Cannon pushes farm workers bill

By Christopher Smith
Read article at: Salt Lake Tribune

WASHINGTON -- Borrowing a page from Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah Republican Congressman Chris Cannon has joined forces with Democratic liberal standard-bearer Sen. Edward Kennedy to authorize U.S. farmers to hire immigrants who entered the country illegally.
. . . As a temporary U.S. resident, the farmworker legally could be hired by employers, travel abroad and re-enter the United States. They may also work in nonagriculture jobs, provided the bill's requirements for agriculture employment are met.
. . . The measure has 18 co-sponsors in the Senate and has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Hatch, Utah's senior GOP senator. Hatch's periodic odd-couple partnerships with Kennedy on Capitol Hill have produced such landmark federal laws as the Children's Healthcare Insurance Program (CHIP) as well as scattershot criticism from conservatives in Washington and Utah who frown on such coziness.

Comment: this will also insure that Utahns will continue to pay for the education, medical costs and other benefits of children of illegal immigrants. Will MORE benefits stem the tide of illegality or promote more???