Gift return? Senate likely to seek swap for House immigration bill

Published: 2006-01-06

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When senators return to work in mid-January one waiting task will be to decide what to do with the big, unwieldy Christmas present left for them by the House, labeled "immigration reform." It's improbable that the Senate would pass as-is the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act, which passed the House Dec. 16 by a vote of 239-182. The question is whether the Senate will try to amend and rework the House bill more to its tastes, or just chuck it onto a back shelf and then rally behind a different bill with a better chance of passing in the upper body of Congress. The 257-page House legislation focuses entirely on enforcement. It includes provisions to criminalize violations of immigration law, including the act of providing aid to illegal immigrants; would make it harder for legal immigrants to become citizens; and would penalize state and local governments that do not pointedly enforce immigration laws, currently only a responsibility of federal agencies. It would also build 700 miles of new fence along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico.

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