Senator Specter Proposes Modified Immigration Bill, Hopes To Debate It This Year
July 27, 2007 9:44 p.m. EST

Jessica Pupovac - AHN
Washington, DC (AHN) -- The ranking Republican member on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has made a last ditch effort to revive efforts toward immigration reform.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) issued a letter Friday to every senator, unveiling a new legislative package designed to win over critics, who stymied White House efforts earlier this year.

Rather than creating a co-called Z-visa, which is seen by many conservatives as giving the nation's approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, Specter is proposing simply removing their fugitive status.

That way, he wrote, "they would not be fearful every time they see a policeman, be protected from unscrupulous employers who threaten to turn them in if they don't do the employer's bidding, and be free to do things like rent apartments in cities which now preclude that."

While proposing more green cards be available for the nation's high-tech industry, Specter is not asking for a family unity proviso that largely divided the Senate before the bipartisan compromise package was tabled.

Specter said that he is meeting with groups from both sides of the immigration debate and thus far his proposal has garnered a "generally favorable response and, in many cases, an enthusiastic response." "I believe it is possible to enact comprehensive immigration reform in this Congress, perhaps even in this calendar year," he said.

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