WASHINGTON — An emerging immigration proposal by three Democratic senators calls for more federal enforcement agents and other border security-tightening benchmarks before illegal immigrants could become legal U.S. residents.
Those goals “must be met before action can be taken to adjust the status of people already in the United States illegally,” according to a copy of the draft legislation, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, that Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada, Charles Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey are developing.
Spokesmen for the three declined to comment on the proposal.
On his way back from a trip to the Midwest, President Barack Obama said that although a lot of work needs to be done on immigration, “there may not be an appetite” in Congress to deal with another hot- button issue immediately after grueling fights over health care and financial regulation.
Meanwhile, a referendum launched Wednesday could put Arizona’s new law on hold until 2012 if organizers can gather the more than 76,000 signatures needed to get the measure on the ballot.
Opponents of the law have until late July or early August to file the signatures — the same time the law is set to go into effect. If they get enough signatures, the law would be delayed until a vote. But the deadline to put a question on the November ballot is July 1, so it would likely be 2012 before the law went before voters.
