>>This is shameful. It goes against the add-on restrictions which supposedly were going to end. It needs to be it's own bill:
>>
>>http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/14/reid-adds-controversial-immigration-measure-to-defense-bill/
>
>We are in agreement. Riders are by their nature a perversion of the legislative process. It doesn't matter that this is legislation I happen to believe in. This is not the way to do it.
>
>If the Republicans don't take control of both houses of Congress in November, which I consider a real possibility, I think he will return to immigration reform. If passed it won't be everything supporters want, any more than health care reform or financial reform were, but IMO it's possible to get a decent bill through. Something that provides a reasonable chance of citizenship to people who spend some period of time like five years as registered guest workers and stay out of trouble. It's a big country and we've got room for plenty more.


In 2009, the total number of persons naturalizing was 743,715 (legal new citizens in the U.S.)
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/natz_fr_2009.pdf

1,046,539 persons were naturalized as U.S. citizens in 2008.
80,000 refugees were admitted in 2009.
The number of illegal immigrants was estimated to be approximately 1,000,000 in 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States