US Congress in key immigration deal AFP Published: Thursday May 17, 2007
Key US Democrat and Republican senators said Thursday they had reached a deal on bringing 12 million illegal immigrants out of the shadows, after exhaustive road-the-clock talks.
Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy said the deal was the best chance in years to secure US borders and provide a path to legal status for illegal immigrants.
The crunch talks, which stretched into overtime this week, and forced Senate Democratic leaders to postpone debate on the issue, produced an immigration bill which is now likely to be taken up by the chamber next week.
The process was seen as the last chance to broker a deal on the hot button issue before the US political scene is consumed by presidential and congressional elections next year.
"Politics is the art of the possible and the agreement we just reached is the best possible chance we will have in years to secure our borders, bring millions of people out of the shadows and into the sunshine of America," Kennedy said.
"It's time for action, 2007 is the year we must fix our broken system. We must strike while the iron is hot," said Kennedy.
Kennedy said there was broad agreement in the deal on the doubling of border guards, securing US frontiers and crackdowns on smugglers and employers who employ illegal immigrants.
The bill also included a reworked point system for green card or permanent resident immigrants to the United States and will allow millions of undocumented and illegal workers to set out on the long road to citizenship.
There was also haggling over the number of so-called "guest workers" who would be allowed to apply for green cards.
The deal also focuses on the key issue of "reunification" of families, that have one member in the United States and other relatives unable to join them.
Republican Senator Arlen Spector described the deal as a "reasonable product," but warned that it would be attacked by special interests from both the right and left of the political spectrum.
Illegal immigration remains a key legacy issue for President George W. Bush in his penultimate year in the White House, and his proposals on the issue had been supported by many Democrats but hit strong resistance from members of his own Republican Party.
Along with a border crackdown, Bush himself has advocated regularizing a large part of the illegal immigrants living in the United States. Anti-immigration politicians accused him of supporting amnesty for all illegal immigrants.
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