-- After months of behind the scenes negotiating, President George W. Bush and a bipartisan group of lawmakers reached a deal on immigration reform on Thursday.

"The agreement reached today is one that will help enforce our borders but, equally importantly, it will treat people with respect," said Bush.

The proposed bill would create a so-called "Z" visa to legalize millions of illegal immigrants. However, there would be penalties involved.

"We're asking people who are making an average of $6,000 per year, the farm workers, to pay a $5,000 fee and it's an amount of money that they can not afford," said Javier Perez with the Border Agricultural Workers Project.

"I think its expensive and people should come to an agreement to lower it," said Amanda Limas, of Central El Paso.

In addition to the fine and fees that illegal immigrants would have to cough up under the proposed bill, the path to attaining permanent residency in the United States could take between eight to 13 years.

"If we keep putting obstacles and keep making it more difficult... I'm afraid that people are not gonna feel comfortable at all about their chances," said Iliana Holguin, executive director with the Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services.

In order to achieve permanent legal status, the agreement also mandates that heads of households would have to return to their home countries first. In addition, a controversial shift in the immigration system would give priority to those with advanced degrees and sophisticated skills rather than those with family ties.

"I think that a lot of people are gonna be afraid to return to their home country because they're gonna think that they're not gonna be able to get back," said Holguin.

Some senators argue that the agreement helps maintain the rule of law.

"We have required that undocumented immigrants earn their right to citizenship," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-PA.

While others maintain, if it's approved, it could lead to bigger problems.

"They're gonna have to go deeper into the desert, deeper into the mountains to try and cross over, so that's gonna increase the number of deaths," said Perez.

Also under the agreement, illegal immigrants could come forward right away to claim a probationary card right away, allowing them to stay in the United States. However, a path to permanent residency can't begin until more border security improvements are completed.

A new guest worker program would also start when those improvements were made, allowing workers to stay in the United States for two years before they would have to return home.