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Senate negotiators of a compromise immigration bill are writing a catchall amendment, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to bolster enforcement provisions of the bill, including a more robust "touchback" requirement for illegal immigrants.

Republicans outside the negotiating team are asking that Graham's amendment, as well as a few others, get a floor vote before a cloture is attempted on the bill. "If they want the bill to have a chance, that's what has to happen," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who said he is willing to vote for the first cloture motion to proceed to the bill to allow the amendment process to begin.

Burr left open the possibility he would vote for the second cloture motion, which would ensure a final vote on the bill, if the bill is improved from his perspective by the amendments.

In addition to a new touchback requirement for illegal immigrants, negotiator Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., said the Graham amendment will include jail time for immigrants who enter the country illegally or overstay temporary visas after the measure is enacted.

The amendment also will tweak the 200,000 annual cap on the guestworker program to allow more of them into the country by exempting workers who are returning for a second time. If negotiators are able to hammer out a deal on the H-1B program, that language also will be included in the Graham amendment.

Burr said he wants the new touchback provision in Graham's amendment to require all illegal immigrants in the country to return to their home countries before they apply for a "Z" visa. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is seeking a vote on a similar amendment to require those touchbacks to occur within two years.

Burr said Graham's touchback provision would allow illegal workers to have a provisional visa while background checks are being conducted. "I believe the provisional period can be whatever length of time it takes to fully vet all these people that they are who they say they are. Does their employment record check out? Does their law enforcement record check out? It doesn't entitle them to anything except the ability to apply" for a Z visa, he said.

The touchback provision is emerging as a component critical to attracting support from Republicans like Burr who are wary about the legalization provisions in the bill. Negotiators, for their part, are backing away from labeling any amendments as deal-breakers, knowing that opponents will vote for them to kill the bill. If one of the "killer amendments" passes next week, an alternate strategy for supporters would be to allow another deal-breaker from the other party to pass.

"If this bill goes down because it isn't this or it isn't that, the greater good of the bill will be lost," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., one of the negotiators.

With a cloture motion approved Thursday afternoon on an energy bill, debate on the immigration bill is virtually assured to be pushed into next week. Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said Thursday he now expects the first cloture vote on the immigration bill to occur Tuesday.

Depending on how the amendment process develops, the immigration debate could spill into the weekend before the July Fourth recess. Several Republicans who avidly object to the bill have vowed to use every procedural tactic available to them to stop the bill from moving forward, which could slow the debate, but not foreclose final passage.

COMMENTS

• If you are going to make us verify social security numbers without giving us another source of labor, the crops will rot in the field and your family's food cost will sky rocket. If we can get them in to work and then send them home it might be OK, but we'll need more than 200,000 workers if all the undocumented are taken away. Bob Mathison Posted June 25, 2007 5:14 PM
• Can we the USA, not learn a lesson from France,England and Germany? They have had this open border for years, for yes the same reason "cheap labor". Now it is coming back to bite them in the back side. Come on Graham, Kennedy and McCain get your head out of the sand and look at whats happened in Europe. David Taylor Posted June 25, 2007 2:33 PM
• People want the legal immigration system to work; we want the border secured and immigration laws enforced, and we do NOT want unlimited immigration, legal or illegal. The Z visa amnesty/legalization will undercut these pillars, and voters do not trust the Congress and Government to keep promises on enforcement that were broken by the 1986 amnesty. To repeat that travesty is a terrible and flawed idea. This amnesty repeats the mistakes of 1986 on a grand scale, as Senators Cornyn and Hutchison have warned. It undermines rule of law in immigration, invites huge fraud in amnesty applications and further illegal immigration via weak document requirements and a mere 24-hour turnaround on provisional acceptance; crowds out higher-skill legal immigrants; creates a massive increased burden on taxpayers ($2.5 Trillion estimate from Heritage) along with unfunded mandates on states and local Governments. And for what, exactly? CBO has indicated that illegal immigration in the next 10 years will still be significant with this bill - a huge amnesty, but more illegal immigration. Pathetic! The Z visa legalization/amnesty is a slap in the face to legal immigrants, taxpayers, and anyone who cares about the rule of law. 60% of Americans support a better answer than the Senators can come up with. it is this: 1. secure the borders by building the fence. 2. Enforce immigration law with employer verification, real deportation of criminal aliens and a US Visit system to know who comes and goes from this country. 3. DONT DO AMNESTY. It only makes things worse. Patrick M Posted June 23, 2007 3:24 AM