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Sen. Burr questions Bush nominee in education; Rep. Foxx to co-sponsor bill
By Mary M. Shaffrey
Journal Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON

Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Virginia Foxx are freshmen. Both are conservative Republicans, and both, in subtle ways, have - or will have by the end of the month - made immigration a top priority in their new jobs.

Burr, the first-term Republican senator who was sworn in Tuesday, had his first committee hearing Thursday morning. As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Burr sat in on the confirmation hearings of Margaret Spellings, President Bush's nominee for secretary of education.

As a freshman, he had to wait to ask his questions. So after Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., asked about overcrowded New York City schools, Burr turned on his microphone.

After welcoming Spellings, and recognizing the chairman, Burr told the committee he was there not only as a senator but also as a parent. And then he began his questioning of Spellings, asking her in broad terms about No Child Left Behind, the national education law that was passed in Bush's first term that places national standards on elementary school students in public schools. “Like many states, North Carolina has a growing immigrant population,” Burr said. “How did the administration factor that into its goals?”

Spellings, who hopes to replace Rod Paige as education secretary, said that it was factored in because the Bush administration is committed to the success of immigrants who come to America legally.

“A high quality of education is integral to that,” she said. She did not, however, offer any specific proposals or ideas about how to accomplish that goal.

Burr went on to ask her about community-college education, before yielding the balance of his time to other senators.

“The strain that immigration has placed on the education system is a top concern (because) it affects all aspects of education,” Burr said when asked why he chose to ask about immigration.

The issue is important, he said, because immigration leads to overcrowding, greater demand for school construction money and more training for teaching English as a second language.

According to the 2000 Census, North Carolina has a foreign-born population of 430,000 - 317,000 who are not citizens. Between 1990 and 2000, North Carolina had a 273 percent increase in the number of non-native citizens, the largest increase of any state, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

“If we are seeing this type of growth and we are not a border state, (then) every state is going to be challenged with the immigrant population,” Burr said.

Bobby Hobgood, the director of teacher development at LEARN NC, a nonprofit education institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that teachers need more help.

“We are going to have to do more, because historically our population has not been as diverse as it is now,” Hobgood said. He specifically mentioned greater professional development and more English as Second Language training to deal with non-native English speakers and those who speak English but need help with their skills.

“There is a great misconception of what this is,” he said. “There are many differences between the literacy levels of ESL students.”

Foxx, who replaced Burr in the 5th District, is also concerned about immigration, particularly security issues and documentation. Those issues were hot during the Republican primary, when her main challenger, Vernon Robinson, used immigration as a cornerstone of his campaign.

Foxx had planned to introduce her first bill last week. She would have co-sponsored a bill to deal with the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission about driver's license accessibility, tighter border control and stricter requirements for political asylum. One of the House leaders, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., insisted that Congress take up those issues immediately.

“These common-sense provisions are aimed at preventing another 9/11-type attack by plugging holes in our homeland-security efforts,” Sensenbrenner said in December. “We must address these vulnerabilities because we know America's enemies diligently probe our vulnerabilities to carry out their deadly intentions.”

Foxx had been told that she would be the only freshman co-sponsor and that it would be introduced during the first week that Congress was in session. She said during a phone interview Saturday that the bill should be introduced by Jan. 20.

“We have to do something about the driver's licenses in particular,” Foxx said. “We are a nation of laws, and we have to make sure that the people who are here, are here legally.”

She said that Congress needs to make sure than an immigrant's driver's license runs concurrently with his or her visa and that the expiration dates are the same, because a driver's license is often a person's primary means of identification.

Margaret Taylor, an immigration-law professor at Wake Forest University, agreed that something needs to be done to help with identification matters but said that doing it through driver's licenses is not the right approach.

“State driver's licenses are given out to make sure our roads are safe,” Taylor said. “The legislative debate can be had on how to improve identification, but we shouldn't be using driver's licenses for immigration reform.”

Foxx said that although she does not support having people carry a national identification card, something needs to be done. She also thinks that tighter restrictions on asylum are needed.

“We need more proof that they are political refugees, because we don't want to miss potential terrorists,” she said.

Taylor said that asking for more proof, however, would be an unfair burden to many immigrants who are fleeing harsh conditions.

“What they are really trying to do here is place significant restrictions on people who are seeking protection. Most people who are fleeing bad situations are not going to worry about filing all the necessary paperwork,” she said, adding that the current system already has an immigration judge in place to scrutinize applications.

Mary M. Shaffrey can be reached in Washington at (202) 662-7672 or at
mshaffrey@wsjournal.com.