GOP to Filibuster Immigration Bill

The fight over the immigration bill in the Senate will deteriorate into a GOP filibuster:

Senate Republicans will filibuster their own immigration bill today in the face of steadfast refusal by Democrats to allow amendments to the bill that many conservatives view as granting amnesty to illegal aliens.

As an alternative, Majority Leader Bill Frist reached an agreement last night with fellow Republicans on a new comprehensive immigration plan that includes increasing border security and a guest-worker plan, but still does not resolve concerns about amnesty.

The new plan would allow illegal aliens who have been in the United States for more than five years to remain in the country working while applying for U.S. citizenship. Those who have been here between two and five years would have to apply for citizenship at a point of entry, but could remain working. Anyone here for less than two years would have to leave the country, but they could still apply for citizenship from their home country.

As written, it's a very bad bill and will simply open the floodgates at the border. According to one report I heard yesterday some in the Mexican media were telling people that anmesty would soon be enacted in the U.S. and they need to get up there to take advantage of it.

The GOP has been trying to amend the bill to put some teeth back into it, but Harry Reid is refusing to allow votes:

Minority Leader Harry Reid refused yesterday to allow votes on amendments to the bill that Republicans say they will filibuster, including one that would prohibit any illegal alien convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors from obtaining U.S. citizenship.

Mr. Reid and other Democrats say that such an amendment would "gut" the immigration bill and they accused Republicans of being hostile to immigrants for proposing it.

Mr. Reid's tactical maneuvers came as news spread around Capitol Hill of a bill the Nevada Democrat sponsored in 1993 that was aimed at severely curtailing legal immigration and cracked down on illegal immigration.

I reported on Reid's past bill yesterday. This is all clearly a Dem stunt.

UPDATE: According to Michelle Malkin, Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) thinks that maybe he should storm into the Capitol in a McKinney-esque move and go to work as an "undocumented Senator". I like it, and ran with the idea a bit here.