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WASHINGTON — A proposed immigration overhaul survived a stiff challenge Wednesday as the Senate turned back a Democrat's bid to emphasize reuniting families more than job skills for many foreigners seeking to move to the U.S.

Supporters of bipartisan compromise for legalizing 12 million unlawful immigrants invoked rules effectively requiring an amendment to win 60 votes to keep their delicate coalition from crumbling.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., got 53 votes for his effort to delay shifting U.S. immigration policy away from keeping families together in favor of attracting more foreign workers. But that was seven votes short of the 60 needed. Voting against him were 44 senators.

The Menendez amendment would have allowed more than 800,000 people who had applied for permanent legal status by the beginning of 2007 to obtain green cards based purely on their family connections — a preference the bill ends for most relatives who got in line after May 2005.

Menendez, whose parents were Cuban immigrants, told his colleagues that the bill will undermine "the reunification of families."

Meanwhile, critics of the bill's main feature — legalizing the estimated 12 million immigrants in the U.S. unlawfully — won an amendment that could make it easier to locate and deport illegal immigrants whose visa applications are rejected.

The bill would have barred law-enforcement agencies from seeing applications for Z visas, which can lead to citizenship if granted. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called for lifting the ban, saying authorities should know if applicants' criminal records warrant deportation.

His measure passed, 57-39.

Cornyn earlier lost a vote to bar from legalization people under court orders to be deported.

The vote was 51-46 against the amendment. Democrats succeeded in pulling support from Cornyn's proposal by winning adoption of a rival version that would bar a more limited set of criminals from gaining legalization. The Senate backed that amendment 66-32.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. opposed Cornyn's bid and backed the Democratic alternative of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

McCain was joined in opposing the amendment by the Senate's four Democratic presidential hopefuls, Joseph Biden of Delaware, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, and Barack Obama of Illinois.

Cornyn said those who voted against the proposal "failed to take an opportunity to help restore public confidence that we're actually serious about passing an immigration law that could actually work."

Many Americans will conclude instead that the bill's enforcement provisions will not be rigorously enforced, which deeply undermined a 1986 immigration overhaul, he added.

Competition for workers threatens immigration bill / D1