See previous: Report: Senate Republicans sell out on amnesty

Below the fold, newest items at the top:

• Grand Outline of Provisions of "the Compromise"
• Immigration Bill: Good Principles, Questionable Enforcement
• No to Bush-Kennedy
• Immigration Deal Reached
• It's here: The Bush-Kennedy amnesty; Report: Potential cost = $2.5 trillion
• A Republican Landslide In The Making
• White House backs off alien safeguards
• Immigration Overhaul Is Closer to Senate Floor

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Grand Outline of Provisions of "the Compromise"
Hatched by Dafydd ab Hugh

The main purpose of this post is to pull together everything we currently know about the immigration-reform deal announced today. I had to go through six different sources to find it all; but here it is, all in one place.

For future reference, as this stuff works its way through Congress, I will repost the outline below and make changes, additions, and emendations as required. So consider Big Lizards your one-stop shopping center for the grand plan that will occupy as much of Congress's time as can be spared... after the urgent requirement to investigate every Republican, living or dead, who ever worked for George W. Bush (or said anything nice about him).

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Immigration Bill: Good Principles, Questionable Enforcement
Bruce Kesler

It took me an hour just to scan the text of the proposed Immigration Bill. Reading, studying, analyzing it all would take dedicated weeks at a minimum. There’s the first problem with it: It’s being rushed through Congress without due deliberation and understanding. For an issue that not only affects the 12 or so million illegals here but the other 300 million Americans, and the future economics and culture of the country, that’s too hasty.

My first impression of the Immigration Bill is that it contains most of the principles, or parts thereof, that conservatives have sought: Qualifying for citizenship rather than automatic amnesty; Shifting priorities toward those with education and skills that can contribute most, rather than the uneducated and elderly who cost more than they contribute; Stricter enforcement of employer hiring; Increased border security. Notably missing is restriction of automatic citizenship to those born here, which is an enormous loophole for those seeking to stay along with their children. In the border states, many pregnant Mexicans purposely come across to give birth here.

I’m struck that most of these principles are dependent on future appropriations or mere administration certifications. There’s little reason to have faith in these future requirements occurring with adequacy or stringency. Some portions may occur, but less than even the minimal included in the Bill. I could go along with the Bill if these requirements were sufficiently pre-funded in the Bill, with a 2/3rd’s or so vote by Congress required to reduce the appropriations and, similarly, to find the certifications adequate. Short of that, I do have to fall in with skeptics who expect much less enforcement than promised. ...

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No to Bush-Kennedy
NRO Editors

“The fight over legalization, or ‘amnesty,’ is all but over,” exults the Manhattan Institute’s Tamar Jacoby, and the “yahoos” who oppose it have been routed. She is right about who has won, at least as far as the Senate is concerned. The Bush-Kennedy immigration “reform,” which is now expected to win broad bipartisan support in that chamber, provides legal status for an estimated 12 million illegal aliens. In exchange for the massive, unpopular amnesty, Senator Kennedy is willing to engage in a little “border dressing” that purports to beef up enforcement of current laws barring illegal entry and the employment of illegal workers. As in the past, supporters of border and workplace enforcement will get the rhetoric, illegal aliens the prize, and taxpayers the huge tab.

The 1986 immigration reform, with amnesty provisions that were implemented and enforcement provisions that weren’t, is instructive. But there is no need to hark back 20 years to illustrate the bad faith of “comprehensive” immigration reformers. Before last year’s elections, the Secure Fence Act, providing for the construction of a 700-mile fence at the southern border, handily passed Congress. In this week’s Republican presidential debate, Rep. Duncan Hunter, the fence bill’s House sponsor, angrily noted, “We have $1 billion cash on hand at the Department of Homeland Security right now for building the border fence. . . . They have done two miles. I think they want to drag their feet and hook this up with amnesty.” They do and they now have.

The Bush administration’s price for its modestly beefed-up border security and workplace enforcement is amnesty for millions and a temporary-worker program for a few hundred thousand more each year. And the proposal’s conservative features vanish upon inspection. ...

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Immigration Deal Reached
John Hinderaker

Over the lunch hour, a group of Senators held a press conference to announce that, as was rumored yesterday, they have negotiated the terms of a bipartisan "comprehensive immigration reform" bill. They didn't say much about its terms, but the fact that the announcement was made by Ted Kennedy didn't make me very hopeful.

The Associated Press describes the terms this way:

The proposed agreement would allow illegal immigrants to come forward and obtain a "Z visa" and — after paying fees and a $5,000 fine — ultimately get on track for permanent residency, which could take between eight and 13 years. Heads of household would have to return to their home countries first.

They could come forward right away to claim a probationary card that would let them live and work legally in the U.S., but could not begin the path to permanent residency or citizenship until border security improvements and the high-tech worker identification program were completed.

A new temporary guest worker program would also have to wait until those so-called "triggers" had been activated.

This account isn't very clear, and I may well be misreading it. But it sounds as though the one thing that happens immediately is that any illegal immigrant who is now in the U.S., or makes his way here in the near future, can "come forward" and receive a "probationary card" that allows him to reside and work here. Eventual citizenship requires payment of a $5,000 fine and fulfillment of other requirements, but such a "path to citizenship" won't begin until border improvements and the employer identification system have been implemented.

What if they are never implemented, or never implemented satisfactorily? At best, that would derail the path to citizenship and the guest worker program. The one thing that we know for sure, if I am reading the AP account correctly, is that all current illegals will receive a "get out of jail free" card, as, apparently, will anyone who can make his way here in time to ask for one.

The other significant change in the law apparently relates to how future immigrants will be selected:

In perhaps the most hotly debated change, the proposed plan would shift from an immigration system primarily weighted toward family ties toward one with preferences for people with advanced degrees and sophisticated skills. Republicans have long sought such revisions, which they say are needed to end "chain migration" that harms the economy, while some Democrats and liberal groups say it's an unfair system that rips families apart.

Family connections alone would no longer be enough to qualify for a green card — except for spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens.

That's good, as far as it goes. But ...

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It's here: The Bush-Kennedy amnesty
Report: Potential cost = $2.5 trillion
Michelle Malkin

The amnesty sellout arrives. Background at this post.

Lie of the day from Arlen "Illegal Alien Gold Card" Specter: "This will restore the rule of law."

Second biggest lie of the day:

Bush called it "a much-needed solution to the problem of illegal immigration in this country" and said, if approved, the proposal "delivers an immigration system that is secure, productive, orderly and fair."

Via Kate O'Beirne, Heritage Foundation scholar Robert Rector estimates the bill's pricetag at a potential $2.5 trillion with a "t:" ...

DO NOT miss Allahpundit's related post here.

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A Republican Landslide In The Making
Dan Riehl

Historically, the term landslide has meant a major victory by one political party over another. Republicans appear to want to re-define the term by embracing a position on immigration likely to cause the conservative land they've been trampling over for decades to give way. ...

Don't miss Allahpundit's related post here.

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Immigration Overhaul Is Closer to Senate Floor
Proposal Would Offer Route to Legal Status, Shift Preferences to Skilled Workers
By Jonathan Weisman

Senate negotiators reached a tentative agreement yesterday on a broad overhaul of the nation's immigration laws that would offer virtually all of the nation's 12 million undocumented workers a route to legal status while shifting migration preferences away from the extended families of citizens toward more skilled and educated workers.

Under the tentative deal, undocumented workers who crossed into the country before Jan. 1 would be offered a temporary-residency permit while they await a new "Z Visa" that would allow them to live and work lawfully here. The head of an illegal-immigrant household would have eight years to return to his or her home country to apply for permanent legal residence for members of the household, but each Z Visa itself would be renewable indefinitely, as long as the holder passes a criminal background check, remains fully employed and pays a $5,000 fine, plus a paperwork-processing fee.

A separate, temporary-worker program would be established for 400,000 migrants a year. Each temporary work visa would be good for two years and could be renewed up to three times, as long as the worker leaves the country for a year between renewals.

To satisfy Republicans, those provisions would come in force only after the federal government implements tough new border controls and a crackdown on employers that hire illegal immigrants. Republicans are demanding 18,000 new Border Patrol agents, 370 miles of additional border fencing and an effective, electronic employee-verification system for the workplace.

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White House backs off alien safeguards
By Stephen Dinan

The Bush administration, trying to win an immigration agreement with Democrats, is backing away from safeguards designed to target businesses that hire illegal aliens and to prevent a repeat of the rampant fraud that resulted from the 1986 amnesty.

Republicans are pleading with the Bush administration to hold firm on the safeguards, arguing that otherwise any new guest-worker program will be unworkable.

"We need their help on that," said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, who for two years has fought to give the Department of Homeland Security new tools to limit lawsuits, share information with the Social Security Administration and allow authorities to target those whose applications are denied and who should be deported.

Meanwhile, pressure from interest groups is driving the two sides even further apart, making a deal less likely. ...