Immigration deal survives Senate threat
WASHINGTON - A proposed immigration overhaul survived a stiff challenge Wednesday as the Senate turned back a Democrat's bid to emphasize reuniting families more than job skills for many foreigners seeking to move to US.
This video frame grab taken from C-SPAN2 television shows Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. speaking on the floor of the Senate Wednesday June 6, 2007 in Washington. [AP] |
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., got 53 votes for his effort to delay shifting US immigration policy away from keeping families together in favor of attracting more foreign workers. But that was seven votes short of the 60 needed. Voting against him were 44 senators.
The Menendez amendment would have allowed more than 800,000 people who had applied for permanent legal status by the beginning of 2007 to obtain green cards based purely on their family connections - a preference the bill ends for most relatives who got in line after May 2005.
Menendez, whose parents were Cuban immigrants, told his colleagues that the bill will undermine "the reunification of families."
Meanwhile, critics of the bill's main feature - legalizing the estimated 12 million immigrants in the US unlawfully - won an amendment that could make it easier to locate and deport illegal immigrants whose visa applications are rejected.
The bill would have barred law enforcement agencies from seeing applications for so-called Z visas, which can lead to citizenship if granted. Sen. John Cornyn , R-Texas, called for lifting the ban, saying legal authorities should know if applicants have criminal records that would warrant deportation.
His measure was adopted, 57-39, although opponents said eligible applicants might be afraid to file applications if they believe they are connected to deportation actions.
Cornyn earlier lost a vote to bar from legalization people under court orders to be deported.
The vote was 51-46 against the amendment. Democrats succeeded in pulling support from Cornyn's proposal by winning adoption of a rival version that would bar a more limited set of criminals, including certain gang members and sex offenders, from gaining legalization. The Senate backed that amendment 66-32.
Cornyn had painted his effort as a "defining issue" for any presidential candidate - a sign of the degree to which the contentious debate is bleeding over into the GOP campaign fray.
Sen. John McCain , R-Ariz., alone among his party's presidential aspirants in backing the immigration measure, opposed Cornyn's bid and backed the Democratic alternative offered by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.
McCain was joined in opposing the amendment by the
Senate's four Democratic presidential hopefuls, Sens. Joseph Biden of Delaware,
Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, and Barack
Obama of Illinois.
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Immigration deal survives Senate threat(Over)
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