By a surprisingly wide margin, the Senate Judiciary Committee agreed Thursday to consider new restrictions on legal and illegal aliens in two separate bills rather than one, imperiling large proposed cuts in legal immigration.
After two weeks of jousting, the panel voted 12-6 to strip the more politically charged cuts in skilled foreign workers and family visas, and deal with them separately after addressing stricter enforcement measures against illegal aliens.Six of the committee's 10 Republicans, including the panel's chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, turned a deaf ear to the pleas of the legislation's main author, Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., to deal with legal and illegal aliens together.
"This is the way this legislation should be taken up," said Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., who led the effort to split the bill.
Simpson played down Thursday's vote, saying: "This won't affect anything. We'll go to the floor with both measures."
But others who support deep cuts in the numbers and types of immigrants who enter the country legally said Congress' compressed election-year schedule as well as opposition from a broad coalition of business and pro-immigration groups would make their task more difficult.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that supports cuts in legal immigration, said: "Senators will not have the time or the political will to deal with two separate bills. Since illegal immigration excites people the most, that's what's going to come first. Legal immigration will just shrivel up."
Supporters of legal immigration say current law ensures a plentiful supply of skilled immigrants to serve as a wellspring of economic innovation. But critics say foreign workers are taking jobs from Americans and placing huge burdens on public services in states with large numbers of aliens like California, Florida and New York.
The House Rules Committee decided Thursday that an amendment to divide its immigration bill into two parts could be offered next week. It is unclear what effect the Senate decision will have on the House amendment.