It looks like the real vote is going to take place tomorrow. Knight Ridder Newswire is reporting a number of amendments made to the bill today:
The Senate Judiciary Committee, rushing to craft a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, voted Monday to create a guest-worker program that would admit up to 400,000 low-skilled foreigners a year.
The workers could stay up to six years, then they'd have to return home unless they'd petitioned and been accepted for permanent residency and eventual U.S. citizenship. The panel approved those terms in an amendment sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass...
The panel approved an amendment by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., to shield church and charitable groups from criminal prosecution for providing aid to illegal immigrants, rejecting a more hard-line approach in a bill that the House of Representatives passed.
It also voted to nearly double the number of border patrol agents, calling for 12,000 more over the next five years, to bring the force to 23,000.
...
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/14199672.htm
Senate committee supports guest-worker program for immigrants
By Dave Montgomery
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee, rushing to craft a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, voted Monday to create a guest-worker program that would admit up to 400,000 low-skilled foreigners a year.
The workers could stay up to six years, then they'd have to return home unless they'd petitioned and been accepted for permanent residency and eventual U.S. citizenship. The panel approved those terms in an amendment sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
The committee also agreed to a pilot program that would allow 1.5 million undocumented immigrants over a five-year period to hold agricultural jobs under temporary visas. They, too, could apply for green cards to become permanent residents. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said that program would ensure a source of legal workers for thousands of agricultural jobs now largely held by undocumented workers drawing low wages.
With Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., pressing to finish a bill before the full Senate plunges into the immigration debate Tuesday, the panel struggled to find middle ground between those calling for tougher enforcement and pro-immigrant groups who seek to protect the estimated 12 million aliens now in the United States illegally.
The panel approved an amendment by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., to shield church and charitable groups from criminal prosecution for providing aid to illegal immigrants, rejecting a more hard-line approach in a bill that the House of Representatives passed.
It also voted to nearly double the number of border patrol agents, calling for 12,000 more over the next five years, to bring the force to 23,000.
At one point, Specter unveiled a "potential, theoretical" compromise that offered a path to permanent residency for many - but not all - illegal aliens who met certain conditions. But he dropped it after finding few takers.
"It was worth the effort, but it's not going to come to fruition," Specter lamented, underscoring the immense challenge of trying to find accord on a volatile issue that's dividing Congress and the American people.
Nearly 60 percent of U.S. citizens oppose allowing illegal aliens to apply for legal temporary-worker status, according an NBC News-Wall Journal Street poll. A Time survey found that three-fourths of Americans favor more border safeguards.
Continuing a chain of recent massive demonstrations across America, several thousand immigrants and activists gathered at the sunlit West Front of the Capitol to demand greater legal protections and denounce the House bill, which that threatens illegal immigrants with felony prison sentences.
Demonstrators joined hands to sing "We Shall Overcome," the anthem from America's civil rights protests, and brandished signs proclaiming "We are America" and "We are all immigrants." Many were undocumented immigrants who spoke little or no English.
Specter's committee had one day to finish its work under a deadline imposed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who planned to start Senate debate with his own measure - a tough border-enforcement plan - if Judiciary didn't produce a more comprehensive proposal by the start of business Tuesday.
Kennedy's amendment was drawn from a comprehensive bill that he's sponsoring with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Their bill, which a broad coalition of immigrant advocacy groups and business organizations embraces, would enable illegal immigrants now in the U.S. to apply for permanent residency and citizenship after paying fines and fees totaling $2,000 and meeting other conditions.
Under the guest-worker plan, foreigners must pay fees of up to $500 and show that they have U.S. jobs waiting. They would receive three-year visas, which could be renewed for another three years. After four years, they could apply for green cards.
Feinstein's proposal would allow undocumented immigrants who've worked in the United States two years to obtain "blue cards," which would enable them to work legally in agricultural jobs for three to five years. They could apply for green cards after paying $500 fines and back taxes.
President Bush, calling immigration one of the most important issues of his presidency, is urging Congress to enact a three-pronged approach comprising improved border security, aggressive enforcement at the workplace and a guest-worker program to give U.S. business a steady supply of low-skilled workers.
Bush hasn't fully defined his plan, but administration officials have said his guest-worker plan would cover both foreigners who want to come to the U.S. to work and aliens now in the country illegally, provided they pay substantial fines and meet other conditions.
The president underscored his demand for revisions in a speech Monday before several dozen newly naturalized citizens in Washington.
"Completing a comprehensive bill is not going to be easy," he said. "It will require all of us in Washington to make tough choices and compromises. And that is exactly what the American people sent us here to."
Dave Montgomery reports for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
