WASHINGTON — After days of painstaking negotiations, Senate leaders today hammered out a broad, bipartisan compromise that would put the vast majority of the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. The plan would also create a temporary worker program that would allow 325,000 foreigners to fill jobs in the United States each year. The Senate was expected to vote on the measure late today or early Friday and, if passed, it would mark the most sweeping immigration accord in two decades. Under the agreement, illegal immigrants who have lived here for five years or more - about seven million people - would eventually be granted citizenship if they remained employed, paid fines and back taxes and learned English. Illegal immigrants who have lived here from two to five years - about three million people - would have to leave the country briefly and return as temporary workers. They would also be eligible for citizenship over time, but they would have to wait several years longer for it. Those immigrants who have been here less than two years - about one million people - would be required to leave the country. They could apply […]