Fury grows over US immigration bill

Senate defenders of the reform plan cite misinformation, as e-mails clog their mailboxes and calls jam the switchboards.

from the May 25, 2007 edition

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Calls and e-mails are mostly negative

Senators interviewed for this story say that their calls and e-mails have been running overwhelmingly negative on the bill but that they're just beginning to answer critics.

"We need time to show people what's in this package," says Lott, who was not one of the negotiators but who joined the effort to sell the bill this week.

The Mississippi senator urges his colleagues to take three questions home to voters this week: Is the current immigration situation intolerable? Is the bill before the Senate significantly better than the current situation? The answer to both questions is yes, he says.

His final question is this: Will more time make a better bill? With next year's election results uncertain for Republicans, the answer is "clearly no," says Lott.

"This," he says, "is our last best chance to make a significant improvement in our immigration laws."

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