From Associated Press:

NY lawmakers, religious leaders wrestle with immigration

By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer

March 27, 2006, 8:27 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- New York Sen. Charles Schumer voted Monday with other Democrats and a handful of Republicans for a sweeping immigration bill that would clear the way for millions of undocumented workers to seek U.S. citizenship.

Schumer said he voted for the bill because it is a "good step" toward secure borders, earned citizenship and a better legal immigration process.

The 12-6 evening vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee sends the bill to the Senate floor for a full debate Tuesday on the highly charged immigration issue.

The committee vote capped a long day of debate and internal GOP dissension on the issue.

At several critical points, committee Democrats were united while Republicans splintered, giving Democrats a majority vote on many sections of the bill.

The issue has also split some of New York's most influential congressional leaders, as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., vehemently opposes a separate House bill from Rep. Peter King, R-Long Island, and King feuded bitterly with leaders of his own church over whether his bill could send nuns off to jail for aiding illegal immigrants.

The House has already passed the bill co-written by King. Clinton said it said the measure would probably criminalize "even Jesus himself."

A potential presidential candidate in 2008, Clinton quickly came under fire from Republicans seeking major new border and enforcement measures to address the approximately 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country, and millions more trying to enter.

"Hillary Clinton doesn't know the first thing about the Bible. Her impression, her analysis, her interpretation of both the law and the Bible are certainly wrong, to say the least," Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.

Clinton has not committed to supporting any particular piece of immigration legislation, but spoke out at a recent rally of Irish immigrants, saying illegal immigrants already in the United States should have some avenue to achieve legal status.

In the Bible-quoting battle over immigration, the Catholic Church has come out squarely against King's bill, which was co-authored by House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin.

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony is urging his priests to defy the proposed law that would force churches and other organizations to determine the legality of immigrants before granting them assistance, and the House bill has prompted massive street protests around the country.

King, an Irish Catholic who attacked church leaders in recent years over the child abuse scandal, charged Mahony and others in the church are lying.

"Catholic leaders are shamelessly distorting the truth and spreading lies for whatever purposes, whether it's to fill up seats in their pews or distract attention from the pedophile scandals or advance their liberal agenda," King said Monday.

The Long Island congressman, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said the bill would not lead to priests or nuns being arrested for helping immigrants.

"My job is to protect the country but it's disappointing to think when we need help, the Catholic Church is pandering," said King.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who leads the Diocese of Brooklyn, rejected such claims in a recent missive to fellow Catholics.

"To cast the great number of hard working and crime-free immigrants as potential terrorists does nothing more than create unnecessary fear and friction among peoples, and categorizes whole ethnic groups as dangerous, setting them apart for discrimination and abuse," DiMarzio wrote.

New York Cardinal Edward Egan has quietly weighed in as well, urging both the state's senators in a private letter to reject any bills that punish organizations like churches for helping illegal immigrants, and said that the same opportunities that were available to past generations of immigrants should be available to new immigrants.

Given the uproar and disagreement even within the GOP, it is unclear when or if the controversial House bill will come to a vote on the Senate floor.