WASHINGTON – Both sides of the immigration debate warned yesterday of a major showdown in the Senate this week.
“We have a terrible problem in this country that demands an answer,” Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) said about the estimated 12 million illegal aliens now in the country. “This problem is just going to get worse if we do nothing at all.”
But, opponents say, granting citizenship to illegals before the border has been secured will only make the problem worse.
“We are going to use every effort to slow this process down and continue to hold up the bill,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said.
Senate Democrats agreed to bring the bill back to the Senate floor after it became hopelessly stalled earlier this month. If the resurrected version passes the Senate, it will face an uphill fight in the House, where Democratic leaders have said they won’t approve it without support from a significant number of Republicans.