WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Democrats rejected an amendment to a bill raising the minimum wage that would have increased fines for employers of illegal immigrants.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., proposed the amendment, which he said would help low-income workers by pushing illegal immigrants out of the economy, the Washington Times reported Friday. He said illegal immigrants take jobs from low-income workers and artificially suppress wages.

"Our whole purpose of the minimum wage act is to increase the wages of working Americans, particularly low-skilled workers," Sessions said. "That's a noble goal."

A major reason "that those salaries have lagged behind is because of a large influx of illegal immigrant labor," he said. "That is indisputable, and it's not been discussed much here. People apparently don't want to talk about it, but we're going to talk about it."

However, Democratic leaders kept the amendment off the floor, saying Republicans have continually attempted to add amendments to the bill that are unrelated to the minimum wage issue. // Copyright 2007 by United Press International


Publication date: 26 January 2007   

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