Republicans propose THIRD bill as alternative

Late breaking news announced that President Bush met with Republican senators in the White House on Wednesday and encouraged them to come up with a compromise. So Republican Senators Mel Martinez and Chuck Hagel presented their "magic formula" as a compromise THIRD bill that they hope more Republican senators will support.

Bill Frist has filed for 'cloture' to force a referendum on the bill so that the entire Senate can vote on it.

What's in the bill? All we know now is what the Associated Press tells us:

"The Republican alternative would separate the population into three groups depending on how long they lived in the United States as of January 2004. Those in the country longer than five years would be eligible for citizenship along the lines contained in the Judiciary Committee bill, aides said. Those who have lived two to five years in the United States would have six months to register and three years to apply for a temporary work visa or some other visa, aides said. They could live in the country legally during that time but would have to return to a U.S. port of entry to get the visa. Illegal immigrants in the country less than two years would not be eligible for special treatment and would have to leave, aides said."

Democrats are going to look at it and see if it's something they can support.

Senator John McCain told CNN that "I haven't seen an issue in recent years that has so much emotion associated with it."

More soon...

ACTION STEP: Call your Senators and tell them that you oppose any bill that contains the heavy-handed enforcement and "hidden traps" and that they should take more time on such an important issue. See the DWN press kit materials for more info: http://www.nationalimmigrationproject.org/Press.html

[Sources:
Associated Press "US Senate Republicans offer immigration compromise: Recasts with Republican alternative, updates throughout" by Donna Smith, Wed Apr 5, 2006 9:59 PM ET

CNN " GOP senators offer immigration plan: Bush says he wants guest-worker plan without amnesty, Wednesday, April 5, 2006; Posted: 11:35 p.m. EDT http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/05/immigration/index.html]