Tougher border measure pushed

WASHINGTON -- Two Republican senators from states with large numbers of illegal immigrants introduced legislation yesterday that would funnel at least $5 billion into border enforcement and create a temporary-worker visa requiring foreigners to return to their home countries when their jobs ended.
The bill, sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona, would toughen penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers, reimburse states for the costs of holding illegal immigrants who commit crimes and require the issuance of machine-readable, tamper-proof Social Security cards within a year.

In what is perhaps an attempt to stake out the middle ground, the Kyl-Cornyn bill would:
* Require that all immigrants be registered, fingerprinted and checked against criminal and terrorist watch lists.
* Allow immigrants to come for two years under the new temporary-worker visas, after which they must return home for a year. They may apply for such a visa three times, for a maximum stay of six years....Click title for the rest....