Frist Sees ‘Progress’ on Senate Overhaul Bill

While denying that Monday’s massive demonstrations put pressure on Congress, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) voiced new optimism Tuesday about ending the stalemate on legislation to overhaul the immigration system. He predicted the Senate would approve a bill by the end of May.

In another sign of movement on the politically charged issue, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), leading advocates of tougher enforcement, floated a proposal to give some illegal immigrants a chance to gain legal status -- if the opportunity were limited to those who had married, had children or otherwise put down “deep roots” in the United States.

And the Bush administration, emphasizing its commitment to crack down on employers who hire illegal workers, announced the arrest of a construction company owner, himself an illegal immigrant from Romania, on criminal charges that include money laundering. The charges could carry a 40-year prison sentence. The company, founded in 2002 with allegedly fraudulent papers, operated in at least seven Midwestern states.

A day after hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters took to the streets across the nation to demand immigration reform, senators were divided on the demonstrations’ effect and on the progress of crafting an overhaul. “I don’t think the [rallies] impacted things on the floor,” Frist said.

But referring to his continuing negotiations with Senate Democrats, he said: “We’re making progress every day.”

Minority Leader Harry Reid (R-Nev.), who praised Monday’s demonstrations, disputed Frist’s optimistic prognosis for Senate action.

Both Reid’s expressed pessimism and Frist’s assertion of optimism may have reflected political maneuvering as well as differing views on the outlook for action. Frist, a likely candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, is seeking to project an image of effective leadership. Reid, whose party hopes to mobilize Democratic voters on the immigration issue in November, is moving cautiously to avoid handing Republicans a partisan victory -- or opening the way to approval of a bill Latino and Democratic voters would not approve of.

The Senate bill would bolster enforcement, add a guest worker program for incoming foreigners and allow undocumented immigrants who met certain criteria to work toward citizenship. Senate negotiations stalled in early April, when Republicans -- who are divided on the issue -- proposed more than 300 amendments and Democrats accused them of using amendments to filibuster the measure.

In the current negotiations, Frist and Reid are focusing on the amendments issue, but underlying that is the larger question of whether a majority of Senate Republicans will stand behind a bill that includes both stronger enforcement and procedures for giving eventual legal status to most of the estimated 12 million immigrants now in the country illegally.

Democrats also continue to demand guarantees that only lawmakers firmly committed to the Senate bill be named to the committee that will negotiate a final bill with the House. Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said that was essential to protecting the bill from Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), the main author of the enforcement-only bill passed by the House.

The House bill includes provisions for a 700-mile-long wall along the Mexican border and makes illegal presence in the U.S. a felony. It also would make aiding illegal immigrants a felony.

“I’ve seen bills pass with overwhelming majority support only to have them chewed to pieces by Chairman Sensenbrenner in conference,” Durbin said.

“The Republicans have basically stiffed us on all conferences,” Reid said, referring to GOP tactics over the last 5 1/2 years. “So what I need to have is an agreement on amendments and who is going to be on the conference.”

Also on Tuesday, Kyl put forward the proposal for offering legal status to those with established roots in the United States.

Under the pending Senate bill, illegal immigrants would be broken into three groups. Those who arrived after January 2004 would have to leave the country permanently. Those who arrived before January 2004 would be able to work toward citizenship if they met certain criteria, though undocumented immigrants here for less than five years would have to leave the country briefly.

“If you look at family, if you look at roots, perhaps it’s a better way of distinguishing [among undocumented immigrants]. It’s an objective criteria based on a value that most people can agree on,” Kyl said.

Meantime, in North Dakota, a 28-year-old illegal immigrant from Romania who used the name Robert Adrian Porcisanu was indicted on 12 criminal charges. The government also is seeking the forfeiture of about $1.5 million, which immigration officials said represented the proceeds from his illegal business activity.

The investigation into Porcisanu and his Franklin, Ind., company, Stucco Design Inc., began in October 2005 when the North Dakota Highway Patrol stopped a truck and found four undocumented workers inside, all employees of Stucco Design.

According to the indictment, Porcisanu and Stucco Design undercut competitors’ bids on contracts to perform stucco-related construction work because it used the cheaper labor of undocumented workers.

The indictment is the latest in a recent string of criminal cases Immigration and Customs Enforcement has brought against businesses and business owners.

These include an April 19 operation against IFCO Systems, a pallet company; an April 14 guilty plea by the owners of a Baltimore sushi chain to using undocumented workers; and an April 11 indictment against two Ohio temporary employment agencies for hiring undocumented workers.