In Congress, a long road ahead for immigration bill
The Senate agreement reached Thursday still faces stiff opposition in the Senate and the House.
After months of quiet negotiations, a historic immigration bill debuts in the Senate on Monday, where it faces a bruising floor fight – and even more uncertain prospects later this summer in the House.
At the heart of the deal is a tradeoff: legal status for some 12 million undocumented people and a new guest-worker program in exchange for sweeping new enforcement provisions – and the enforcement system must be in place first.
"The bill isn't exactly the way I would have written it, but it is a strong compromise and the best chance we will have to finally fix this broken system. The price of inaction is too high," said Sen. Edward Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts, in a statement on the eve of Monday's debate.
In a bid to keep their "grand bargain" intact, key negotiators, led by Senators Kennedy and Jon Kyl (R) of Arizona, say they will ban together to block amendments seen as hostile to the bill.
It's a tactic that key senators used to pass a sweeping energy bill 2005, after years of failed efforts at reform. Like energy policy, immigration is an issue that falls out across party lines – with local concerns, especially for representatives in the House, playing a decisive role.
On the House side, Democratic leaders say they will require that President Bush help win over at least 70 Republican votes – viewed by insiders as an impossibly high hurdle – before they will move legislation to the floor.
"While the bipartisan Senate agreement starts the process, I have serious concerns about some elements of this proposal – the bill must be improved in the Senate," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a statement.
Within hours of the deal on Thursday, opposition broke out across party lines in both the House and Senate. The sharpest criticism came from lawmakers who see the proposed new law as a form of amnesty that rewards people who have broken the law, over those seeking to enter the US legally.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R) of Iowa says that he voted for a bill granting amnesty to undocumented workers in 1986, only to see illegal immigration continue to soar. He says he "learned that rewarding illegality only promotes illegality. I won't repeat the mistake of 1986 by voting for amnesty this year," he said. Sen. Robert Byrd (D) of West Virginia, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the measure to give automatic legal status to as many as 12 million illegal immigrants "a bad dream."
In the House, the proposed deal drives a wedge through both parties. Rep. Walter Jones (R) of North Carolina – one of only two Republicans who have supported House Democrats opposed to the Iraq war – said he is outraged by the immigration deal and will not support it because it includes amnesty.
Many House Democrats oppose the bill because it assigns less value to family reunification, in favor of job skills, as a factor in granting visas.
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WHAT'S IN THE IMMIGRATION BILL?
Illegal immigrants who arrived in US before 2007 (some 12 million):
•can immediately receive a probationary card, which allows them to legally live and work in the US
•are eligible for a renewable Z visa, offering a path to permanent legal residency status
•are required to pay $5,000 fine, pass a criminal background check, and be employed
•and are heads of household are required to return to their home countries within eight years
For immigrants seeking future entry:
•shifts from system weighted toward family ties toward one with preference for people with advanced degrees, skills
•gives points based on immigrant's education, work experience, English proficiency, and family connections
•allows spouses and children under 21 to reunite with their families
•seeks to clear a backlog in visas for family reunification that will help some 4 million families in the first eight years
•initially distributes about 1.1 million family-based (89 percent) and 140,000 merit-based (11 percent) green cards
•after eight years, allocates 550,000 family-based (60 percent) and 380,000 merit-based (40 percent) green cards
Temporary guest-worker program:
•would admit between 400,000 and 600,000 temporary workers per year
•would allow immigrants to work in the US for two years, then require them to return home
•can renew guest-worker visas twice, but workers must leave for a year in between
Enforcement, security provisions:
•activates temporary guest-worker and Z visa programs only after implementing specific security "triggers"
•"triggers" include: 18,000 border patrol agents, 370 miles of additional border fencing, 70 radar and camera towers along the US southern border, and an electronic employee-verification system for the workplace
Sources: Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Reform Act of 2007; Senate staff briefings
