Accord offers path to legal immigration

WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of senators and President Bush agreed yesterday to a potentially historic deal on an immigration bill that would give 12 million undocumented residents the chance to become legal Americans while beefing up border security and cracking down on employers who hire illegal workers.

The measure would also lift an immigration backlog currently stretching up to 22 years, which has delayed the applications of an estimated 4 million people seeking to become legal permanent immigrants -- including thousands of high-skilled workers in the biotech and high-tech industries in Massachusetts. There are an estimated 200,000 illegal immigrants in Massachusetts.

The proposal would for the first time give legal status to undocumented residents, provided they pay a $5,000 fine and meet other criteria. It also provides a way for hundreds of thousands of foreigners to enter the United States as temporary workers. Further, immigration rules would tighten, favoring immediate family members over extended relatives.

Should it reach his desk, the bill would hand Bush a legislative win and a boost to his troubled presidency. Democrats have hammered the president on such matters as the Iraq war and the Justice Department scandal, yet their new congressional majority may provide him with a legacy-building victory on immigration.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat and a principal in the negotiations, said the bill would provide "a historic opportunity" for undocumented workers. It would allow them to stop living "in the shadows" and remove their fear of deportation, he said.

The package -- a White House priority -- seemed all but dead just weeks ago. But the bill was resurrected into a measure meant to provide a legal way for residents and "guest workers" to stay in the country while tightening rules to ensure that the country will not be flooded with illegals.

Many senators and staff members predicted the Senate would pass the bill by the end of this month, but its prospects in the House were far murkier. Though Democrats hold the majority, some of the party's more conservative, first-term House members are leery of a bill their constituency might consider unfair to US workers or unsafe for the country. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, says she will need scores of Republicans on board to pass the bill.

A bipartisan group of senators and White House Cabinet secretaries came up with the proposal after weeks of tense daily talks. Though none of the negotiators said they were happy with everything in the final package, they contended that the compromise was the best chance of getting an immigration bill done before Bush leaves office.

"This proposal delivers an immigration system that is secure, productive, orderly, and fair," Bush said in a statement yesterday.

Critics, however, immediately derided it as "amnesty" for millions of immigrants who broke the law to enter the country.

"The American people know amnesty when they see it," said Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican who has made immigration the centerpiece of his presidential bid. "The president is so desperate for a legacy and a domestic policy win that he is willing to sell out the American people and our national security."

The proposal promptly caused deep divisions on Capitol Hill.

Senator Lindsey O. Graham, a South Carolina Republican, called it "the last, best chance to pass immigration reform on our terms, as a nation, to make us competitive, to deal with 12 million people living in the shadows." But his fellow South Carolina Republican, Senator Jim DeMint , condemned it: "I don't care how you try to spin it, this is amnesty."

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney issued a statement criticizing the bill. "Any legislation that allows illegal immigrants to stay in the country indefinitely . . . is unfair to the millions of people who have applied to legally immigrate to the US," said Romney, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination.

Under the measure, the 12 million illegal immigrants now in the United States would be allowed to remain for what amounts to an eight-year probationary period, during which time they would receive a "Z" visa allowing them to travel and work while moving toward citizenship. Candidates for that visa would have to pass a federal background check and must not have a criminal record. Applicants would also be required to take English and civics classes.

"If you're here illegally and you've committed a crime, you're out," Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said at a briefing yesterday.

The holders of Z visas who want to apply for a green card, indicating legal immigrant status but not permanent citizenship, would have to pay a staggered $5,000 fine and would be required to return to their home countries at least once during the eight-year period. All immigrants who arrived before Jan. 1, 2007, would be eligible for those visas.

For future immigrants, only spouses and minors would automatically qualify for green cards. Other hopeful immigrants would be evaluated on a complicated point system that takes into consideration job skills, education level, and family connections.

Separately, 400,000 new guest workers would be allowed to enter the United States each year. The workers could stay in the country for a total of three two-year terms, as long as they go home for one year between each term.

Some Republican lawmakers wanted to force the guest workers out after a single three-year term, but GOP negotiators came up with a compromise that would allow them to earn citizenship through a point system. Immigrants could earn points, for example, if they are proficient in English and hold a college degree.

Susan Cohen, manager of the immigration section of the Boston law firm Mintz Levin, said granting credit to immigrants with skills and education " would completely revolutionize the system for sponsorship for green cards."

Bush has fought for six years to get an immigration bill through Congress, but has been stymied mostly by conservatives in his own party who said the proposals would reward illegal aliens with citizenship and threaten the jobs of Americans.

The bill requires that a border fence Congress approved last year must be completed before most of the immigration changes go into effect, and mandates implementation of other security measures -- including hiring 18,000 more Border Patrol agents, which the White House estimates would take about 18 months.

Some immigrant advocates in Massachusetts said they worry the proposal sets the bar too high for the more than 200,000 undocumented workers living in the state who may want to become citizens. They also said the requirement that heads of households return to their home countries, and the reduced number of visas available for family reunification, would continue to separate families already riven by the nation's broken immigration system.

Yvonne Abraham of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Abraham reported from Boston.