Free Republic

The Senate's Republican leader says he is unsure whether he will vote for the immigration bill President Bush strongly supports, underscoring the measure's precarious status. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has long called for an immigration overhaul, saying the current situation is deeply flawed. And as the Senate minority leader, McConnell is central to shepherding legislation the president wants. But in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, McConnell said he would not decide how to vote on the measure until a long series of amendments are disposed of next week. "The bill on the merits is a mixed bag,"...

It's the backlogs, stupid! Over the last several years, I've noted the following immigration backlogs that continue to plague our homeland security system: *The backlog of 600,000-plus fugitive deportee cases. *The backlog of 4 million immigration applications of all kinds. *The backlog of an estimated 100,000 FBI background checks for legal immigrant applicants. *The disappearance of 111,000 citizenship applications. The Washington Post reports today that those mounds of unprocessed paperwork continue to grow. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came here legally are waiting for FBI background checks that must be obtained before they can become naturalized:

May 17th 2007UPDATE: Six conservative senators are demanding that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.) negotiate a “full and open debate” on the immigration legislation.Senate Democrats and Republicans are working feverishly with the White House to put the finishing touches on an immigration proposal that could be announced later today or tomorrow. The deal would give illegal aliens living in the United States amnesty, according to confidential sources. It would also allow illegal aliens to bring their parents, spouses and children into the United States.Multiple sources on Capitol Hill with knowledge of the proposal said Sen. Teddy Kennedy (D.-Mass.) has...

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush returns to work Monday on the volatile issue of immigration, where his hope for a legislative breakthrough is complicated by cold relations with Congress. Bush will be back in Yuma, Ariz., to inspect the construction of border fencing and to push for the creation of a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The trip serves as a bookend to the visit Bush made to the same southwest desert city last May. It also comes as tension rises over a new immigration proposal tied to the White House. Bush's team is...