WASHINGTON D.C. – With the immigration reform bill dead and the Department of Homeland Security poised to launch a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants in the US, Congress is considering several proposals to legalize the stay of certain groups of illegal aliens.

This came as the DHS, which will receive a big boost in funding for border security, prepared to launch a nationwide campaign to ferret out illegal aliens in workplaces all over the United States.

In the meantime, a surge in citizenship applications has been noted following the failure of the Senate to pass the comprehensive immigration reform bill, the frequent raids by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in local establishments and the action of local governments against illegal aliens nationwide, and the big increase in fees which took effect July 30.

In the Senate, a bill has been filed by a bipartisan group to create a temporary guest worker program for agriculture because the agriculture sector is suffering form lack of workers. Another bill, which also received bipartisan support, would give a path to citizenship to illegal aliens who are high school graduates if they complete two years of college or military service. This bill, authored by Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) was attached as an amendment to the military authorization legislation which the Senate had put off until it resumes session in September.

The Senate has just approved $3 billion for border security as part of a HDHS’s budget.
Another avenue being resorted to in Congress is to file private bills to grant permanent residency to specific aliens illegally in the United States. Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.)has filed one of the some 60 pending “private” bills in both houses of Congress that would grant permanent residency to specific immigrants battling deportation. Among them are a Bangladeshi man facing a death sentence in his homeland, a Kenyan woman whose American husband died before he could make her a legal resident and a German teen who has spent half his life in Ohio.

“He’s still in danger of being deported, and so we want to get him some kind of legal status," said Rep. Paul E. Gillmor (R-Ohio) of his bill on behalf of the German teen, Manuel Bartsch, who was brought to America by his step-grandfather and jailed two years ago after contacting immigration authorities for records he needed to take a college entrance exam.

For those whose requests have been denied by federal officials and rejected by immigration judges, Congress is the court of last resort.

Touched by their stories and convinced of the need for occasional flexibility, lawmakers have introduced more than 500 private immigration bills since 1996.

The Republican National Committee is about to approve a resolution calling for the use of all means to secure the borders, including the regular army as well as the National Guard.

The Los Angeles Times says DHS is pushing the new crackdown on illegal immigrants that would force businesses to fire them or face stiff penalties. The Times said DHS “is expected to issue a rule outlining how businesses must respond when they receive notice that there are discrepancies in a worker’s tax records. Many businesses simply ignore such notices now. Under the new rules, employees would have a limited time to contact the Social Security Administration to correct the information, or face termination.”

This rule, the Times said, would transfer more responsibility for enforcement to companies." Under this plan, DHS will determine discrepancies in Social Security employmebt records which sometimes can trace the presence of illegal workers in these establishments.

DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department would toughen enforcement if efforts to overhaul the flawed immigration system failed. The discrepancies detected in Social Security employment records can sometimes flag illegal workers on the job.

The college bill in Congress attracted renewed interest recently because of Juan Sebastian Gomez, a student who just graduated with honors from Killian Senior High School in Miami. On July 25, immigration agents in Florida detained Mr. Gomez, 18, his brother and his parents, all illegal immigrants from Colombia, and prepared to deport them. Immigration officials delayed the deportation after a group of Mr. Gomez’ high school friends roused support in South Florida and then flew to Washington to pound on doors.

The sweeping Senate immigration bill, which included a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, was defeated by opponents who said it would reward knowing lawbreakers and the employers who hired them. But many legislators, including some who opposed the broader bill, see the student measure differently because it would benefit immigrant teenagers who are illegal only because of decisions their parents made when the children were young.

The Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, says nearly a million immigrant students across the country could gain legal status under the bill, whose backers call it the Dream Act. Support has also re-emerged for the agricultural bill as labor shortages have hampered harvests this summer in states like California, Michigan and North Carolina. The bill’s supporters include growers, the United Farm Workers, conservative Republicans like Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho, and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). The bill would expand and streamline the existing agricultural guest-worker program and offer legal status to illegal immigrants who are experienced farmworkers. At least 70 percent of the workers in agriculture are illegal immigrants, says the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, a national trade group.

The planned DHS crackdown has raised some concerns over the records of citizens and legal residents in the hands of the Social Security records. The Times said errors have been found in the records of an estimated 12.7 million U.S. citizens alone, adding that a rush to correct these discrepancies could swamp SS offices.

And businesses are complaining about bearing the burden of enforcing a flawed immigration system. Despite such opposition, The LA Times said the Bush administration is pressing forward. Officials say the new rule will provide clarity for companies that have said they didn’t know what to do when the Social Security Administration sent letters indicating inconsistencies in a worker’s records. The administration also sees these “no-match” letters as a way to target illegal immigrants and employers of those who make up Social Security numbers or use other people’s.

“Last year, out of 250 million wage reports that the SSA received, as many as 10% belonged to employees whose name doesn’t match their Social Security records," said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke. “That doesn’t necessarily indicate a modest clerical error; it’s indicative of a broader, widespread problem. The rule fixes that and tells employers there are no more excuses."

In the last two years, Homeland Security has focused increasingly on work-site enforcement, raiding factories and prosecuting employers in criminal court. In June, Chertoff said his agency would not slow down. “We’re going to continue to bring criminal cases against employers in record numbers," he warned. “Some of those employers are going to be very unhappy. They’re going to say, ‘It’s unfair.’ But in order to regain credibility with the American people that has been squandered over 30 years, we’re going to have to be tough." The surge in naturalizations is evidenced by the steady rise of applicants. It has grown from 463,204 in 2003 to 702,589 last year. A big jump occurred this year, with the number of applications increasing every month, to 115,175 in May compared with 65,782 last December. More than 4,000 new Americans were sworn in tradition-steeped and some not so traditional Fourth of July ceremonies. About 1,000 people from 75 countries took their oaths together under the turrets of Cinderella’s Castle at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., as Gloria Estefan sang ‘The Star-Spangled Banner." In Iraq, 325 foreign-born soldiers who are fighting in the United States military took the oath of allegiance in two ceremonies.

For many legal immigrants, worry about their futures in the United States turned into action after an announcement on Jan. 31 by Citizenship and Immigration Services that it would increase application fees. Under the new fees, which take effect on July 30, it will cost $675 to become a naturalized citizen, up 69 percent from $400.

Immigrants have also been mobilized to press naturalization applications by a television and radio campaign that Univision, the national Spanish-language network, began in January in California.

The campaign, promoted by personalities like Eduardo Sotelo, a radio host in Los Angeles known as El Piol_n, or Tweety Bird, has directed immigrants to 350 workshop centers run by churches and other community organizations in 22 cities. At the centers, immigrants receive English lessons and advice on meeting requirements and filling out forms. One radio listener was _ngel Ivßn _lvarez, 24, a legal immigrant from Mexico who said he had never thought of becoming a citizen until last week when the Senate bill failed.

Filipinos have also been prodded into naturalization as a result of the Calimlim couple in Michigan face deportation after they complete their sentence for enslaving a Filipino maid. The Calimlims had been green card holders for many years.

Many have also decided to become American citizens because of the Philippine dual citizenship law which makes them eligible to be Filipino citizens at the same time. “Now I can have the benefits of both worlds,” remarked on green card holder.

Federico Guti_rrez, 53, a longtime legal resident of Chicago who was born in Mexico, said large protests in March 2006 in support of an immigration overhaul made him decide that it was time to engage in American politics. When the debate turned angry, Mr. Guti_rrez said, he wanted to be able to influence lawmakers who he believed favored immigrants.