Janet Napolitano endorses Senate immigration bill; "silent amnesty"

Note that she's using the same term as Michael Chertoff; who used it first isn't known:

Saying the only current alternative is allowing a status quo of "silent amnesty," Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano on Wednesday [5/23/07] tentatively endorsed a U.S. Senate proposal on immigration.

Napolitano said she sees some flaws in the Senate proposal but that it "includes all the elements of comprehensive immigration reform."

..."The status quo is not acceptable, and when I hear those who are opposed to the bill call it amnesty, I really want to say to them what we have now is silent amnesty, because nothing is being done with those who are already illegally in this country, and we have no system to do anything with those already illegally in this country," she said.

...Napolitano wrote in a newspaper commentary published Tuesday that she wanted changes made to the U.S. Senate proposal. She criticized the proposal's delay of a temporary worker program until border security measures are deployed, a requirement that temporary workers return home for a year after two years of work in the United States and a requirement that illegal immigrants who are heads of household return to their country before gaining legal status...

Immigration2007a · Sun, 05/27/2007 - 09:30 · · Importance: 1