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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Senate reaches accord on guest worker program Senate reaches accord on guest worker program Key change halves program to allow foreign workers into the country. By Nicole Gaouette Times Staff Writer 6:20 PM PDT, May 23, 2007 The Senate, changing a key part of the immigration bill, voted today to cut in half a proposed program to allow foreign workers into the country. The vote was the first of several as Republicans try to stiffen the bill's provisions for legal and illegal immigrants and Democrats target a key Republican element of the bill that limits family-based immigration. The bill, engineered by a small bipartisan group, hinges on a bargain that gives Democrats a provision that would legalize illegal immigrants who already were in the country before January of this year. In exchange, Republicans won a shift away from a family-based immigration system to one that rewards education and skill and is meant to help meet the nation's economic needs. Both sides in the coalition have made it clear that any changes to those central elements of the bill could destroy their bargain, their unity and possibly the bill itself. "We are going to see a lot of amendments designed to appeal to various constituent groups," said Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the bill's lead Republican architect. He added that as long as the changes didn't touch the "central bargain," the bipartisan group would "go forward with the regular process" of voting on amendments. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) sponsored the amendment to halve the bill's temporary worker program, which would guarantee two-year visas for 400,000 workers a year to fill mostly low-wage jobs in the restaurant, hospitality and construction industries. The amendment passed, 74 to 24. Bingaman, who said the program was too large and untested, introduced the same amendment last year, when it passed overwhelmingly. "This is the prudent thing to do," he said. "It will not destroy the bill." But the House never voted on last year's bill. Kyl conceded that Bingaman's amendment would not kill the bargain at the heart of the bill, although he said it would make the guest worker program less effective. But Kyl said another feature of Bingaman's amendment could be a deal breaker. This would remove the administration's ability to adjust up or down the number of annual visas for workers. He said he hoped that the ability to adjust numbers would be reinstated. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-N.C.) introduced a measure that would mandate jail sentences of at least 60 days for immigrants caught crossing the border who had previously been convicted in the U.S. Graham said that although the immigration debate had focused on social and economic issues, now "it's about national security problems associated with illegal immigration." He cited the case of Angel Maturino Resendiz, also known as "the railroad killer," an illegal immigrant who was deported multiple times after committing crimes. He was caught after reentering the United States and erroneously released. He went on to kill two people. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) objected to the Graham amendment, which Kyl co-sponsored, describing it as a "large federal mandate" that local communities would pay for. Bingaman said it "loads more debt on U.S. taxpayers just to show we're getting tough on crime." Democrats focused on reversing the reduced emphasis on family-based migration with amendments introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and co-sponsored by two Democratic presidential candidates. One Menendez amendment, co-sponsored by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), would drop the requirement that applicants for legal permanent resident status would be given credit for family ties only if they had sufficient education, skills and language ability. Menendez also introduced an amendment with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) that would allow legal permanent residents to bring their spouses and children under 21 to the U.S. more quickly. nicole.gaouette@latimes.com
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