With Immigration Reform Stalled, More Proposals Emerge

July 25, 2006 — -- When the Senate passed its comprehensive immigration reform bill last May, it seemed as if the only remaining hurdle was for negotiators from the House and Senate to hammer out their admittedly large differences in conference. But two months later, a number of members have returned to the drawing board.

Already this week lawmakers have put forward two new immigration proposals.

On Monday Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) announced they were sending a letter to President Bush, urging him to push for an emergency supplemental bill to fund border security measures.

On Tuesday Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) went so far as to propose an entirely new plan -- one that, they said, would combine tough border security measures with a "no amnesty" temporary worker program.

"We have an immigration bill a week, it seems, by the Republicans," complained Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). "Let's go to conference."

But as days and weeks slip by with no sign of a conference convening anytime soon -- a state of affairs Pence described as an "impasse" -- some lawmakers are looking for new ways to jump-start the process. Many members -- particularly Republicans -- said they still get bombarded by constituent mail and questions at town hall meetings on the issue.

"There is a big call from the American people to legislate," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who added that he was "very supportive" of the "thrust" of the Hutchison-Pence approach.

Still, the chances of reaching any sort of compromise before the November elections seems slim.

With a spate of House hearings on immigration scheduled for August, House conservatives could return in September with even less incentive to accept anything other than a border-security-only approach as embodied in the original House bill. And some observers have wondered if House Republicans might not prefer to run on immigration as a campaign issue rather than work with their Senate colleagues to pass legislation.

"The [House] hearings have their collateral purpose -- and I use the word 'collateral' to be gentle," said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who shepherded the comprehensive Senate bill through the Judiciary Committee.

The Hutchison-Pence proposal -- which Senator Hutchison described Tuesday as a "base" for members to work from -- would set benchmarks for border security. Lawmakers estimate they would take two years to complete. Only after the president certified that those benchmarks had been met would a guest worker program kick in, offering temporary visas only to workers from countries included in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement pacts. The visas would not be available to workers from other countries.

Private employment firms would process those visas, with the federal government's help, at "Ellis Island centers" outside the United States, and any illegal immigrants already in the United States would have to leave the country to get visas.

The visas would be renewable every two years if the holders met certain requirements, such as learning English. After 12 years, holders could gain a five-year visa, and after a total of 17 years, holders could apply for green cards. "There is no automatic path to citizenship," said Pence. "But neither is there a barrier."

Key players in the Senate showed no immediate inclination to embrace the proposal -- but they didn't criticize it either. "I think it's always a good idea when people come forward with new ideas," said Specter. "We're open to all ideas," echoed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Similarly, on the House side, Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) called the proposal "a contribution to the overall process."

"It continues the debate," Boehner told reporters, adding, "We've got a long process to go until we get to the final bill."