WASHINGTON – Congressional leaders are giving up on broad immigration legislation that would legalize millions of illegal immigrants and instead will concentrate on border security ahead of the Nov. 7 election, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said yesterday.
“I think it would be next to impossible to pass a comprehensive bill that includes dealing with the diversity of 12 million people here in the next three weeks,” the Tennessee Republican told reporters.
President Bush backs comprehensive immigration legislation along the lines passed by the Senate. That bill would have created a guest worker program and put millions of illegal immigrants on a path toward U.S. citizenship.
The Senate bill faced stiff opposition in the House from Republicans who preferred the House bill, which focused on border security.
House leaders plan to meet today to discuss how to push border security legislation through Congress before lawmakers break at the end of the month to campaign for Nov. 7 congressional elections.
