Senate Set For Immigration Battle

The Senate braced for a contentious battle Wednesday as it hammers out legislation that will determine the future of millions of immigrants now living in the United States illegally.

The starting point is a bill approved by the Judiciary Committee that would legalize almost 2 million undocumented immigrants though temporary worker programs and pave the way for their citizenship, CBS News correspondent Susan Roberts reports.

The usual alliances aren't holding as the debate begins. In a split with longtime Democratic allies, the AFL-CIO is criticizing plans to expand guest worker programs in the future. Union chief John Sweeney said Tuesday that guest worker programs "are a bad idea and harm all workers."

There's also division within the GOP. The Republican-controlled House approved a bill that doesn't include a guest worker program, which President Bush has repeatedly stressed he wants to be part of any immigration measure.

Some other Republicans also support a guest worker program, but it is not part of a bill proposed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. His bill focuses on border security and is the bill the Senate begins debating today.

"We have conflicting visions and values," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "One that we're a nation of immigrants and we're proud of that; we have all come from somewhere else. But we are also a nation of laws and we have to reconcile that."

Senators on both sides of the aisle say they want legislation more comprehensive than the House bill that has sparked days of protests and student walkouts.

"That is a punitive bill, it is a mean-spirited bill," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "It is a bill that is not in the spirit of America. Criminalizing 11 or 12 million people and calling them aggravated felons is no way to really embark down this road to a more united America."

President Bush also wants broader immigration legislation and is pushing Congress to include a temporary worker program.

In a major coincidence with big policy implications, Mr. Bush heads to Mexico later Wednesday to talk immigration and other issues with Mexican President Vicente Fox. CBS News correspondent Peter Maer reports it will be a chance for the president to talk up his guest worker proposal, an idea that has heavy Mexican support.

The legislation, to be debated on the Senate floor beginning Wednesday, includes two provisions that together could create room for nearly 2 million temporary workers.

One is a five-year temporary program for up to 1.5 million agricultural workers advanced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Immigrants living in the U.S. illegally as well as those outside the country would be eligible.

The other would create a new temporary visa to allow as many as 400,000 foreign workers into the country.

In both cases, individuals would have an opportunity to apply for citizenship after several years.

All eight Democrats on the Judiciary Committee supported both guest worker provisions on Monday, and all of them frequently work in concert with organized labor.

Feinstein said during the committee meeting that the agriculture industry was "almost entirely dependent on undocumented workers," a reference to individuals in the country illegally. She described her proposal as an attempt to assure a legal workforce. "The people are here. They're going to work regardless," she said of thousands of illegal immigrants who pick crops.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., arguably labor's strongest voice in Congress, noted that the proposal "has the support of agribusiness and farm workers." Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, another longtime ally of labor, said he, too, was satisfied with the program, noting that it had provisions that would help his state's dairy industry. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York added that he had no difficulty with the provision, either, as long as there were no problems associated with farms in his state. The New York Democrat is chairman of the party's senatorial committee, which relies on labor's support.

The AFL-CIO's Sweeney saw things differently.

"Guest worker programs "encourage employers to turn good jobs into temporary jobs at reduced wages and diminished working conditions and contribute to the growing class of workers laboring in poverty," he said.

Sweeney issued his statement as White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that Mr. Bush wants a temporary worker program included in any immigration measure that clears Congress. "Because what a temporary worker program would do is help relieve pressure on the border. It will allow our law enforcement officials and Border Patrol agents to focus on those who are coming here for the wrong reasons, the criminals and the drug dealers and the terrorists," he said.

The House has yet to pass legislation dealing with immigration issues involving workers, although it has approved a bill that calls for building a fence along 700 miles of the border with Mexico.

Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who voted to approve the fence project, indicated he may change his mind based on a recent trip to the Southwest. He told reporters he had met with farmers as well as law enforcement officials and "no one in the room thought the wall would work, because if you build the wall, then you have to police the wall."

He added: "If the people on the border don't believe the wall will have the effect that people here think, then we ought to reconsider it."