Senate OKs immig bill, big fight looms
BY MICHAEL McAULIFF
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Friday, May 26th, 2006

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted yesterday to legalize millions of illegal immigrants, but the measure faces a tough battle with House legislators who call it amnesty.

The House passed its own get-tough immigration law in December, focusing on enforcement and border security.

Now the two sides must meet to work out the differences - which may prove impossible.

"I can't see this bill going anywhere in the House," said Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and a likely negotiator on the bill. "We rightly consider it to be amnesty."

Under the Senate bill, illegal immigrants who have been in the United States more than two years would be allowed to stay if they pay a $3,250 fine and have jobs and clean records.

People here less than five years would have to "touch back" to border posts and apply for work visas. Legalized immigrants could eventually apply for citizenship.

The bill also beefs up security and enforcement, but that may not be enough for the House. Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has said he will only offer the bill for a vote if a majority of the GOP backs it.

His spokesman, Ron Bonjean, said Congress "needs to show an accomplishment" on immigration but said Hastert still "believes in strong border security, no amnesty, and no path to citizenship."

Before the Senate voted 62-36 for its version, many senators made speeches with an eye on swaying the House.

"We've taken a bill that the American people would have concluded was amnesty, and, at least by my lights, took the amnesty out while putting the security in," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

In praising his chamber's work, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) held up the example of Marine Staff Sgt. Riayan Tejeda, a Dominican immigrant from Washington Heights killed in Iraq in 2003. "He loved this country so much that he gave his life to defend her," McCain said.

But King called the Senate bill a fraud, saying, "To me, no bill is better than a bad bill."

He said a better plan would be to enforce existing laws, like cracking down on employers, and let more immigrants come in to fill jobs. "I think we have to increase the quotas. I would be for that," he said. "The question is how much, but that's what the debate should be about."

President Bush is backing the Senate version, and some Republicans worry they could be punished at the polls if they block it.

King said the GOP would suffer more if it backs the Senate version because conservatives would feel "betrayed" and stay home in November.

Immigration: past and present bills

Highlights of separate immigration and border security bills passed by the Senate and House.

The Senate bill, passed yesterday:

·  Allows illegal immigrants who have been in the country five years or more to remain, continue working and eventually become legal permanent residents and citizens after paying at least $3,250 in fines and fees and back taxes and learning English.

·  Requires illegal immigrants in the U.S. between two and five years to go to a point of entry at the border and file an application to return.

·  Requires those in the country less than two years to leave.

·  Creates a special guest worker program for an estimated 1.5 million immigrant farm workers, who could also earn legal permanent residency.

·  Authorizes 370 miles of new triple-layered fencing plus 500 miles of vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexican border.

·  Declares English the country’s national language.

The House bill, passed in December:

·  Has no provisions providing path to legal residency or citizenship for illegal immigrants and has no new temporary guest worker program.

·  Makes illegal presence in the country a felony.

·  Makes it a felony to assist, encourage, direct or induce a person to enter or attempt to enter or remain in the United States illegally.

·  Beginning in six years, employers would have to use a database to verify Social Security numbers of all employees.

·  Requires mandatory detention for all non-Mexican illegal immigrants arrested at ports of entry or at land and sea borders.

·  Makes a drunken-driving conviction a deportable offense.

·  Requires building two-layer fences along 700 miles of the 2,000-mile border between Mexico and the U.S.