**[[Securing the Borders and Reforming]{.underline}]{.smallcaps}**

**[[Immigration Without Amnesty]{.underline}]{.smallcaps}**

*"Our plan puts border security first and cracks down on those who
knowingly hire illegal workers, but it also recognizes the need for a
temporary worker program that operates without amnesty and harnesses the
power of the private sector to avoid creating a huge new government
bureaucracy."*

-Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Rep. Mike Pence

July 25, 2006

**[Securing the Borders First]{.underline}:**

-   The number one priority of any serious attempt at immigration reform
    must be a comprehensive and successful effort to secure the borders
    of the United States.  Such an initiative must precede---not
    follow---the implementation of a temporary worker program. The
    border security initiative must include comprehensive surveillance
    that utilizes personnel and technology; infrastructure improvements
    including fences; checkpoints; detention facilities; judicial
    support; and deployment of additional Border Protection and Drug
    Enforcement personnel. 

-   This plan adopts the strongest provisions of the House and
    Senate-passed bills and addresses unlawful entry of terrorists and
    instruments of terror, undocumented immigrants, narcotics and human
    trafficking. 

**[Certification and Trigger]{.underline}:**

-   The new temporary worker program will begin when a border security
    certification by the President is sent to Congress. This
    certification will be based on objective criteria and achievable
    goals, such as hiring and training a certain number of new border
    patrol agents, making additional detention beds available, and
    utilizing upgraded border surveillance technology. Also, part of the
    trigger will be a requirement that all necessary systems and
    infrastructure for the temporary worker program are ready and have
    been tested for reliability and accuracy, for example: secure cards
    can be produced, temporary worker databases are available, and the
    FBI is able to conduct the required fingerprint and criminal
    background checks.

-   The bill will require that regulations for the temporary worker
    program be issued by the Department of Labor and licensing
    requirements be issued by the Department of Homeland Security not
    later than six months after enactment and that the program be ready
    for implementation two years after enactment. Therefore, the first
    two years after enactment will be dedicated to border security, and
    at the two-year point, if all criteria for the certification have
    been satisfied, the President will transmit the certification to
    Congress and the temporary worker program will begin.

**[Good Neighbor SAFE Visas and Ellis Island Centers]{.underline}:**

-   A new non-immigrant temporary worker visa category to be known as a
    "Good Neighbor SAFE (Secure Authorized Foreign Employee) Visa" will
    be created. This visa will be available as part of a new temporary
    worker program that will be managed by American-owned private
    employment agencies that open branches ("Ellis Island Centers") in
    NAFTA and CAFTA-DR nations. The Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Program is
    intended to offer a legal means for entry into the U.S. for willing
    foreign temporary workers, their spouses and minor children. The
    program is designed to ensure that over a period of years the
    incentives it contains will result in the great majority of the
    estimated 12 million undocumented residents currently in the U.S.
    self-deporting in order to return legally under the Good Neighbor
    SAFE Visa Program.

-   The Ellis Island Centers will be licensed and overseen by the
    Department of Homeland Security and Department of State, and they
    will be required to demonstrate that they are capable of confirming
    employment and facilitating a criminal background check and public
    health screening of applicants in one week or less.

***No Amnesty:***

-   Undocumented residents currently in the U.S. must return to their
    country of origin in order to apply for participation in the Good
    Neighbor SAFE Visa Program.

-   Undocumented residents currently in the U.S. will not receive an
    automatic path to citizenship by virtue of participating in the Good
    Neighbor SAFE Visa Program. However, participation in the program
    will not preclude participants from returning to their country of
    origin at any time, surrendering their Good Neighbor SAFE Visa, and
    applying for legal permanent residence under current law.

***NAFTA and CAFTA-DR:***

-   Good Neighbor SAFE Visa applicants will be required to apply for an
    open position from their country of origin and have their
    applications processed by an Ellis Island Center in that country.
    Participation in the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Program will be limited
    initially to citizens of countries that are party to NAFTA and
    CAFTA-DR.

***X-Change Visa:***

-   A new X-Change Visa category will be established and made available
    to Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holders, their spouses and minor children
    after a Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holder successfully completes the
    twelve-year maximum participation period in the Good Neighbor SAFE
    Visa Program. A Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holder, with an employer
    sponsorship and successful criminal background check, may apply for
    an X-Change Visa while in the U.S. In return, holders of an X-Change
    Visa, their spouses and minor children, will not be eligible to
    receive social service benefits or welfare. This visa will provide
    lawful, continuing residence in the U.S. After five years as an
    X-Change Visa holder, and a total of seventeen years in the U.S.,
    the visa holder will have the option of continuing to hold an
    X-Change Visa, returning home, or applying for permanent adjustment
    of status.

***Hiring of Americans First:***

-   Employers will be eligible to hire workers under the Good Neighbor
    SAFE Visa Program only if they can attest to having tried to hire an
    American worker for 30 days in a manner reasonable to the industry
    and locality. As part of this requirement, employers must advertise
    the job opening at a wage that is commensurate with the trade or
    industry in that locality (but that is not a Davis-Bacon wage
    requirement). Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holders must be hired and paid
    in accordance with the advertised wage, with failure to do so
    subjecting employers to a civil fine and a future bar from
    participation in the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Program.

***Mechanics of Hiring a Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Holder:***

-   Employers will register open jobs that cannot be filled by Americans
    with Ellis Island Centers in NAFTA and CAFTA-DR nations. Willing
    citizens of those nations will register with an Ellis Island Center
    their availability to come to America and work.

-   The Ellis Island Centers will notify an employer of a potential
    temporary worker who could fill an available job registered by the
    employer with the Ellis Island Center. If the employer agrees to
    hire and sponsor the potential temporary worker for a Good Neighbor
    SAFE Visa, the potential temporary worker will undergo a criminal
    background check and public health screening. After passing the
    background check and health screening, the worker will be issued a
    Good Neighbor SAFE Visa to enter the U.S. and work in that specific
    job.

-   The Good Neighbor SAFE Visa will be issued in the form of a secure,
    tamper-proof identification card containing personal and biometric
    information about the holder of the card, as well as information
    describing the sponsoring employer and the job the cardholder is
    coming to the U.S. to perform.

-   The Ellis Island Centers and the companies issuing the secure visa
    cards will be required to operate under strict performance
    standards.

-   The Ellis Island Centers will charge a reasonable fee to employers
    for their services. This fee will include the cost charged by the
    U.S. or foreign government for the criminal background check, visa
    issuance and any other incurred costs so that the U.S. taxpayer is
    not paying these processing charges.

-   The Secretary of Homeland Security will require the posting of an
    immigration performance bond by the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holder
    to insure that at the expiration of the visa, the Good Neighbor SAFE
    Visa holder will return to his or her country of origin.

***Number of Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Holders:***

-   The number of Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holders will be determined by
    the market during the first three years of operation of the program.
    This will allow the great majority of the estimated twelve million
    undocumented residents in the U.S. an opportunity to return to their
    country of origin and re-enter through the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa
    Program, as long as they have a sponsoring employer and satisfy the
    other program requirements. After three years, the Department of
    Labor will set an annual limit to provide for a future flow of
    temporary labor. After the third year and the institution of the
    annual limits, not more than one half of the Good Neighbor SAFE
    Visas subject to the annual limits will be available within the
    first six months of each year.

***Spouses and Minor Children:***

-   Spouses and minor children of Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holders will
    be allowed to enter the U.S. on an accompanying Good Neighbor SAFE
    Visa as long as they pass the criminal background check and public
    health screening.

***Length of a Good Neighbor SAFE Visa:***

-   The Good Neighbor SAFE Visa will last for an initial period of not
    more than two years. It is then renewable five times while in the
    country for a total period of not more than twelve years, as long as
    the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holder passes a basic English
    proficiency exam for the first renewal and updated criminal
    background checks for all renewals. At the expiration of a Good
    Neighbor SAFE Visa holder's visa, the visa card will be
    electronically cancelled and the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holder will
    be required to leave the U.S., or apply for another category of
    visa, if eligible.

***Welfare, Medicare, Social Security and Other Social Benefits:***

-   Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holders, their spouses and/or minor
    children, will not be eligible for welfare or other social benefits
    aside from the education and medical benefits required to be granted
    to all non-immigrant visa holders.

-   Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holders' Medicare contributions will go into
    a fund to reimburse hospitals for uncompensated emergency medical
    expenses.

-   Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holders' employee Social Security
    contributions will be returned to the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa
    holders upon their return to their country of origin and permanent
    exit from the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Program. The employer Social
    Security contributions will remain in the Social Security system.

***Criminal Background Check and Public Health Screening:***

-   Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holders will be required to pass a criminal
    background check, including a search through the FBI's fingerprint
    database and any applicable Homeland Security terrorist watch-lists.
    If criminal databases are available in the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa
    holder's country of origin, then a check through that database also
    will be required.

-   Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holders will be required to take and pass a
    standard public health screening identical to that required for
    other visa applicants.

-   At each application for renewal of a Good Neighbor SAFE Visa, the
    Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holder must pass an updated criminal
    background check.

***Secure Visas:***

-   Good Neighbor SAFE Visas will be issued in the form of secure
    wallet-sized cards that contain information about the job the Good
    Neighbor SAFE Visa holder is coming to perform, and it will contain
    personal and biometric information about the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa
    holder.

-   Employers will use these cards to verify the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa
    holder's eligibility and legal status.  Immigration authorities will
    use these cards to confirm that the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holder
    is allowed to enter, leave and re-enter the country. 

-   If a Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holder is fired, convicted of a crime,
    or disappears, the card will be cancelled, preventing another
    employer from hiring the cardholder. 

-   The visa card will allow the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holder to
    travel freely back and forth between the U.S. and his or her country
    of origin, enabling the holder to return home for vacations,
    holidays, maintenance of family ties, etc.

***Ellis Island Centers:***

-   Although they will be located outside of the U.S., Ellis Island
    Centers must be branches of American-owned private employment
    agencies.

-   Other performance standards will be required in order for an Ellis
    Island Center to obtain and maintain a license from the Department
    of Homeland Security to participate in the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa
    Program.

***Employment Eligibility Verification System:***

-   The Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Program will work in tandem with a
    nationwide employment eligibility verification system. Two years
    after enactment this verification system will go into effect for
    *prospective* employees. Employers will be required to verify the
    legal status of all new employees, including Good Neighbor SAFE Visa
    holders, and the hiring of unverifiable employees will be subject to
    significant fines.

-   Six years after enactment the nationwide employment eligibility
    verification system will go into effect for *all* employees. At that
    time, employers will be required to verify the legal status of their
    entire workforce. Employers seeking to comply with the law will need
    to have an entirely legal workforce.

***Good Neighbor SAFE Visas and Job Flexibility:***

-   Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holders will be allowed to change jobs. Upon
    leaving the employ of a sponsoring employer, a Good Neighbor SAFE
    Visa holder will be provided with a 45-day period in which to find a
    new sponsoring employer through an Ellis Island Center. If
    unsuccessful, the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa expires at the end of that
    45-day period and the holder must return to his or her country of
    origin.

***English Language:***

-   Recognizing that English is the national language of the United
    States, Good Neighbor SAFE Visa holders will be required to study
    English, take an English proficiency class, and pass an exam to
    receive their first visa renewal. The government will allow private
    industry to administer the exam to avoid growing the federal
    bureaucracy.  A faith-based component will be provided to assist
    churches and other ministries that offer English classes.

***Outreach and Information:***

-   Faith-based groups will be encouraged to reach out to the
    undocumented resident community to educate them about the Good
    Neighbor SAFE Visa Program and how it will work.

-   Appropriations will be authorized for a public education campaign
    prior to and during the implementation of the Good Neighbor SAFE
    Visa Program.

***Reporting/Benchmarks:***

-   The Secretaries of Homeland Security and State will be required to
    provide reports to Congress on the effectiveness and operations of
    the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Program and the employment eligibility
    verification system. If the reports show significant problems, the
    program will be suspended or scaled back while the problems are
    addressed.