The making of American domestic policy 247were introduced, including the possibility of the legalisation of the status of
many undocumented persons living in the US, a guest worker programme
and less punitive measures for being in the country unlawfully. Objections by
conservative senators to the original draft legislation proposed by the chair-
man of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter, led to an attempt by
the Republican Majority Leader, Senator Frist, to come up with bipartisan
compromise proposals. Frist proposed that illegal immigrants should be di-
vided into three categories: those who had been in the United States for five
years or more could be granted citizenship under certain conditions; those
who had been in the country for two to four years could apply for legal status,
but they would have to return to a border crossing in order to apply; the re-
mainder would be deported. However, the compromise proposal failed to get
acceptance, and by April 2006 there was deadlock. President Bush indicated
that he supported a further compromise which would involve a guest worker
programme but not an amnesty. However, he faced considerable opposition
from many Republican Senators and Congressmen. The prospect of large-
scale deportations led to unprecedented demonstrations in many cities by
hundreds of thousands of Latinos, not just Mexicans, but legal and illegal
immigrants from many South American countries, some waving foreign,
mostly Mexican, flags. Whilst urging Congress to pass legislation to control
immigration, President Bush in May 2006 decided to order 2,500 National
Guard soldiers to the Mexican border to give support to the border patrols.
The failure of the federal government to find a solution to the illegal im-
migrant problem led many states to try to deal with the issue themselves. As
long ago as 1994 the voters in California approved a referendum proposal,
Proposition 187, denying taxpayer-funded goods such as free education and
free hospital treatment to illegal aliens. There was anger in many states over
the fact that illegal aliens often received government-funded health care,
education benefits and subsidised housing. Georgia passed a law imposing
fines on employers who hire illegal immigrants, and other states are follow-
ing suit. Arizona, which is one of the states bordering Mexico, is considering
a number of proposals, from requiring proof of citizenship in order to vote or
to receive welfare benefits, to building an eighty-mile fence along the border.
Private citizen groups have taken initiatives, such as the Minuteman Project,
a volunteer group that patrols the United States–Mexico border.
The death penalty
Some policies are made in the United States with almost no input from the
president or the Congress; the law concerning the death penalty has been de-
veloped, for the most part, by the legislatures of the states and by the judici-
ary, in particular by the Supreme Court. Most of the criminal law in America
is state law and most criminal prosecutions are made by state law enforce-
ment authorities; in 2000 there were over 1,194,000 prisoners in state jails