US: In a US Congress debate this week and next, which has as its sub-text the next presidential election, senators are grappling with two competing Bills on immigration, of huge interest to Irish illegals, while working behind the scenes to find common ground.
The tensions, particularly within the Republican party between the Senate majority leader Bill Frist and Senator John McCain, both seen as presidential hopefuls, are largely about how to capture the now critical Hispanic vote.
But some senators said they are still upbeat about the possibility of finding some consensus, and the leadership of the House of Representatives has indicated that agreement between that chamber's already-passed Bill and whatever may emerge from the Senate is possible.
Still, the emotional question of how to deal with the estimated 12 million people illegally in the United States remains the point that all efforts pivot on.
The Senate's debate will focus on two Bills, an enforcement-only measure from Mr Frist, and a Bill approved on Monday by the Senate judiciary committee that includes enforcement, provisions for a guest-worker programme and a way for those in the US illegally to work toward citizenship. The latter incorporates amendments from Senator Ted Kennedy and McCain and is the focus of strenuous lobbying from the Irish Government and Irish activists in the US.
Opponents of the committee Bill contend it offers "amnesty" to individuals who broke the law. "The committee Bill goes too far in granting what most Americans will see as amnesty," Mr Frist said.
"It is not an amnesty," countered Senator Arlen Specter, the Republican chairman of the judiciary committee, in his opening statement to the debate on Wednesday. In an amnesty, "lawbreakers do not have to pay for their transgressions," Mr Specter said, going on to outline the requirements that undocumented immigrants would have to meet before they could attain citizenship.
Senators began discussion shortly after President Bush threw his weight behind a plan that would allow those now in the US illegally, along with new guest workers, to work towards citizenship.
Leaders in the House of Representative, which produced a tough enforcement-only Bill in December, signalled for the first time that they might be able to find common ground with the Senate if it passes a guest-worker programme.
"We're not going to discount anything," said the Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
An influential and largely Republican caucus in the House vehemently opposes any deviation from a security-only approach, but Mr Hastert's comments signalled that the House Republican opinion on immigration is not monolithic.
"Our first priority is to protect the border. And we also know there is a need in some sectors of the economy for a guest-worker programme. But we want to see what the Senate comes forward with, and we will go through the process," Mr Hastert said.
Debate on the Senate judiciary committee Bill is expected to end next week, before the Senate leaves on recess.
On the enforcement front, that Bill would add fences along the Arizona border, double the number of border agents and criminalise tunnel building.
It also sets a path to citizenship for people now in the US illegally, who would have to work for six years, pay fines and back taxes, and learn English and civics before they could apply for a "green card" indicating legal permanent resident status. Five years after gaining that status, they could seek citizenship.
The Bill would also allow as many as 400,000 guest workers a year to come from outside the United States to work for a maximum of six years. Once they have worked four years, they, too, could start working toward citizenship.
A competing proposal by Republican Senators Jon Kyl and John Cornyn would not allow guest workers to gain citizenship and would require those now in the US illegally to return to their home countries.
On Wednesday, President Bush spoke for the first time in favour of a guest-worker programme that leads to citizenship.
"I believe that we ought to say to somebody doing a job an American won't do, 'Here is a tamper-proof identity card that will enable you to be here for a period of time'," Mr Bush told a meeting of Freedom House, an independent organisation that supports the expansion of democracy. "And if that person wants to become a citizen of the United States, because we're a nation of law, they get at the end of the line, not the beginning of the line."
The president is "one of the keys" to brokering a compromise, said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a judiciary committee member who favours a guest-worker programme that leads to citizenship.