General found in the H-1B program. He voted for the Kennedy amendment which would have forbidden U.S. firms from firing American workers to hire a foreign workers. It failed 38-60.

Sen. Daschle has taken no action to reduce
the rewarding of illegal immigration by giving citizenship
to anchor babies.

Inviting / Repelling Illegal Aliens top

Cosponsored guestworker program that includes a massive amnesty in 2004

Sen. Daschle cosponsored S. 2010, the Immigration Reform Act of 2004. Although S. 2010 contained some provisions to increase funding for border patrol, the central feature of the bill was rewarding law-breakers with green cards. S. 2010 provided for up to 350,000 aliens to enter the U.S. as temporary workers under the "Willing Worker Program." These temporary visas would have been renewable and "willing workers" and their families would have been able to adjust to permanent resident status under the provisions of S. 2010. The bill would also have increased the number of family visas available in order to reduce the backlog, thereby increasing legal immigration numbers. Furthermore, S. 2010 contained no requirement that Americans get first shot at jobs currently held by the illegal aliens who could apply for visas, thus offering absolutely no protections for American workers.

	Cosponsored bill to repeal the federal ban against granting illegal aliens in-state tuition and reward illegal aliens with amnesty in 2003-2004
	Sen. Daschle cosponsored of S. 8, the Educational Excellence for All Learners Act of 2003. Although S. 8 dealt primarily with education resources, hidden within it is a provision that would repeal the federal bar against in-state tuition for illegal aliens, as well as one that gives amnesty to certain illegal aliens who have gone to school in the United States.

Cosponsored legislation in 2002 that would assist illegal immigration by compromising immigration laws

Sen. Daschle cosponsored S. 2444, the Kennedy INS restructuring bill. This legislation contained both structural and policy problems that would encourage illegal immigration and potentially increase legal immigration. The most far reaching provision proposed in S. 2444 was the change in the definition of immigration law. S. 2444 would have redefined immigration law to include not only the Immigration and Nationality Act but also Executive Orders and international agreements. In so doing, the bill would have opened up massive possibilities for increased legal and illegal immigration. For example, the President could have agreed to amnesty all illegal aliens in a trade agreement or in an Executive Order. The President also could have created new categories of legal immigrants, increase refugee numbers, triple H-1B visas, etc. In addition, S. 2444 would have faciliated asylum fraud and add thousands of illegal aliens to the population each year by greatly reducing the detention of asylum applicants while their cases are pending, allowing them to disappear into the public. While the numeric impact of the Kennedy restructuring bill is almost impossible to determine, the policy changes outlined in S. 2444 would certainly have increased illegal immigration and very likely increased legal immigration, thus adding to the 8-9 million illegal migrants already residing in the U.S. as well as increasing legal immigration levels.

Cosponsored legislation to reinstate the Section 245(i) amnesty for one year

Sen. Daschle cosponsored S. 2493, the Uniting Families Act of 2002. This legislation would have rewarded illegal aliens by reinstating the Section 245(i) amnesty for one year. Section 245(i) is an expired immigration provision that allows illegal aliens with qualified relatives or employers in the U.S. to pay a $1,000 fine, to apply for a green card in this country, and to be allowed to stay in this country without fear of deportation until their turn arrives for a green card years, and even decades, later. The illegal aliens also would not have to go through the usual security screening in U.S. embassies in their home countries.

Voted for comprehensive alien tracking and identification system in 2002

Sen. Daschle voted in favor of H.R. 3525, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001. H.R. 3525 will significantly reduce future population growth from illegal immigration by making it much harder for temporary visa holders to stay in the country illegally after their visa expire. H.R. 3525 provides for an entry-exit system in which every visa holder is checked with a biometric identifier when heshe enters and leaves the country. This information is included in an integrated database that is shared by the appropriate law-enforcement officials. H.R. 3525 passed the Senate unanimously by a vote of 97-0 and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush.

Cosponsored border security and alien tracking and identification legislation in 2001

Sen. Daschle cosponsored S 1749, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001 introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy. This legislation was drafted after September 11 to close many of the immigration loopholes that made us vulnerable to the terrorist attacks of 9-11. S. 1749 would have created a comprehensive alien tracking and identification system by implementing an entry-exit system and an integrated database of biometric identifiers for every visa holder. While S. 1749 did not pass, many of the main provisions of this bill were included in H.R. 3525, as signed into law in May 2002.

Cosponsored legislation in 2001 to extend Section 245(i) for one-year.

Sen. Daschle cosponsored S. 778 a one-year extension of Section 245(i), an immigration provision that allows certain illegal aliens to pay a fine and adjust their status to legal status. In addition, Section 245(i) removes the all-important security step that is performed by our embassies on potential immigrants in their home countries. Section 245(i) rewards illegal immigration, contributes significantly to the INS processing backlog, and poses a national security threat.

	Voted for an amnesty for illegal aliens in 2000
	Sen. Daschle voted to include an amnesty for illegal aliens from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti in the Senate H-1B bill (S.2045). The move to include the amnesty with the H-1B legislation failed43-55 in a procedural vote on the Senate floor.

Voted to grant amnesty to nearly one million illegal aliens from Nicaragua and Cuba in 1997

Sen. Daschle voted to grant legal status to Nicaraguans and Cubans who had lived in the United States illegally since 1995, along with their spouses and minor unmarried children. The overall ten year impact of this legislation will be the addition of some 967,000 people to U.S. population. There was no separate vote on the amnesty, as it was included in the DC Appropriations bill. The only opportunity Senators had to vote in favor of or against the amnesty was the Mack Amendment to S.1156. The Mack Amendment passed 99-1.

Voted in 1996 for major law that cracked down on illegal aliens.

Sen. Daschle was part of a 97-3 majority which passed S.1664. It was a large omnibus bill with dozens of provisions aimed at reducing illegal immigration. It authorized major increases in the border patrol forces. But it also had many provisions aimed at making life more miserable for illegal aliens who manage to get into the country, half of whom arrive with legal visas but then illegally overstay. Until passage of the bill, a person could be apprehended as an illegal alien, be deported and then turn around and come back to the U.S. on a legal student, tourist, worker or relative visa. After the bill, an illegal alien was barred from any kind of legal entry for 10 years.

Protected voluntary pilot programs for workplace verification in 1996

Sen. Daschle voted AGAINST the Abraham Amendment to S.1664. his vote was one in favor of setting up voluntary pilot programs in high-immigration states that would assist employers in verifying whether people they had just hired had the legal right to work in this country. Such verification is considered by many experts to be an essential tool for withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The verification system established by S.1664 did not involve an ID card. Rather it provided that when new workers wrote down their Social Security number on an application, employers could phone into a national verification system to help assure that the number was a real number and belonged to the person giving it. In earlier smaller pilot programs, businesses had hailed the verification system for making it easier for them to avoid hiring illegal aliens. But a coalition of conservative pro-business Members and of liberal civil libertarians tried to kill the verification program as too intrusive into the private rights of businesses and workers. Opposing that coalition, Sen. Daschle was part of a 54-46 majority that preserved the voluntary pilot programs.