In a discussion of the Senate immigration reform bill on the August 16 broadcast of KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show, host Peter Boyles misrepresented the legislation's provisions for granting citizenship to illegal immigrants as “pay a fine and you're a citizen.” In fact, under the Senate legislation, illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States longer than five years would be required to pay a penalty and back taxes, learn English, and be employed for an additional six-year period before becoming eligible to apply for citizenship. In a June 14 press release, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC) -- a proponent of including a path to citizenship in an immigration bill -- stated: “On average, waiting to become an American citizen after the application is filed takes five years. This means that from the time an undocumented worker enters this program until they become a citizen, there would be at least an 11-year wait.”

As Media Matters for America has noted, under the Senate bill, illegal immigrants who have been in the United States two to five years would be required to return to a port of entry, where they would be granted temporary worker visas and could become eligible for eventual citizenship; illegal immigrants who have been in the United States less than two years -- and all future illegal entrants -- would, if captured, be deported under the Senate bill's regulations.

Boyles was referring to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, legislation passed by the Senate on May 25. Summarizing the bill in a May 26 article, the Los Angeles Times reported:

In its most controversial section, the bill creates a three-tiered system to determine the future status of illegal immigrants.

Those who arrived in the U.S. in the last two years would be required to leave. Those in the country more than two years but less than five years would have to leave the country and get a work visa before re-entering, after which they could work toward legal status.

Those in the U.S. longer than five years could stay and eventually apply for permanent legal status, a step toward citizenship, as long as they paid back taxes and fines of at least $3,250, continued working, and learned English and U.S. civics.

Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) supported the Senate immigration bill but did not vote on its passage; Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) voted against it.

From the August 16 broadcast of KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

BOYLES: The only thing you really saw -- that Senate bill -- that was really amnesty. And they were offering deals to illegals that you and I couldn't get on the best day on taxes, and everything that went with it. And then there was that next -- the day before, the day after -- I'm working on the time-warp here -- 38 U.S. Senators voted not to make English our language. I mean, remember all of the insanity that was going on?

CALLER: This is crazy.

BOYLES: But that was honchoed, again, by, it's the bill the president wanted, and it was honchoed by a hard-core -- allegedly hard-core Republican -- Arlen Specter. So when people start this, “Well, the Republicans this, the Republicans that”-- throw that out the window. I don't see any Republicans. I mean, there's Tancredo, and they treat him like the red-headed stepson at the, you know, in D.C. I mean, he's gained enormous strength only because of perseverance. The Republican Party doesn't like Tom Tancredo. Not at all. I mean, it's the so-called country-club Republicans, as they're called. They want this stuff.

CALLER: So where does this bill go now?

BOYLES: Well the bill, the Senate bill, got killed, but -- not killed, it just simply went to ground -- but what it tells you is what the Senate was willing to offer the American people, which was total amnesty, tax relief -- I mean, pay a fine and you're a citizen.

GUEST: Cheaper than an illegal immigrant.

BOYLES: Absolutely. I mean, the whole country isn't predicated -- I mean, you become a citizen of this country by paying a fine? My God, what are these people doing?