An agreement reached Thrusday between Democrats and Republicans on immigration reform fell apart Friday. The Senate failed to end debate on the legislation in two lopsided votes Friday morning, leaving the prospects for passage dim as the lawmakers head home for their two-week Easter recess. The bill would have increased border security to try to stem the influx of illegal immigrants while providing a process to legitimize those who've lived for a long time in the country illegally. The two parties blamed the other for the impasse. "There's a political advantage for Democrats not to have an immigration bill," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa. "This opportunity is slipping through our hands like grains of sand," said assistant Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin of Illinois.
In the Friday morning vote, Republicans refused to go along with Democratic demands to limit the number of amendments that could be offered. The compromise proposal, drafted by Republican Sens. Mel Martinez of Florida and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, would allow illegal immigrants who have been in the United States for more than five years to get on a path to legal status and citizenship without leaving the country.