The U.S. Senate's Gang of Eight fended off poison-pill amendments, meant to derail a bipartisan immigration reform bill supporters say is gaining steam.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, during a markup session last week, voted down Republican-sponsored amendments that sought to delay putting 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship and dramatically increase the number of Border Patrol agents and surveillance vehicles, among other things, The Hill reported Friday.
The bill's sponsors also held off an effort U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a liberal, to halt Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano from deporting undocumented workers to unsafe areas. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., one of the bill's chief authors, said Coons's proposal was so broad that it could stop almost all deportations to Mexico.
The members of the Gang of Eight on the panel -- Schumer and Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., stood firm to defeat amendments that could undermine the bill's bipartisan support.
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