http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/13211337.htm

Posted on Sat, Nov. 19, 2005

Senators at odds over legal-status provision

By DAVE MONTGOMERY

Star-Telegram Washington Bureau


WASHINGTON - A draft immigration bill advanced by Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter is being criticized for a provision that would require millions of illegal immigrants to return to their home countries before being eligible to obtain legal status in the United States.

"It's horrible, it's deplorable," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Friday in denouncing the provision, which duplicates a key feature in an immigration bill co-sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Cornyn and Kyl maintain that it would be unfair to allow immigrants now in the country illegally a chance to jump ahead of those who have been waiting for years to enter the United States through legal channels.

Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, recently began circulating his draft compromise plan in an effort to find a middle ground as his committee moves toward crafting immigration legislation early next year. Specter's draft includes elements of three competing immigration bills under consideration by the committee.

In a letter to committee members, Specter said he is embracing tough border security and enforcement features in the Cornyn-Kyl bill and an immigrant guest worker program that forms the cornerstone of competing legislation co-sponsored by McCain and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

The Specter plan also incorporates elements of legislation authored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.

Specter said Friday that he is putting major provisions of the rival plans under one umbrella to expedite debate but has not committed himself to any of the individual bills.

In his letter to colleagues, Specter said the draft will serve "as the starting point for discussions on how to address the issue of millions of undocumented individuals currently in the United States."

Estimates of the number of illegal immigrants range up to 11 million, with an estimated 1.4 million in Texas. The Lone Star State has the second largest population of illegal immigrants behind California, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Cornyn called Specter's draft a step in the right direction toward drawing together competing forces as Congress attempts to fashion the most sweeping immigration overhaul in two decades. President Bush is pushing Congress to enact a multi-faceted immigration bill that would toughen border security, bolster workplace enforcement and create a guest worker program.

The most acrimonious debate is centered on variations of the guest worker concept. The administration's proposal and the Cornyn-Kyl bill would require foreign workers to return home after their visas expire, while the McCain-Kennedy bill would put guest workers on a path toward U.S. citizenship.

Cornyn and Kyl would require all immigrants now living in the country illegally to return to their native countries within five years in order to apply for the guest worker visas or other U.S. immigration programs.

Specter's draft embraces that feature with a modification that would enable qualified illegal workers to apply for temporary worker status during the five-year grace period before their forced departure. The modification is designed to shorten the amount of the time that they would be required to be out of the country, Senate aides said.