US Senate, White House in illegal immigrants deal

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Key US legislators clinched a deal with the White House Thursday on a sweeping immigration reform package that would bring 12 million illegal immigrants out of the shadows and bolster security along the US borders.

The pact, announced by a group of Democratic and Republican senators, would provide a path to permanent residency and citizenship for the vast majority of illegal workers, establish a merit-based points system for future immigrants, and set up a low-wage temporary worker program.

The bill would also provide 18,000 more Border Patrol agents, and scores of radar and camera towers on the US border with Mexico.

The measure, which emerged from exhaustive round-the-clock talks, is aimed at defusing a fiercely polarizing issue and...