Senate Democrats circulate divisive immigration draft

Partisan fissures over immigration reform deepened Wednesday as key Senate Democrats circulated a draft for overhauling the nation's immigration laws and border security programs.

Republicans immediately attacked the 26-page "Conceptual Proposal for Immigration Reform" as unrealistic and slammed Democrats for taking a partisan approach. The draft was put together by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., along with Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

But it became clear the draft could give political cover to Democrats by allowing them to say they offered Republicans a plan with beefed up border security measures but that GOP lawmakers walked away from it. In a nod to Republicans, the draft even designates tighter border security as a prerequisite to government action giving legal status to illegal immigrants.

Indeed, Democratic leaders appear increasingly to be laying the groundwork to bring an all-Democratic immigration reform bill to the Senate floor.

The draft reads like a Christmas wish list, loaded with grandiose proposals and promises of action on security initiatives that have been stalled for years.

For example, the draft says all U.S. ports of entry would be equipped with technology that uses biometrics, such as fingerprints, to verify when foreigners leave the country. Such a requirement has been on the books for more than a decade.

The draft also states that "high-tech ground sensors" would be installed throughout the southern border, and Border Patrol agents will have "the technological capability" to respond to activation of the ground sensors in the area they are patrolling.

That was a main feature of the so-called SBInet virtual fence, a failed program that was started about five years ago and is now on its last legs. Ironically, the SBInet program was launched by the Bush administration to show lawmakers it was serious about border security and persuade them to vote for an immigration reform bill.

The draft includes a proposal to create a process to legalize an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States and overhaul U.S. visa programs to bring foreign workers into the country to meet business needs. It also calls for a new visa class specifically for provisional workers.

A spokesman for Reid said the draft "reflects months of bipartisan work," even though it was stamped as a "Reid-Schumer-Menendez Draft."

"It is intended to serve as an invitation to Republicans to look at it and sit down to solve problems with us," the spokesman added.

Notably, though, the only Republican who had been working with Democrats on an immigration bill -- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. -- said he had not seen the draft.

"All I can tell you is this is an issue we should be working together not apart," Graham said. "What we should do this year is border security to build confidence for a comprehensive plan that we can put together for next year, but I haven't looked at their proposal."

The draft appeared calculated to put Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl and Sen. John McCain, both Arizona Republicans, on the spot by including the same border security measures they called for last week.

For example, the draft says the government should increase the use of unmanned aerial drones along the border and it would give the Homeland Security Department authority to deploy National Guard troops along the border -- two proposals Kyl and McCain had in the 10-point "action plan" they unveiled at a news conference.

But a GOP aide countered that the Democratic draft contains only general language and does not call for specific troop numbers or timelines for beefing up border security.

"It is not a serious proposal being put forth by their side and, unfortunately, it is a political ploy by the majority leader to garner political support back in Nevada," the aide said. "And ploys like this only poison the well for genuine bipartisan reform."

Kyl said he had not seen the draft, either.

"While I haven't seen what they plan to do, I can't imagine just doing it on a partisan basis is a useful exercise," Kyl said. "What we need right now is border security. Until we get border security I don't think we're going to get comprehensive immigration reform."

Meanwhile Wednesday, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, offered his own border security bill, which would create a $300 million grant program for state and local law enforcement agencies within 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.