Undocumented

Teodora Unlayao was a 34-year-old single woman when she applied in the Philippines for a U.S. visa to reunite with her sister in Glenview, Ill. Now the mother of a college student, Unlayao is almost 58. And she is still waiting. Though she is eligible to immigrate to the U.S., only a limited number of Filipinos are admitted to rejoin their families each year. Demand worldwide is at least triple the supply, and the odds are much worse for Unlayao because she hails from a high-immigrant country.

Adriana Pelaez never considered herself much of an activist. But when she learned of a congressional proposal that would make felons out of people like herself, she took to the streets with hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and their supporters, demanding an opportunity to live without fear. Pelaez, 31, who fled Mexico three years ago and works as a nanny in Baltimore, has even lobbied her representatives on Capitol Hill, who she knows hold the answer to whether she can stay or must go. Whoever is elected to the U.S. Congress in November will be forced to confront the intractable issue of illegal immigration and the fate of nearly 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, including an estimated quarter of a million in Maryland.

WASHINGTON -- More than two in three Americans want Congress to pass an immigration bill that includes border security, employer enforcement, a temporary worker program and a means for illegal immigrants to earn citizenship, according to a recent nationwide poll. They recognize that we have ignored the way America's broken immigration system has undermined our security, laws and economy for too long. I should know: I represent America's restaurants. We are creating jobs faster than the overall economy, employing almost one in 10 American workers.

About a quarter of the construction workers rebuilding New Orleans are illegal immigrants, who are getting lower pay, less medical coverage and less safety equipment than legal workers, according to a new study by professors at Tulane University and the University of California, Berkeley. These workers reported making an average of $6.50 an hour less than legal workers and had more trouble collecting their wages, the study said. While few workers reported run-ins with the police, it said, their employers sometimes threatened to have them deported if they complained about missing pay or dangerous working conditions.

Hispanic immigrants who took part in recent protest rallies around the nation repeatedly compared their demonstrations to those of the civil rights movement. Despite the small number of black participants at the rallies pushing for immigration reform, the protesters invoked the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and linked the struggles of illegal immigrants in the U.S. today to those of black Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. Protesters in Mississippi - a battleground state during the civil rights era - even sang "We Shall Overcome" in Spanish.

WASHINGTON -- A day after federal agents arrested 1,187 people on illegal-immigration charges in the nation's largest-ever work site enforcement action, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff warned yesterday of an intensified campaign to target employers whose businesses rely on large numbers of undocumented workers. But some immigration lawyers suspect that the crackdown might have been more a Bush administration response to criticism that for years it had done too little work site enforcement.

Americans have been engaged in a cacophonous national debate these last two weeks over the pressing question of what to do about the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in this country and the 3 million more who attempt to come here each year. All eyes were on Washington last week as lawmakers grappled with competing legislative proposals that many hoped would finally address that question and put the government on course to reforming the nation's troubled immigration system. But on Friday, Senate leaders failed to reach agreement on a compromise measure that would create a guest-worker program that President Bush has repeatedly called for, permit 325,000 foreigners to work here temporarily each year and allow millions of illegal immigrants already in this country to gain legal residency.

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert indicated yesterday he was willing to consider a guest worker program as part of the immigration-reform package now moving through Congress. Meanwhile, the Senate began debate on immigration reform with the split between senators who support a new path to legalization for undocumented immigrants and those opposed on full display. In comments to reporters, Hastert, an Illinois Republican, did not embrace the idea of a guest worker program such as that contained in legislation approved earlier this week by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Driver's license bill urges restrictions For the past three years, Maryland lawmakers have debated bills that would prevent undocumented immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses. Each time, the measures have failed. Yesterday, legislators took up the issue again, with what some called a renewed urgency to meet an impending federal requirement. Del. Herbert H. McMillan, an Anne Arundel County Republican and sponsor of the bill, said that the state should restrict licenses to illegal immigrants because a federal law would require Maryland to revise its drivers license statute by 2008.

Undocumented workers who are injured on the job are eligible for workers' compensation benefits, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled yesterday. The court found that Diego E. Lagos, who injured his hand while working as a carpenter for Design Kitchen and Baths of Montgomery County in 2001, could receive workers' compensation benefits despite his status as an undocumented worker. Not covering undocumented workers under the law "would retard the goals of workers' compensation laws and leave these individuals with only two options, receive no relief for work-related injuries or sue in tort," according to the opinion authored by Chief Judge Robert M. Bell.