Immigration reform frozen in US Senate
Posted on : 2007-06-08

Washington- A legislation hailed last month as a historic immigration reform appeared to die late Thursday in the US Senate, where a vote to end debate failed badly despite the support of the leadership of the centre-left Democratic majority. The late-night vote to end debate got 45 votes in the 100-member upper chamber, where 60 votes are required to bring legislation to a vote. Without an end to debate, the measure is effectively dead.

The vote was a setback for the fragile compromise, hammered out between US President George W Bush's conservative White House and leading Democrats in Congress.

The bill has been at the top of Bush's domestic agenda for years, but he was unable to convince fellow centre-right Republicans, who controlled both chambers of Congress from 2003-07, to back his pro- immigration approach to reform.

The bill would overhaul immigration laws, providing for an expanded "guest worker" programme and a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million or more people living illegally in the United States.

While offering concessions to interest groups across the political spectrum, it proven to be unpalatable in many quarters.

US Senator Trent Lott, a right-wing Republican from Mississippi, had supported the bill and said earlier Thursday, "If we can't do this, we ought to vote to dissolve the Congress and go home and wait for the next election."

The bill drew criticism from the left for favouring immigrants with high job and education skills and for curtailing the popular temporary H1B visa programme that has allowed foreigners with strong technical skills to obtain Green Cards.

"Rather than allowing the market and American employers to determine the numbers and the types of workers that meet the employer's specific requirements, the bill provides for (a) ... dictated point system for family-based immigration," said the United States India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) in a recent statement.

The bill would "devastate local economies driven by the tech sector," USINPAC said.

Employers of low-skilled labour, such as farmers and branches of the service industry, were unhappy because it would have limited the flow of labour to keep their businesses competitive.

White House and Congressional leader had agreed to double the number of border guards, boost enforcement against employers who hire illegal workers and crack down on immigrant smugglers - a gesture to conservative Republicans and Democrats whose main priority is securing the border.

Once enforcement goals are met, the plan would create a temporary- worker programme to reduce pressure on US borders and allow workers to come to the US "for a short period of time" to fill jobs Americans don't want, Bush said.

Illegal immigrants already in the country would have to pay a fine, learn English, pay US taxes and pass a background check before being considered for legal status. In applying for a work permit and citizenship, they would have to get in line behind all of those who have followed the law.

Bush had been campaigning for the bill in recent weeks, with frequent references to bringing illegal immigrants "out of the shadows without amnesty and without animosity."

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