Accord is sought on foreign workers
Citizenship option pushed in Senate
WASHINGTON -- Members of a bipartisan group of US senators are pushing to reach agreement on immigration reform that would offer some undocumented residents a chance to become citizens, and the coming month will be crucial to their efforts.
Lawmakers have been struggling to come up with a formula providing tougher border and workplace enforcement while addressing the status of some 11 million immigrants in the United States who live and work in the shadows.
"I am really hopeful we can come up with something we can all live with," said Senator Mel Martinez, Republican of Florida, who is among a bipartisan group that has been participating in the discussions.
The group is working to meet a mid-May deadline. Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, has set aside the last two weeks of the month for the Senate to debate immigration legislation.
President Bush backs a comprehensive approach, but legislation last year that would have created a guest worker program and offered many undocumented immigrants a shot at citizenship failed, with stiff opposition by a group of Republicans in the House.
This year, lawmakers are engaging in a delicate balancing act to write a law supported by majority Democrats, who want a path to citizenship for millions of the undocumented, while satisfying conservative Republicans, like Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, who do not want amnesty nor to reward illegal immigrants with an easy path to citizenship.
"Legislative language is being drafted," said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas. "No one has agreed to anything because we really haven't seen anything in writing."
An aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, who is a leading player in the negotiations, said progress is being made, although there is no agreement .
A Senate Republican leadership aide said there are still major sticking points. "The agreement is much further away than has been suggested," the aide said.
Whether a liberal such as Kennedy and a conservative such as Kyl can agree is unclear.
Negotiators have offered few details on the talks and analysts say common ground probably remains elusive.
"There are people in both parties who are not really going to be for the deal," said Tamar Jacoby, an immigration specialist with the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
"I think I can see a sweet spot. But can they both stretch quite enough to get there, I don't know," Jacoby said.
"There's a lot of good will and determination to get to an agreement, but especially now that they are looking at the details it's pretty difficult," said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant advocacy group.
"It's hard to see right now how the dots are going to join up," she said.
The legislation will probably include a path to citizenship for many undocumented immigrants who pay fines and meet other qualifications.
Kelley said some progress had been made in addressing the status of illegal immigrants living in the United States.
But sticking points remain: over concessions for family members seeking to join relatives living stateside, and over residency rights for participants in a new guest worker program that would be created.
Activists have called for nationwide demonstrations tomorrow in support of immigrant rights similar to the huge gatherings that took place in large cities across the country a year ago on May 1. But organizers say they expect the turnout to be lower, in part because of tougher enforcement by US officials.
"A lot of migrants may be afraid to take part because of the immigration raids in recent months. . . . There's a lot of fear," said Lizette Olmos of the League of Latin American Citizens.
Others say the turnout is likely to be lower because there has been less attention given to the rallies in Spanish-language media.
On Saturday, about 400 immigrants and their supporters marched through a Mexican-American neighborhood of Houston.
Participants, who carried US and Mexican flags, called for a comprehensive immigration overhaul that goes beyond border enforcement and includes a method for undocumented workers to keep their families intact.
In his weekly radio address Saturday, Bush urged Congress to reach a compromise on the issue, calling it "a critical challenge" before the nation.
"We need a system where our laws are respected," Bush said. "We need a system that meets the legitimate needs of our economy. And we need a system that treats people with dignity and helps newcomers assimilate into our society." 