WASHINGTON – Sens. John McCain and Edward M. Kennedy are putting together an immigration bill that would subject illegal immigrants to fines, but allow them to remain in the United States and earn a chance to apply for permanent residency. The measure is an alternative to President Bush's guest worker proposal sought by employers but opposed by many conservatives.
Speaking Thursday at the Naval Academy, McCain, R-Ariz., said he and Kennedy, D-Mass., hoped to introduce their legislation next week.
Under their proposal, illegal immigrants would get three-year visas that could be renewed once. After completing six years of work, the immigrants would be eligible to "get in the back of the line" to apply for permanent legal residency, McCain said.
Deporting the 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the country is not practical, McCain told midshipmen during a guest lecture.
"There are some who say send them back to their countries," McCain said. "It's not possible. It's not going to happen."
Last year, Bush urged a program that would be open to illegal immigrants and other foreigners. Bush supports giving workers legal status for three-year renewable periods, but wants them to return to their home countries when their job is done. The White House never submitted a written proposal to Congress.
Other groups support allowing the immigrants to earn legal permanent residency after a period of work.
A spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on immigration subcommittee, said the McCain-Kennedy plan amounts to a "work and stay" program.
Cornyn "prefers a work and return program, as does the president," said his spokesman, Don Stewart.
Cornyn and Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., hope to have a draft of their immigration proposal in about two months, Stewart said.
Associated Press writer Gretchen Parker in Annapolis, Md., contributed to this story.