This is whats being propossed and may pass into law.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/25/MNG53J1MJ91.DTL
A
comparison of the two immigration bills
Highlights of immigration and border security bills, one pending in the Senate and the other passed by the House in December.
SENATE BILL
-- Allows illegal immigrants who have been in the country five years or more to remain, continue working and eventually become legal permanent residents and citizens after paying at least $3,250 in fines and fees, paying back taxes and learning English.
-- Requires illegal immigrants in the United States between two and five years to go to a point of entry at the border and file an application to return.
-- Requires those in the country less than two years to leave.
-- Illegal immigrants convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors would be deported no matter how long they have been in the United States.
-- Creates a special guest worker program for an estimated 1.5 million immigrant farm workers, who could also earn legal permanent residence.
-- Provides 200,000 new temporary guest worker visas a year.
-- Authorizes 370 miles of new triple-layered fencing plus 500 miles of vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
-- Authorizes hiring 1,000 more Border Patrol agents this year, for a total additional 3,000 agents this year.
-- Adds 14,000 more Border Patrol agents by 2011 to the current force of 11,300 agents.
-- Authorizes additional prisons for apprehended illegal immigrants.
-- Requires employers and subcontractors to use an electronic system within 18 months to verify new hires are legal. Increases maximum fines to employers for hiring illegal workers to $20,000 for each worker and imposes jail time for repeat offenders.
-- Delays by 17 months, until June 1, 2009, a requirement now in law that Americans re-entering the United States after cruises or short visits to Canada and Mexico show a passport or high-tech identification card.
-- Declares English the country's national language.
-- Increases the number of H1B visas for skilled workers from 65,000 to 115,000 annually, beginning in 2007. Immigrants with certain advanced degrees would not be subject to the caps, which could rise by 20 percent depending on labor market demands.
-- Limits National Guard tours of duty on the U.S.-Mexico border to 21 days.
-- Lets more countries participate in the visa waiver program, which allows citizens of certain countries to visit the United States without a visa. The United States and more than two dozen countries now have reciprocal visa waiver agreements.
HOUSE BILL
-- No provisions for path to legal residence or citizenship for illegal immigrants. No new temporary guest worker program.
-- Makes illegal presence in the country a felony and increases penalties for first-time illegal entry to the United States.
-- Makes it a felony to assist, encourage, direct or induce a person to enter or attempt to enter or remain in the United States illegally.
-- Beginning in six years, all employers would have to use a database to verify Social Security numbers of all employees.
-- Increases maximum fines for employers of illegal workers from current $10,000 to $40,000 per violation and establishes prison sentences of up to 30 years for repeat offenders.
-- Requires mandatory detention for all non-Mexican illegal immigrants arrested at ports of entry or at land and sea borders.
-- Establishes mandatory sentences for smuggling illegal immigrants and for re-entering the United States illegally after deportation.
-- Makes a drunken-driving conviction a deportable offense.
-- Requires building two-layer fences along 700 miles of the 2,000-mile border between Mexico and the United States.
Associated Press