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A man takes part in a protest march Monday, April 10, in Atlanta. Tens of thousands of people spilled into streets across the nation Monday in a day of action billed as a “campaign for immigrants’ dignity.”

Immigration reform causes protests

Senate compromise fails after weeks of heated debate

Gideon Oakes OAK04004@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

After the U.S. Senate seemed to have reached a compromise on a new immigration bill, Senate officials recanted the agreement, causing protesters to take to the streets once again Monday, April 10, to protest further immigration reform.

Protesters took to the streets in more than 100 cities nationwide Monday to demand greater rights for more than 11 million illegal immigrants currently in America.

Major points of protest included Phoenix, New York, Chicago, Seattle and 20 cities in California. Last week, protests were held in many American cities including Los Angeles and Dallas.

The Senate was close to reaching a compromise on the issue last week when it drafted a bill aimed at reforming the current U.S. immigration policy with a three-tier concept.

The bill was the latest in a series of immigration-related bills, including one measure making illegal immigration an automatic felony and conversely, one measure granting amnesty to all immigrants.

The newly formed bill would create three tiers of illegal immigrants:

• Illegals in the United States less than two years would be required to leave immediately. If caught once, they would be subject to a misdemeanor, and if caught twice they would be charged with a felony.

• Illegals in the United States between two and five years would have to go to one of 16 ports of entry in the United States, determined by the Department of Homeland Security, and declare themselves. They would be given a temporary visa and allowed back to their United States residences immediately. Once in the United States, they can apply for citizenship through an 11-year process.

• Illegals who can prove they have been in the United States for more than five years would immediately be given guest worker status and would get on the 11-year path to citizenship. They would not have to declare themselves as visa holding workers.

The bill was generally expected to pass by a wide margin, but some senators had doubts about the measure prior to its defeat.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in a statement he issued April 5, he remains “adamant that we not repeat the mistakes of the 1986 [immigration] bill, a measure widely viewed as having imposed amnesty on those in the country illegally.”