Immigration bill pushed

Published 9:00 pm Friday, April 21, 2006

WASHINGTON – Majority Leader Bill Frist intends to seek Senate passage of immigration legislation by Memorial Day, hoping to revive a bill that tightens border security and gives millions of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship, Republican leadership aides said Friday.

In a gesture to conservative critics of the measure, Frist and other Republicans also intend to seek $2 billion in immediate additional spending for border protection.

The aides said the money would allow for training of Border Patrol agents, construction of detention facilities for immigrants caught entering the country illegally, the purchase of helicopters and surveillance aircraft, and construction of a fence in high-traffic areas.

“The goal here is to make sure the Senate does act on this problem,” one of the aides said.

Frist’s decision signals a determination by Republicans to press ahead toward passage of election-year legislation. The issue has triggered large street protests by immigrants rights supporters, as well as internal disputes in both major political parties.

A sweeping immigration bill was gridlocked as lawmakers left town two weeks ago after Frist and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada failed to agree on a procedure for voting on amendments sought by Republicans who opposed the bill. Supporters of the measure claimed at the time they had as many as 70 votes for the bill.

The measure at the center of the Senate stalemate would provide for stronger border security, regulate the future entry of foreign workers and create a complex new set of regulations for the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.

Officials said an estimated 9 million of them – those who could show they had been in the United States for more than two years – would eventually become eligible for citizenship under the proposal.