12 million immigrants out of the shadows

The immigration-reform deal among a bipartisan group of U.S. senators is a key milestone in what will continue to be a bruising debate.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D.-Mass., and John Kyl, R-Ariz., deserve leadership credits for reaching far beyond the comfort zones of their constituencies to craft a compromise. President Bush convened a press conference to endorse the bill, which has some of his fingerprints as well. The test of their leadership's muscularity will be if the coalition can hold together while opposition on both sides of the debate attempt to nibble away at their peeves.

What the bill proposes to do is bring more than 12 million illegal immigrants out of the shadows, tighten the borders and favor immigrants with education and skills over those with merely family ties.

The proposal's virtues include elements of previous bills that ensure an agricultural work force and help those achieving students without legal status earn citizenship.

Workers here illegally would gain legal status by paying fines and would eventually be able to apply for citizenship — all elements of last year's very reasoned Senate bill that ran aground with the more-protectionist House.

The new proposal also includes a temporary-worker program, albeit without a path to citizenship. The program would be triggered only after certain border-enforcement milestones are met.

Officials of several unions vow to strip this provision because it would create an underclass of workers more prone to exploitation and lower wages.

And one of the proposal's most controversial aspects would change the U.S. legal immigration policy of more than 40 years that favors new immigrants with family members already in the United States legally. Under the new proposal, highly educated and skilled workers would receive more consideration than those with family affiliation.

Critics warn, with some credibility, that such a shift might duplicate the illegal system that lawmakers want to eliminate, as families seek to reunite without permission.

Kennedy, Kyl and President Bush made serious compromises to achieve a basis to restart the overdue legislative debate — perhaps the last chance before presidential politicking distracts and polarizes.

An urgently needed solution to the nation's dysfunctional immigration system is at stake. This can't wait another two years.