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Congress Takes Closer Look at Illegal Immigration

The U.S. Congress is again preparing to tackle one of the thorniest social issues in contemporary America — what to do about the thousands of illegal aliens attempting to cross U.S. borders every year as well as the millions who are already here.

"It is affecting every member of Congress in their district back home, it is a top-tier concern," said Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz.

Shadegg said the issue is gaining so much attention from the public that border security trumped White House marketing of Social Security reform.

"We were at home aggressively doing town halls on Social Security and people were saying 'Hey, wait a minute, what about illegal immigration?'" Shadegg said.

An estimated 700,000 illegals entered America last year; the national total is nearly 11 million.

California and Texas lead the pack of states, with nearly 4 million illegal aliens combined. Florida follows with 850,000, New York with 650,000 and Arizona has 500,000. Illinois, New Jersey and North Carolina all top 300,000 while another 3.1 million are scattered among the other 42 states.

"The big shift this year is that something has to be done. In the past, immigration has been one of those issues that politicians would just as soon stay away from," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.

Posted by Ithildin at July 11, 2005 10:25 AM | PROCURE FINE OLD WORLD ABSINTHE