US immigration overhaul impossible, Senate leader

WASHINGTON, Sep 7 (Reuters) US congressional leaders are giving up on broad immigration legislation that would legalize millions of illegal immigrants and will concentrate instead on border security before the elections, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said.

''I think it would be next to impossible to pass a comprehensive bill that includes dealing with the diversity of 12 million people here in the next three weeks,'' the Tennessee Republican told reporters.

President George W Bush backs comprehensive immigration legislation along the lines passed by the US Senate. That bill would have created a guest-worker program and put millions of illegal immigrants on a path toward US citizenship.

The Senate bill faced stiff opposition in the US House of Representatives from a number of Republicans who preferred the House bill, which focused on border security and workplace enforcement.

House Republicans held a series of hearings over the summer to highlight their concerns with the Senate bill. House leaders plan to meet on Thursday to discuss how to push border security legislation through Congress before lawmakers break at the end of the month to campaign for November. 7 congressional elections.

''Congress will put legislation on the president's desk this fall that will strengthen our borders,'' House Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters on Tuesday.

Frist's comments drew an angry response from Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat who helped write the Senate bill.

''How can Republicans say they are for making America safer when they can't even pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill to protect our borders?'' he said in a statement. ''They are so divided over immigration that it will take leadership from the president to break the impasse.'' Frist said he was discussing with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, how to proceed.

''I would think we need to have border security and strong border security first,'' he said. ''I would couple with that work-site enforcement, if at all possible.'' Latino activists, who last week began a round of marches to pressure a returning Congress to pass a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws, reacted with disappointment.

''We don't need more walls, what we need is comprehensive reform that deals with the total picture,'' said Rosa Rosales, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

''Immigrants are human beings, they contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy, and they need to come out of the shadows,'' she said.

Activists supporting comprehensive immigration measures plan a march through Washington today, which organizers hope will attract a million participants from across the eastern United States.

REUTERS DH PM0510