Over the lunch hour, a group of Senators held a press conference to announce that, as was rumored yesterday, they have negotiated the terms of a bipartisan "comprehensive immigration reform" bill. They didn't say much about its terms, but the fact that the announcement was made by Ted Kennedy didn't make me very hopeful.

The Associated Press describes the terms this way:

The proposed agreement would allow illegal immigrants to come forward and obtain a "Z visa" and — after paying fees and a $5,000 fine — ultimately get on track for permanent residency, which could take between eight and 13 years. Heads of household would have to return to their home countries first.

They could come forward right away to claim a probationary card that would let them live and work legally in the U.S., but could not begin the path to permanent residency or citizenship until border security improvements and the high-tech worker identification program were completed.

A new temporary guest worker program would also have to wait until those so-called "triggers" had been activated.

This account isn't very clear, and I may well be misreading it. But it sounds as though the one thing that happens immediately is that any illegal immigrant who is now in the U.S., or makes his way here in the near future, can "come forward" and receive a "probationary card" that allows him to reside and work here. Eventual citizenship requires payment of a $5,000 fine and fulfillment of other requirements, but such a "path to citizenship" won't begin until border improvements and the employer identification system have been implemented.

What if they are never implemented, or never implemented satisfactorily? At best, that would derail the path to citizenship and the guest worker program. The one thing that we know for sure, if I am reading the AP account correctly, is that all current illegals will receive a "get out of jail free" card, as, apparently, will anyone who can make his way here in time to ask for one.

The other significant change in the law apparently relates to how future immigrants will be selected:

In perhaps the most hotly debated change, the proposed plan would shift from an immigration system primarily weighted toward family ties toward one with preferences for people with advanced degrees and sophisticated skills. Republicans have long sought such revisions, which they say are needed to end "chain migration" that harms the economy, while some Democrats and liberal groups say it's an unfair system that rips families apart.

Family connections alone would no longer be enough to qualify for a green card — except for spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens.

That's good, as far as it goes. But in a rational world--or Congress--it should be possible to adopt that change without pairing it with a de facto guest worker program that covers 12 million or more illegals.

UPDATE: Senator Jim DeMint says:

I hope we don't take a thousand page bill written in secret and try to ram it through the Senate in a few days. This is a very important issue for America and we need time to debate it.

But the little we do know about the bill is troubling. According to reports, the bill contains a new 'Z-visa' that allows those who entered our country illegally to stay here permanently without ever returning home. This rewards people who broke the law with permanent legal status, and puts them ahead of millions of law-abiding immigrants waiting to come to America. I don't care how you try to spin it, this is amnesty.

Posted by John at 01:27 PM  |    |