On his June 24 KNUS 710 AM Backbone Radio show, John Andrews dismissed criticism of talk radio's impact on the debate over pending immigration reform legislation before repeating false and misleading information about the bill. Among Andrews' distortions were his claims that the legislation makes available a probationary status that is “renewable for life,” that criminals “including gang members [and] child molesters... are eligible for this bill's mass amnesty,” and that "[i]n-state tuition ... will be made available to current illegal aliens who are granted amnesty." As Colorado Media Matters has documented, other Colorado talk show hosts have made similar distortions in criticizing the legislation.

The immigration reform legislation Andrews and his co-hosts Joshua Sharf and Krista Kafer were discussing has had different official designations since the original comprehensive immigration reform bill, Senate Bill 1348, was introduced on May 9. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) introduced the current incarnation of the bill, Senate Bill 1639, on June 18. On June 26 the Senate voted to resume debate on immigration reform legislation, which had been suspended on June 7.

Andrews introduced the topic of immigration reform legislation by reading from an Associated Press article by Charles Babington that appeared in the June 24 edition of The Denver Post (accessed through the Post's electronic edition). In response to criticism of the legislation, the AP reported that “Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., told reporters last week, 'Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.' Some hosts, he added, do not know what is in the lengthy bill.”

From the June 24 broadcast of KNUS 710 AM's Backbone Radio:

ANDREWS: If you wondered -- talk radio listeners, particularly here at 710 KNUS I think already know -- but if, if you wondered whether talk radio has an impact, I think the howls of those who object to the difference we are making on the immigration amnesty bill over the past month or six weeks is probably the best evidence of the huge impact that we have. Page one, today's Denver Post, front-page news this Sunday here in Colorado. A story by Babington of the Associated Press out of Washington. Headline: “Talk show hosts turn up the power.” [reading] “Immigration has supplanted Iraq as the leading issue on TV and radio talk shows, complicating the prospects of a Senate bill that President Bush desperately wants passed. Conservative talk radio's impact on the immigration debate reached new heights last week. National talk show hosts have spent months denouncing the bill as providing amnesty for illegal immigrants. Some top Republicans who support the legislation have defied the broadcast pundits.” Oh, aren't they brave.

SHARF: Defied. Defied. As though, as though you personally were going to run against Trent Lott.

ANDREWS: And, and, and here --

KAFER: [laughs] You better --

ANDREWS: -- Trent Lott is an example given. [reading] “Senator Trent Lott, a Republican of Mississippi, told reporters last week, quote, 'Talk radio is running America.' ” Oh, we are? Don't we just wish! Trent Lott [reading]: “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.”

Andrews based his distortions about the legislation on a list of flaws that apparently was adapted from a “List of 20 Loopholes in the Senate Immigration Bill” that Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) distributed in a June 4 press release. Andrews claimed the list from which he read was contained in a staff memo produced by Sessions' staff.

ANDREWS: Jeff Sessions, senator from Alabama, certainly knows what's in it. He knows enough of what's in it to know that it can't be repaired with any number of cosmetic amendments. It needs to die. We need to start over and begin enforcing current law. We need to make sure that the border is secured and the fence is built first. From a Jeff Sessions staff memo, 14 glaring flaws in the Bush-Kennedy-McCain immigration bill that the Senate will take up this week for the second time.

Andrews' first distortion was to claim that a probationary status provided by the bill is “renewable for life.”

ANDREWS: Illegal aliens get legal status before enforcement begins. That's the provisional Z visa. Twenty-four hours, illegal aliens get legal status. That's all the time that the feds have to do these millions of background checks. They won't get those done.

[...]

ANDREWS: Completion of background checks, including checks against criminal and terrorist databases, is not required for granting of amnesty for those provisional Z visas, as I said a minute ago. That's called probationary status in, in this bill, but that probationary status, Krista, as you know, it's renewable for life. You, you are perpetually allowed to be a legal resident of the United States once this passes.

In fact, the bill states that the documentation of probationary Z nonimmigrant visa status that the Department of Homeland Security (referred to in the legislation as “The Secretary”) provides must expire no later than six months after the federal government begins approval of applications for full Z nonimmigrant visas:

(4) PROBATIONARY AUTHORIZATION DOCUMENT. -- The Secretary shall provide each alien described in paragraph (1) with a counterfeit-resistant document that reflects the benefits and status set forth in paragraph (h)(1). The Secretary may by regulation establish procedures for the issuance of documentary evidence of probationary benefits and, except as provided herein, the conditions under which such documentary evidence expires, terminates, or is renewed. All documentary evidence of probationary benefits shall expire no later than six months after the date on which the Secretary begins to approve applications for Z nonimmigrant status.

Host Peter Boyles of 630 KHOW-AM made a related distortion on his June 8 broadcast when he agreed with his guest Robert Rector that the legislation's enforcement provisions “would occur after” the measure allegedly provided “amnesty” for current undocumented immigrants. As Colorado Media Matters noted, the legislation's provisions for permanent residence would not go into effect until after border security triggers. Such provisions also appear in the current version of the legislation:

SECTION 1. EFFECTIVE DATE TRIGGERS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL. -- With the exception of the probationary benefits conferred by section 601(h) of this Act, 6 the provisions of subtitle C of title IV, and the admission of aliens under section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)), as amended by title IV, the programs established by title IV, and the programs established by title VI that grant legal status to any individual or that adjust the current status of any individual who is unlawfully present in the United States to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, shall become effective on the date that the Secretary submits a written certification to the President and the Congress, based on analysis by and in consultation with the Comptroller General, that each of the following border security and other measures are established, funded, and operational.

Andrews also falsely claimed that gang members and child molesters are eligible for what he called the “bill's mass amnesty”:

ANDREWS: Number six: Criminals of all kinds, including gang members, child molesters, and aliens who have had their day in court, are now subject to deportation -- over 600,000 in that category. Criminals of all these kinds are eligible for this bill's mass amnesty.

Newsradio 850 KOA radio host “Gunny” Bob Newman made a similar falsehood on his June 6 broadcast when he stated that a vote against an amendment proposed by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) amounted to a vote “in favor of felons receiving amnesty.” As Colorado Media Matters noted, the version of the legislation then under consideration, Senate Amendment 1150, already stated, “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary shall, pursuant to the requirements of this section, grant a Z-A visa to an alien if the Secretary determines that the alien ... has not been convicted of any felony or misdemeanor, an element of which involves bodily injury, threat of serious bodily injury, or harm to property in excess of $500.”

The legislation has a specific provision on the "Inadmissibility and deportability of gang members." The legislation states:

(c) DEPORTABILITY. -- Section 237(a)(2) (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

"(F) ALIENS ASSOCIATED WITH CRIMINAL GANGS. -- Any alien, in or admitted to the United States, who at any time has participated in a criminal gang, knowing or having reason to know that such participation promoted, furthered, aided, or supported the illegal activity of the gang is deportable. The Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General may waive the application of this subparagraph."

The bill's proscription of illegal immigrants who have committed child molestation begins with the inclusion of such an offense in a section on Aggravated Felony. A broader section outlining "Grounds of Ineligibility" for Z nonimmigrant status bars immigrants convicted of an aggravated felony:

(1) GROUNDS OF INELIGIBILITY. -- An alien is ineligible for Z nonimmigrant status if the Secretary determines that the alien --

[...]

(E) is an alien --

(i) for whom there are reasonable grounds for believing that the alien has committed a serious criminal offense as described in section 101(h) of the Act outside the United States before arriving in the United States; or

(ii) for whom there are reasonable grounds for regarding the alien as a danger to the security of the United States; or

(F) has been convicted of --

(i) a felony;

(ii) an aggravated felony as defined at section 101(a)(43) of the Act;

(iii) 3 or more misdemeanors under Federal or State law; or

(iv) a serious criminal offense as described in section 101(h) of the Act;

Andrews also referred to the legislation's provision regarding in-state tuition, found in a section on Higher Education Assistance under Title B, The DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act:

ANDREWS: In-state tuition and higher education benefits will be made available to current illegal aliens who are granted amnesty even if the same in-state tuition rates are not offered to all U.S. citizens, which violates current federal law. Well, nevermind current federal law.

Here Andrews failed to note that rather than compel states to grant in-state tuition to illegal aliens, the provision would revise federal law to restore to the states the option of doing so without penalty. According to the National Immigration Law Center summary of the DREAM Act:

In-state tuition: Restore state option

The DREAM Act would also repeal section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), which currently discourages states from providing in-state tuition or other higher education benefits without regard to immigration status. Under section 505, states that provide a higher education benefit based on residency to undocumented immigrants must provide the same benefit to U.S. citizens in the same circumstances, regardless of their state of residence.

As Colorado Media Matters noted, Newman and Boyles made similar distortions about the provision in earlier versions of the legislation.