Thread: Senators seek compromise on immigration

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Posted on Wed, Apr. 05, 2006

Senators seek compromise on immigration

BY MICHELLE MITTELSTADT
The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON - The Senate moved toward a showdown Thursday over legislation overhauling immigration laws, even as Republicans and Democrats acknowledged they lack the votes to pass the bill as now written.

Senators and their aides negotiated furiously behind the scenes throughout the day and night Wednesday, chasing an as-yet elusive deal that could allow the Senate to adopt a comprehensive bill increasing border security and dealing with an illegal immigrant population that exceeds 11 million.

But absent an 11th-hour breakthrough, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., warned that any immigration overhaul could die in the Senate.

"We may never see this bill again this year," he warned.

Republicans remained more hopeful.

"There is no such thing in the Senate as do-or-die," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa. "There's always another day."

The major sticking point remains what to do with the nation's illegal immigrants.

The Judiciary Committee-approved bill now under Senate debate would essentially allow most illegal immigrants to gain a path to eventual citizenship. While legalization has gained near-total support from Democrats, many Republicans have balked at what they call amnesty.

The negotiators' dilemma is how to fashion a deal that would gain GOP support without driving away Democrats - who would provide about 40 of the votes necessary for a legalization proposal.

Republicans are floating a tentative compromise that would treat illegal immigrants differently based on their length of stay. A three-tiered system is envisioned.

Illegal immigrants who arrived after January 2004 (about 2 million people) would be offered no path to legal status. Proponents suggest the newcomers would leave as jobs for illegal workers dry up amid tighter workplace enforcement.

Those who can prove they've been here more than five years would "earn" legalization by working for six years, paying $2,000 in fines and back taxes, undergoing background checks and learning English and civics.

People who have been here more than two years but less than five years would face a more circuitous path to legal residence. They would be required to travel to a port of entry outside the United States to file their paperwork. They could then return with a conditional work permit and apply for a green card - though the 87,000 allotment under consideration for a group about 3-million strong could keep them in the queue for years.

The details of the Senate plan changed daily, if not hourly, as senators and staff roamed from meeting to meeting in the Capitol, under intense pressure to complete a bill before lawmakers begin a two-week recess Monday.

"It's chaos," Specter said.

Hoping to keep the heat on Congress to adopt a legalization plan, immigrant-rights, religious and labor unions, which have dispatched hundreds of thousands of people into the streets in recent weeks, are planning another show of force. Rallies are planned in 63 cities, including Dallas, on Monday. Crowds "in the millions" will turn out, said Jaime Contreras, president of the National Capital Immigrant Coalition, which is coordinating the events. Still other rallies are planned Sunday.

But movement on Capitol Hill is proving elusive.

The Senate back-room talks began in earnest Monday when it became clear that the Judiciary Committee bill lacks the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster by opponents from both parties.

Democrats were invited to the negotiating table for the first time Wednesday - though they made clear they weren't signing onto anything just yet.

"There's been no judgment, no decision, no agreement," said Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, the Democrats' leading voice on immigration.

Kennedy didn't appear to endorse the Republicans' concept of dealing with illegal immigrants differently based on length of stay. "I don't understand the concept of treating some of them one way and others in another way," he said.

Even as Republicans courted Democrats, they harshly attacked them for refusing to allow votes on amendments Democrats consider harmful.

"The immigration system is broken and yet the Democrats today don't have the courage to address the problem," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said.


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Dallas Morning News correspondent Sudeep Reddy contributed to this report.

http://today.reuters.com

UPDATE 2-U.S. Senate seeks to break impasse on immigration
Wed Apr 5, 2006 7:36 PM ET


(Recasts, updates throughout)

By Donna Smith

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) - Senators on Wednesday searched for a compromise to break an impasse over an immigration overhaul that could give millions of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship as President George W. Bush urged legislation including a guest-worker program.

Backers of bipartisan legislation being debated in the Senate said they hoped to break the deadlock before a procedural vote to limit debate that is set for Thursday morning. Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who backs the bill, said failure to reach compromise could doom the legislation.

"They are struggling to find some unity in their caucus and they haven't yet," Durbin said of the Republicans.

The issue deeply divides the Republican majority and lawmakers were negotiating a possible compromise about the country's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants. Those who have been in the country less than five years would face steeper hurdles to citizenship than those who have been in the country longer.

At the same time, in an unusually emotional exchange, Republicans blasted Democrats for blocking votes on amendments and said they would unite against the Democratic bid to end the debate.

Democrats said they were trying to protect the bipartisan bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee against Republican measures that would gut it.

"I haven't seen an issue in recent years that has so much emotion associated with it," said Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican. McCain is a principal author of the bipartisan legislation but said he would follow Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and fellow Republicans and vote against limiting debate.

"Twelve million people are living in the shadows, and I would argue that today our Democrat colleagues are living in the shadows," Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said.

"It's in the eyes of the beholder who's stonewalling it," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "I think we have a real bipartisan opportunity to fix our immigration system thanks to the hard work of the Democrats and the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee.

'VITAL DEBATE'

Earlier on Wednesday, Bush urged lawmakers to reach agreement on a bill that included his proposed temporary worker program.

"This is a vital debate," Bush said after a White House meeting with Republican congressional leaders. "I strongly urge them to come to a conclusion as quickly as possible and pass a comprehensive bill."

Bush said the bill must include a guest-worker program, saying it was not amnesty but would "enable us to more secure the border, will recognize that there are people here working hard for jobs Americans won't do." He opposed an amnesty that provides automatic citizenship.

The Judiciary Committee bill would give illegal immigrants a chance to earn U.S. citizenship. They would have to pay a fine, pay their taxes, show good character and learn English. Backers said it would take about 11 years to gain citizenship, but they would be legal residents during that time.

Any Senate bill would have to be worked out with a tough border security and enforcement bill passed by the House of Representatives last December. That bill has sparked nationwide protests by Hispanic groups and their supporters. It defines illegal presence in the country as a felony, instead of a civil offense, and calls for the construction of a fence along the U.S. border with Mexico.