NORTH COUNTY - Local activists and lawmakers roundly criticized Thursday's bipartisan Senate agreement on comprehensive immigration reform.

The agreement would give millions of immigrants living in the country illegally the opportunity to become legal residents. It would also increase security at the border, toughen sanctions against employers of illegal immigrants and create a guest-worker program.

The agreement, reached by a group of about a dozen Republican and Democratic senators working behind closed doors with White House officials, was slammed in North County by both the political right and the left.

Some immigrant rights advocates said they were concerned about the barriers that illegal immigrants would face when trying to become legal residents under the proposal.

"There's just too much red tape," said Tina Jillings, a Vista resident and founder of the pro-immigrant group Coalition for Justice, Peace and Dignity. "There is nothing humane or comprehensive about it."

The proposal would allow illegal immigrants who arrived in the country before Jan. 1 of this year to apply for a temporary residency permit. They could then apply for a new type of visa that would allow them to live and work legally in the country.

The visa could be renewed for as long as the immigrant submits to a criminal background check, keeps a job and pays a $5,000 fine plus processing fees. For a family to become official permanent legal residents, the head of the household would have to return to the home country first. That process could take eight to 13 years.

Some lawmakers said that immigrants who broke the law by coming illegally would be rewarded under the plan.

"There is no way you're going to control immigration while you're telling the world you are going to reward illegal immigrants," said Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, who has emerged as one of the leading voices against illegal immigration in Congress.

Other local political leaders said they like the plan's other provisions, including its emphasis on skills-based immigration and guest-worker program.

"The Senate proposal outlined today contains a number of welcome provisions," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, in a written statement.

He added however, that those changes "are compromised by a sweeping amnesty proposal that places illegal aliens in line ahead of those (who) … emigrate to the United States legally."

Escondido Councilman Sam Abed, a naturalized citizen from Lebanon, said he agreed. He said his brother has been waiting 17 years in Lebanon to be allowed to come into the country legally.

"The only thing that I am totally opposed to (about the proposal) is the amnesty," Abed said. "It's disrespectful to legal immigrants."

- Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.