US: The United States Senate has voted overwhelmingly to wind up a debate on immigration reform, opening the way for senators to approve a sweeping overhaul of US immigration laws today. Denis Staunton reports from Washington
The Bill would allow most of America's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, thousands of whom are Irish, to remain in the country legally and to eventually apply for citizenship. It includes measures to tighten border security and to crack down on employers who hire illegal workers, demanding that they check each employee's social security number on a computerised database.
If the Senate approves the Bill today, representatives from both houses of Congress will meet in conference to merge the legislation with a tough, anti-immigration Bill approved last year by the House of Representatives.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern was in Washington yesterday to meet senators and congressmen in advance of today's vote. He praised the work of the Irish Embassy in Washington and the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform.
"Where we are at the moment is beyond perhaps where we thought we would be . . . we're over one hurdle," he said. "There's significant work yet to be done . . . now we have to move on to the next phase, which is probably more difficult and needs more intense effort."
Lobby chairman Niall O'Dowd said the group planned a second national day of action in Washington on June 28th, when up to 5,000 Irish immigrants and their supporters will demonstrate.
Formed less than six months ago, the Irish lobby has been spectacularly successful in mobilising the Irish-American community and winning support for immigration reform among legislators.
"John McCain said to us in our meeting last week that he felt we had changed the minds of at least five senators, between ourselves and the Irish Government," Mr O'Dowd said, "so we will try to do the same with the congressional people who are at the moment opposed."
The Senate Bill has the support of the White House and the business world but many House Republicans remain fiercely hostile to what they see as an amnesty for illegal immigrants. Negotiations between senators and congressmen, which President George W Bush hopes will be complete by the end of June, are likely to be difficult and any final Bill will almost certainly be less generous towards illegal immigrants than the Senate legislation.
Advocates of immigration reform are encouraged by the strength of the bipartisan alliance in the Senate that overcame apparently insurmountable obstacles to agree on a Bill.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham warned party colleagues against undermining Mr Bush by failing to agree on legislation to November's mid-term elections.
"Much is at stake for our party. We have the White House, we have the Senate and we have the house," he said. "If we can't solve this problem because it's politically too hard for us, people are going to turn to another group to solve this problem."
Irish lobby president Grant Lally, a Republican, said the Bill the Senate will approve today appeared improbable only a few months ago.
"I think it's exceeded all expectations and it's really the product of a lot of hard work. I think we're going to get the same results in the US House of Representatives especially with 45 million Irish-Americans supporting the legalisation of undocumented Irish in the United States and communicating that to members of Congress, I think we're going to see a lot of support in the House of Representatives," he said.