The Proposals

Submitted by the Wisconsin Republican and 35 cosponsors, the bill passed in the House in December. Focused exclusively on security and enforcement, it has sparked protests nationwide.

The bill treats an illegal alien's mere presence in the country—currently only a civil violation—as a felony punishable by a year and a day in jail and establishes mandatory minimum sentences for repeat offenders. Its sweeping language would make giving even humanitarian assistance to an illegal immigrant a crime punishable by up to five years in prison. Fines for an employer who hires illegal immigrants, which now range from $250 to $10,000 per violation, depending on the employer's previous conduct, would be increased to $5,000 to $25,000. Criminal penalties for repeat offenders could include a minimum of a year in jail, up from a maximum of six months. Among the border enhancements: a 700-mile double fence along part of the 2,000-mile frontier with Mexico.

Arizona Republican Kyl last year co-sponsored with Senator John Cornyn of Texas a bill that sought a compromise between the harsh penatlities of the Sensenbrenner plan and the more lenient Senate proposals.

The bill provides for a guest-worker program but requires illegal immigrants to leave the U.S. before they apply for it. They must leave within five years; delaying departure cuts into their future U.S. stay. Those and any new immigrant laborers can apply for a two-year visa that can be renewed twice, with a one-year gap between renewals that must be spent outside the U.S. and a lifetime cap of six years. The visa offers no special path to permanent residency or citizenship. The bill doubles existing civil penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants and authorizes the addition of 10,000 agents over five years to investigate businesses for violations of immigration law and 1,000 agents to look for fraud in visa applications. To improve policing on the borders, it increases agents and enhances surveillance technology, among other things.

In his earliest days in the White House, Bush made establishing a guest-worker program a priority. The aftermath of 9/11 distracted him from the goal, but he has again turned his attention to it.

The President has proposed that illegal immigrants be permitted to stay in the U.S. and apply for a three-year temporary work visa that could be renewed once. Their incentive to leave after six years would come in the form of tax-preferred savings accounts set up in their country of origin. Bush has stressed that because he does not believe illegal acts should be rewarded, the visas would provide no "automatic" path to permanent residency and citizenship. But, as he told Mexican President Vicente Fox last week, guest workers can "get in line," like all other applicants. Bush has promised that laws against hiring illegal aliens would be more stringently enforced. And bowing to the need to win over hard-liners in his party, he has called for more resources to guard the borders against those who cross illegally.

Large portions of a bill introduced by Senators Edward Kennedy and John McCain last year were incorporated into this one, now named for Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter.

The bill would permit illegal immigrants who were in the U.S. before Jan. 7, 2004, to apply for a three-year guest-worker visa, which could be renewed once if they paid a $1,000 fine and passed a background check. After six years, if they demonstrated English proficiency and paid another $1,000 fine and back taxes, they could apply for permanent residency, the first step toward citizenship. Laborers abroad could apply for the same visa, which in their case would be capped at 400,000 annually; at least 87,000 of those workers would be eligible to apply for green cards each year. The bill would also authorize work permits for 1.5 million farm laborers over five years. They too could apply for residency. Civil sanctions for hiring illegal immigrants are similar to those in Kyl's bill. The bill would step up investigations of employers and border enforcement.