Plan to Send Immigrants Home is Defeated

WASHINGTON (By Julie Hirschfeld Davis, AP) June 27, 2007 — The Senate on Wednesday killed a Republican proposal to require all adult illegal immigrants to return home temporarily in order to qualify for permanent lawful status in this country.

The vote was 53-45 to table an amendment by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, that was one of several proposals designed to respond to conservatives who decry President Bush's immigration bill as a form of amnesty.

The bill could grant lawful status to as many as 12 million illegal immigrants as long as they passed background checks and paid fines and fees. Heads of household seeking permanent legal residency would have to return home to apply for green cards, however.

Without her amendment, Hutchison said shortly before the vote, "the amnesty tag that has been put on this bill will remain. It is the key issue in the bill for the American people."

Republicans and Democrats were both seeking to add restrictions to the legalization program, from barring unlawful immigrants from getting green cards, to permitting only those in the U.S. four years or more to be legalized.

The revived immigration measure, which also would toughen border security and institute a new system for weeding out illegal immigrants from workplaces, is facing steep challenges from the right and left.

Conservatives call the measure too lenient toward unlawful immigrants, while liberals say it could rip apart families and doom guest workers to exploitation at the hands of unscrupulous employers.

Votes on key amendments were continuing Wednesday afternoon under a complex and carefully orchestrated procedure designed to overcome stalling tactics by conservative foes. It will allow votes only on a limited list of 26 amendments before a critical test-vote on the bill Thursday.

"It's going to be a rough ride," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., an architect of the bill. "We're in trench warfare."

Democrats, too, were seeking to limit the legalization program for unlawful immigrants. Also getting a vote was an amendment by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., that would allow only those who had been in the country for at least four years to gain lawful status.

Webb said his proposal would raise the public's comfort-level with granting lawful status to illegal immigrants.

"People in this country who traditionally would be supporting fair immigration policies, but who are worried about the legalization process in this bill, would come forward and support this," Webb said.

His amendment would scrap the return-home requirement, which he called unrealistic and impractical.

Republican framers of the bill, seeking to sap support from Hutchison's amendment, were proposing their own, less burdensome return-home requirement for illegal immigrants. It would apply only to heads of household and would give them three years to meet the requirement.

Also expected to be voted on is an amendment by Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., that would bar illegal immigrants from eventually getting green cards.

Democratic amendments to give family members of citizens and legal permanent residents more chances to immigrate are also slated for votes.