College students hold hands as they follow the
Senate's vote on television. (AP)
The Senate on Saturday blocked a bill that would create a path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrant students who came to the United States as children, completed two years of college or military service and met other requirements including passing a criminal background check. The vote, 55-41 in favor of the bill, effectively kills the measure for this year, and its fate beyond that is uncertain.
Most immediately, the measure would have helped grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant students and recent graduates whose lives are severely restricted because they are illegal residents, though many have lived in the United States for nearly their entire lives.
Young Hispanic men and women filled the spectator galleries of the Senate, many of them wore graduation caps and tassels in a symbol of their support for the bill. And they held hands in a prayerful gesture as the clerk called the roll .
The measure, known as the Dream Act, failed to get the support of 60 senators needed to cut off a filibuster and bring the bill to the floor.
President Obama had personally lobbied lawmakers in support the bill. But Democrats were not able to hold ranks. Among those voting no were the Democrats Max Baucus of Montana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Jon Tester of Montana.
"I want to make it clear to my colleagues, you won't get many chances in the United states Senate, in the course of your career, to face clear votes on the issue of justice," said Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, and a main champion of the immigration measure.
Mr. Durbin urged support for the measure.
"Thousands of children in American who live in the shadows and dream of greatness," he said. "They are children who have been raised in this country. They stand in the classrooms and pledge allegiance to our flag. They sing our star-spangled banner as our national anthem. They believe in their heart of hearts this is home. This is the only country they have every known."
But opponents of the measure said it was too broad and would grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.