On December 16, 2005 The Plain Dealer reported, "A hotly debated immigration reform bill in Washington puts an estimated quarter-million illegal or undocumented immigrants in Ohio - and about 10 million in the nation - in the government's cross hairs. One of the most controversial passages of the bill was changed Thursday by Republicans after wrangling on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. As originally proposed by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, any undocumented immigrant in the United States could be charged with an aggravated felony. He lowered the proposed violation from a felony to a misdemeanor. Still, Cleveland lawyer David Leopold, a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association national executive board, said the Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act was the worst piece of legislation he'd ever seen... 'This would only serve to drive 10 million people further underground and make anyone who helps those people in the smallest way eligible for arrest under federal law,' Leopold said Thursday."

This article cross-posted at the Pluralism Project's Religious Diversity News.