Posted on 04/06/2006 8:33:43 AM PDT by STARWISE
WASHINGTON - In a last stab at compromise, Senate Republicans and Democrats reported progress Thursday toward agreement on legislation opening the way to legal status and eventual citizenship for many of the 11 million immigrants now in the U.S. illegally.
"There's been tremendous progress overnight," said Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada, the Democratic leader, while Majority Leader Bill Frist also expressed optimism that a long-sought compromise might be at hand.
There was no immediate reaction from President Bush, who has made immigration legislation a key priority.
The developments occurred after Frist unveiled a new bill late Wednesday night on the subject as the Senate headed into a test vote on the most sweeping immigration bill in two decades.
In general, the legislation would provide for enhanced border security, regulate the flow of future immigrants into the United States and settle the legal fate of the estimated 11 million men, women and children already in the country.
It was the fate of the illegal immigrant population that proved hardest to legislate, and it has left the Senate on the verge of gridlock for days.
(snip)
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., as well as other key senators met before the vote to review terms of a proposed compromise.
In general, it would require illegal immigrants who have been in the United States between two years and five years to return to their home country briefly, then re-enter as temporary workers. They could then begin a process of seeking citizenship.
Illegal immigrants here longer than five years would not be required to return home; those in the country less than two years would be required to leave without assurances of returning, and take their place in line with others seeking entry papers.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Actually only 240,000 of the 20,000,000 who passed through Ellis Island were rejected, that's about 0.1%.
BTW, TB was rampant throughtout the country. There is a reason that there were sanitariums until the 1940's.
As far as I know, restaurants don't have a right to a vast pool of cheap labor.
Too many businesses have this entitlement mentality.
If a few thousand burger joints shut down, that's too bad.
And that goes for construction firms too. No one owes them employees.
We've come up with solutions that will result in self-deportation.
- Cut off all social services from non-citizens
- Punish employers of illegals with prison time
Yes, because they've been so successful in convincing Rush to change his mind on Immigration for the last couple of years. [sarcasm]
Oh come on. You expect me to believe that?
That's crap.
I watched all of the presidential debates in 2000 and 2004. I knew then as I know now Bush43 proposed a worker card system. And he has made many a speech about in the past.
For you to tell me you didn't understand it ... well ... makes me think you were acting like a liberal democrat for crying out loud.
I got to admit I feel for a number of you in the USA over this issue.
But in the same breathe I don't see how you can be so strongly slamming this President the way you and others are and telling the world not to vote for the GOP when you and the others voted for him during the last two presidential elections and thus, the worker card system. If this is such a serious issue for you and many others, you should not have voted for him in 2000 and 2004.
Thanks, they're starting to get pretty popular.
If you two aren't fed up with being screwed fine.
Many of us are.
If we clean house now we'll have a stronger party later, if we don't the dirt will just continue to pile up.
I'd rather do the dirty work now and benefit from it later than wait until there's nothing worth saving.
No one said it would be easy. Ridding a body of a metastasized cancer makes the patient very ill for a while. In fact, it can nearly kill them. But the cancer must be removed or the patient dies.
bump
Maybe it's not a job for the police at this point, 11 million invaders might be the job of the NG/Military.
I hope the House hangs tough.
Frist and most of the Republican Senators are as vile as the Dems. They should all be flushed.
This cockamamie scheme is unworkable and these lying panderers know it.
The sad thing about this is, like the tax issue during his Daddy's term, it will be used by the Dems against us in 2006 and 2008. The Repubs are being sucker-punched and don't even know it.
Then how do people know that illegals are so important to the agricultural and service industry if no one knows what one looks like?
Maybe none of the illegals are working at all.
Thats fine by me, since we don't have any use for open border trash like you.
Just go back to the DU and stay out of our hair.
If you can't tell a mexican worker then you are a moron, just don't tell us that we cannot, because we know that we can.
Get a quarter, buy a clue, get lost.
The President is on live now touting the bill.
Very brief, no content.
Just like the good old days, thanks to your border-hopping buddies and their enablers in the United States Senate.
Saying "Deport" to the FROBLs is like shining light on a vampire. The response is hysterical screels of "Not possible!", "Can't do it!" and even "Not fair!" - kind of like mention of the Great American Wall.
Too many businesses have this entitlement mentality
And you will set up your own central committe telling how people can run restaurants.
A hint, it was tried before in the place called the Soviet Union, and that place imploded.
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