NEW YORK -- The word "amnesty" -- at the core of the debate about a proposed immigration overhaul -- has been a volatile, politically charged term throughout its history, often applying to acts hailed by supporters as magnanimous and assailed by critics as weak-kneed.

It's a word with flexible meanings. There were sweeping amnesties after the English and U.S. civil wars. Nowadays the term is sometimes used when authorities invite the public to turn in unregistered guns or overdue library books without penalty.

Critics of the immigration deal in Congress have used "amnesty" in a pejorative ...

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