"... some Democrats did not like the change from linking up families to a point system for skills."

             There are those, yes, but in the end, most of those voted for the bill. The ones who didn't were Dorgan and his followers who correctly identified the bill as being damaging to American workers, and Tester, McCaskill, and Webb, who made the point that they ran on doing something about illegal immigration and that their constituents were adamantly against amnesty.

          toadfrog - I agree, the problems would be much less severe if illegal aliens had to be paid a living wage with benefits and taxes take out. Employers would have no reason to hire them, and the illegals themselves would be in a position to pay for a greater share of their own expenses.