Hopes grow for passage of U.S. immigration bills
By Rachel L. Swarns

International Herald Tribune

Tuesday, December 26, 2006
WASHINGTON

Counting on the support of the new Democratic majority in Congress, Democratic lawmakers and their Republican allies are working on measures that would place millions of illegal immigrants on a more direct path to citizenship than would a bill the Senate passed in the spring.

The lawmakers are considering abandoning a requirement in the Senate bill that would compel several million illegal immigrants to leave the United States before becoming eligible to apply for citizenship.

The lawmakers are also considering denying financing for 700 miles, or 1,100 kilometers, of fencing along the border with Mexico, called for in a law championed by Republicans and that passed with significant Democratic support.

Details of the legislation, which would be introduced early next year, are being drafted. The lawmakers, who hope for bipartisan support, will almost certainly face pressure from some Republicans and conservative Democrats to compromise on the issues.

The Senate plans to introduce its immigration bill next month, with an eye toward passage in March or April, officials said. The House is expected to consider its version later. President George W. Bush said last week that he hoped to sign an immigration bill next year.

The leading lawmakers drafting the legislation include Senator Edward Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, along with Representative Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, and Representative Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat from Illinois.

"I'm very hopeful about this, both in terms of the substance and the politics of it," said Kennedy, the incoming chairman of the Senate Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship Subcommittee.

Kennedy acknowledged that there would be hurdles. But he and other lawmakers say that Republicans and Democrats are now more likely to work together to repair a system widely considered to be broken.

House Republicans blocked debate of the bill that passed the Senate this year, saying it amounted to an amnesty for lawbreakers and voicing confidence that the stance would touch off a groundswell of support in the congressional elections. The strategy largely failed.

Hispanic voters, a swing constituency that Republicans covet, abandoned the party in large numbers. Several Republican hard-liners, including Representatives John Hostettler of Indiana and J.D. Hayworth of Arizona, lost their seats.

Domestic security officials have voiced support for important elements of the framework under consideration. Michael Chertoff, secretary for homeland security, has repeatedly raised doubts about the effectiveness of border fencing in remote desert areas. Bush signed the fence bill this year, but Congress did not appropriate enough money for it.

Officials say that they would also prefer a less burdensome process than the original Senate bill outlined.

That bill divided the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants into three groups: those living in the United States for five years or more, those there for two to five years and those present for less than two years.

All but the illegal immigrants living in the United States for five years or more, roughly seven million, would have to leave the country briefly to be eligible for legal status. Those in the country for fewer than two years would have to leave the country and would not even be guaranteed a slot in a guest- worker plan.

Domestic security officials said that the original plan would have been enormously difficult to administer because many illegal immigrants lacked documentation to prove how long they had been in the United States. The officials said that it would have fueled a market in fraudulent documents as illegal immigrants scrambled for proof of residency.