Thread: Senators seal immigration deal

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060406/pl_ ... tion_dc_11


Senators seal immigration deal


5 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate leaders on Thursday announced a bipartisan compromise on an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws, giving some illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and creating a temporary worker program.


"I think we're looking like we may be able to dance this afternoon," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada told reporters.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, appeared with Reid and said "We have a great opportunity to deliver to the American people what they expect, what they deserve," a comprehensive border security and immigration reform bill.

The deal, which would include a temporary worker program backed by President George W. Bush, would allow illegal immigrants who have been in the United States more than five years a chance to become citizens if they meet a series of requirements and paid a fine. Other rules would apply to people in the country less than five years.

"We still have obstacles ahead," said Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), an Arizona Republican who helped lead the debate. McCain cited some pending amendments that could gut the compromise as well as eventual negotiations with the House of Representatives, which passed a much harsher bill that concentrated only on border security and enforcement of immigration laws.

McCain said Bush supports the compromise. Bush was expected to make a statement shortly.

The Senate compromise would give illegal immigrants who had been in the United States less than five years but more than two years a chance to obtain a temporary work visa. They would have to leave the country and reapply to come back. Those who had been in the country less than two years would not be legalized.

How can they possibly enforce this, all illegals will say they have been here forever and there is no way to prove otherwise. Send them all home and let them apply the right way and then we can talk. There are no real solutions come out of this debate. Nothing realistic or enforceable. The only way we can be sure when and why they come here is to send them back and start over. Guest workers, give me a break, we cannot even keep track of what we have here now.

This is garbage.. Our gov't has let the American people down.

And I wonder why none of them questioned how they would figure out how long a illegal has been here? Oh, and what they going to do if they are here less than 2 years? Kick them out? I doubt it, they'll probably cite them and tell them to go to immigration court like they've done in the past and thats it.

This is nothing more then a bill that gives Amnesty to illegals.

They should all go live on the border, get shot at, get TB, leprosy, have their jobs taken out form under them.

What's the next step, we can't let this happen

It has to go back to the House for full approval, at least now you know exactly who to vote out in the Senate.

The House will be pretty crazy this coming week.

where do we get the voting records on this, or, records indicating who agreed to what?

This runs a bit contrary to what Numbers USA said in the email I just got. They seem to be trying to MASS to see the vote this afternoon not go the way Mc Cain/Kennedy want it to go.

Pinto Bean

We all know that everytime these two parties come to an agreement, America is going to get screwed.

Originally Posted by lsmith1338

How can they possibly enforce this, all illegals will say they have been here forever and there is no way to prove otherwise.

There is no way on earth that this could ever be enforced, and they know it.

We've just witnessed the Senate and the President surrender the country to an invading army, and they're talking about dancing about it.

Senators say they have deal on immigration
Tentative compromise includes temporary worker program

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12184299/


• Immigration bill compromise
April 6: Senate Republicans and Democrats closed in on a last-minute compromise on immigration legislation. NBC’s Chip Reid has the details.
MSNBC



Updated: 12:55 p.m. ET April 6, 2006
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans and Democrats closed in on a last-minute compromise Thursday on legislation opening the way to legal status and eventual citizenship for many of the 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he had been assured President Bush supports the measure, and would publicly say so later in the day.

As outlined, the measure would provide for enhanced border security, regulate the future flow of immigrants into the United States and offer legalized status to the millions of men, women and children in the country unlawfully.


"We've had a huge breakthrough" overnight, said Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

Not done deal yet
Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, agreed, but cautioned that the agreement had not yet been sealed.

Even so, the presence of both leaders at a celebratory news conference underlined the expectation that the Senate could pass the most sweeping immigration bill in two decades, and act before leaving on a long vacation at the end of the week.

The developments marked a turnaround from Wednesday, when it appeared negotiations had faltered. The key sticking point involved the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, and the struggle to provide them an opportunity to gain legal status without exposing lawmakers to the political charge that they were advocating amnesty for lawbreakers.

While final details were not available, in general, the compromise would require illegal immigrants who have been in the United States between two years and five years to return to their home country briefly, then re-enter as temporary workers. They could then begin a process of seeking citizenship.

Illegal immigrants here longer than five years would not be required to return home; those in the country less than two years would be required to leave without assurances of returning, and take their place in line with others seeking entry papers.

Not everyone was satisfied. A spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn said the Texas Republican was opposed to the measure. There was no immediate reaction from GOP Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona or Jeff Sessions of Alabama, two other prominent critics of earlier proposals dealing with illegal immigrants.

Debate includes other issues
Beyond the illegal immigrants, there were other thorny issues to be clarified. Senate leaders had yet to publicly unveil draft legislation to make sure that only legal workers were hired in the future, for example.

Nor was it clear what type of assurances, if any, Democrats had received from the White House and Republicans about compromise talks with the Republican-controlled House later this year. The House has approved legislation limited to border security, and while GOP leaders have signaled support for a broader measure, Democrats have expressed concern in recent days that they will be pressured to make unacceptable additional concessions to achieve a final compromise.

The closed-door negotiations proceeded as the Senate went through the motions on a test vote on an earlier version of immigration legislation.

Democrats needed 60 votes to prevail, and as expected, they fell far short. The attempt gained only 39 votes, while 60 senators were opposed.

In an ironic juxtaposition, the vote unfolded at the same time Frist, Reid and more than a dozen other senators were celebrating the breakthrough.