Senate GOP to filibuster alien bill

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Senate Republicans will filibuster their own immigration bill today in the face of steadfast refusal by Democrats to allow amendments to the bill that many conservatives view as granting amnesty to illegal aliens.

As an alternative, Majority Leader Bill Frist reached an agreement last night with fellow Republicans on a new comprehensive immigration plan that includes increasing border security and a guest-worker plan, but still does not resolve concerns about amnesty.

The new plan would allow illegal aliens who have been in the United States for more than five years to remain in the country working while applying for U.S. citizenship. Those who have been here between two and five years would have to apply for citizenship at a point of entry, but could remain working. Anyone here for less than two years would have to leave the country, but they could still apply for citizenship from their home country.

Mr. Frist declined to tell The Washington Times last night how he would vote on the alternative measure.

If neither of those bills receives enough votes to move forward, senators will have an opportunity before the end of the week to vote on a border-security-only bill introduced last month by Mr. Frist.

Minority Leader Harry Reid refused yesterday to allow votes on amendments to the bill that Republicans say they will filibuster, including one that would prohibit any illegal alien convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors from obtaining U.S. citizenship.

Mr. Reid and other Democrats say that such an amendment would "gut" the immigration bill and they accused Republicans of being hostile to immigrants for proposing it.

Mr. Reid's tactical maneuvers came as news spread around Capitol Hill of a bill the Nevada Democrat sponsored in 1993 that was aimed at severely curtailing legal immigration and cracked down on illegal immigration.

"Our borders have overflowed with illegal immigrants placing tremendous burdens on our criminal justice system, schools and social programs," Mr. Reid said in a 1993 statement first reported on yesterday on the Drudge Report. "The Immigration and Naturalization Service needs the ability to step up enforcement. Our federal wallet is stretched to the limit by illegal aliens getting welfare, food stamps, medical care and other benefits often without paying any taxes."

Since the time of his proposed legislation, the estimated number of illegal aliens has gone from 3.3 million to more than 11 million.