Legislation that would have paved the way to citizenship for an estimated 500,000 immigrant farmworkers and their families failed to win the approval of the Senate. The measure, known as AgJobs, would have offered temporary residency to illegal farmworkers who could demonstrate that they had worked in agriculture for a set period of time. Workers who met certain criteria could then apply for temporary residency and eventually citizenship. Critics of the bill felt that it might increase illegal immigration.
See "Immigration Measure Blocked", Mary Curtius, Los Angeles Times, April 19, 2005