Immigration Deal Is Likely

Lawmakers should be able to reach a deal this year on overhauling immigration laws, despite sharp differences between the Senate and the House, Republican senators said Sunday.

“It is my assessment that we can work out a middle-ground compromise,” Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) told CNN’s “Late Edition.”

Hagel, a member of a bipartisan coalition that has shaped the Senate’s immigration proposals, said he expected the Senate to pass a comprehensive bill this week, setting the stage for difficult negotiations with the House on a final package ahead of November congressional elections.

“These are complicated issues.... They have been allowed to develop over years of neglect. We’ve deferred them. That’s why we have the mess that we have today,” Hagel said.

The Senate is debating a bill that combines tighter border controls with a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

Legislation passed by the House late last year would make illegal immigrants felons while offering no prospects for gaining temporary work permits or citizenship.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.), one of the strongest backers of the House bill, acknowledged that a “good guest worker program” was needed, though he appeared to draw the line at any path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently in the United States.

A bill containing a citizenship provision “will not come out of conference,” he said. “The House Republicans will not let that happen.”

But if the House Republicans take such action, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on the same program, there would be political repercussions.

“If we walk away from the table, the American voter is going to walk away from us,” said Graham, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “We’re in charge of the House, we’re in charge of the Senate, we’re in charge of the White House. We got nobody else to blame.”

President Bush, who favors overhauling immigration laws largely along the lines of what the Senate is considering, has urged senators to finish their work this month.

In effect, that means by Friday, because Congress will be taking a one-week recess starting next weekend to mark the Memorial Day holiday.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told “Fox News Sunday” he was guardedly optimistic the Senate would meet Bush’s deadline.

Bush’s speech last week, in which he announced plans to deploy 6,000 National Guard troops on the border with Mexico, has improved chances of a deal with the House, McCain said.

“I think many of my colleagues in the House recognize that this is something we need to do from a standpoint of resolving this issue one way or the other,” he said.

The chief sponsor of the House bill, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that tough enforcement was needed to avoid mistakes made in 1980s immigration measures.

“I don’t think anything is a deal-breaker, but one of the things we’ve got to do is prevent the country from repeating the failed 1986 Simpson-Mazzoli law, which caused the problems that we have now,” said Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Under that law, illegal immigrants who could prove that they had “continuous presence” in the United States from Jan. 1, 1982, were eligible for permanent residency.

Employers who hire large numbers of illegal immigrants at very low wages should be hit with tough sanctions, Sensenbrenner said.