Deal on Immigration Bill
by
Doreen Carvajal
Senate negotiators from both parties announced Thursday that they had reached agreement on a comprehensive immigration bill that would offer legal status to most of the nation’s 12 million illegal immigrants while also toughening border security.
If the bill becomes law, it would result in the biggest changes in immigration law and policy in more than 20 years. That would provide President Bush with a political lift and a tangible accomplishment for his second term. It would also be a legislative achievement for the new Democratic leaders in Congress, though they said they would seek changes in the measure.
At the heart of the bill is a significant political trade-off. Democrats got a legalization program, which they have sought for many years. Republicans got a new “merit-based system of immigration,” intended to make the United States more competitive in a global economy.
But the politics of the deal are precarious. Democrats are already trying to tamp down concerns of Hispanic groups, who fear that the bill would make it more difficult for immigrants to bring relatives from abroad. At the same time, Republican negotiators face blistering criticism from some conservatives, who say the bill would grant a virtual amnesty to people who had broken the law.
Mr. Bush praised the Senate measure, which incorporates many of his ideas, saying, “I really am anxious to sign a comprehensive immigration bill as soon as I possibly can.”
The bill goes next week to the Senate floor, where negotiators predicted that it would receive overwhelming support. One reason for that optimism was the partnership in evidence at the news conference where the package was announced by 10 senators, including Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a liberal Democrat, and Jon Kyl of Arizona, a conservative who is chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.
Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, came off the presidential campaign trail to embrace the compromise, a potentially risky step because the proposal is unpopular with many conservatives, who are expected to play a large role in choosing the party’s presidential candidate.
