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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson says the immigration plan favored by President Bush and many Senate Democrats is not amnesty.

The New Mexico governor says the plan will allow illegal immigrants to come "out of the shadows" and work and pay their way to citizenship.

In an interview with The Associated Press in Sacramento, California, Richardson says it's not amnesty when the bill requires thousands of dollars in fines, nine years to get a green card and 13 years to become a citizen.

But like some others in his party, Richardson says the bill is too tough on families. It would limit preferential visas for families of immigrants already in the US. Richardson says considering job skills over family reunification would go against past immigration measures.

He also says the federal government should help states cover health care and incarceration costs for immigrants who enter the country illegally.