Worth Reading Ohioans attack reform proposal Immigration-control plan is tough one The Cleveland Plain Dealer/Mike Sangiacomo December 16 Michael Sangiacomo Plain Dealer Reporter A hotly debated immigration reform bill in Washington puts an estimated quarter-million illegal or undocumented immigrants in Ohio - and about 10 million in the nation - in the government's cross hairs. One of the most controversial passages of the bill was changed Thursday by Republicans after wrangling on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. As originally proposed by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, any undocumented immigrant in the United States could be charged with an aggravated felony. He lowered the proposed violation from a felony to a misdemeanor. Still, Cleveland lawyer David Leopold, a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association national executive board, said the Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act was the worst piece of legislation he'd ever seen. He and others said it would worsen the illegal immigration problem. "This would only serve to drive 10 million people further underground and make anyone who helps those people in the smallest way eligible for arrest under federal law," Leopold said Thursday. "It would greatly damage the economy here in Ohio and across the country. I have never seen legislation so wrong." Officials at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that endorses stricter enforcement of immigration laws, said Congress is to be applauded for confronting the issue of illegal immigration. "Things are very much in flux and we don't know how the final bill is going to look, but it's certain something is going to pass," said center spokesman John Keeley. A spokesman for Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich said that even if the legislation passed in the House, it would not go to the Senate until after the Christmas break. Kucinich opposes the bill. One of the more controversial aspects of the bill would make it a crime for anyone to help an undocumented immigrant - including family members, churches and charities. Julia Shearson, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations office in Cleveland, said a bus driver giving a ride to an illegal immigrant could be prosecuted. Leopold said lawyers could be charged with a crime for even talking to illegal immigrants. Another troubling aspect of the bill to Leopold and others is that it will demand greater compliance from employers, who will face criminal charges for hiring undocumented immigrants. Keeley said it appears certain that the reform will stress new enforcement measures that target the hiring of undocumented workers, especially at food processing plants and at construction sites. "I think the House is right to identify workplace enforcement as the centerpiece of any new law," Keeley said. "We know illegal workers are coming here because no one in the U.S. government is enforcing the ban on illegal workers." He said an effective reform plan must provide new resources to enforce immigration laws and include stricter penalties to discourage employers from hiring undocumented workers. "There's no silver bullet. We are in a crisis decades in the making," Keeley said. "The solution will be complex and require years of effort." Leopold said the Ohio economy is built on the backs of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who work in many industries, but especially agriculture and food service. While Republications debate the toughness of the bill, almost all Democrats, and several border-state Republicans, pushed for a more comprehensive package that dealt with the estimated 10 million to 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country. The GOP bill "does nothing to solve the real problems of illegal immigration," said Rep. Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican. "In fact it's worse than nothing." Don Bryant of the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network said the legislation would have a chilling effect on the nation. "It's like something out of the Nazi era or a totalitarian regime. Imagine making it illegal to help a fellow human being," he said. "This anti-immigrant climate is scary. Also, what would happen to the hundreds of thousands of people in Ohio who suddenly found themselves unable to work?" Plain Dealer reporter Robert L. Smith and the Associated Press contributed to this story. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: msangiacomo@plaind.com, 216-999-4890 TOP