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When Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave an interview about immigration reform on CNN last week, he chose to speak aboard a No. 7 Train as it cruised through Jackson Heights, home to thousands of immigrants, both legal and illegal.

It was a striking metaphor for the national debate on immigration policy; the mayor, a proponent of immigrant rights, speaking in his suit and tie while a neighborhood of different skin tones and languages bustled through their daily lives underneath the platform.

Politicians have exchanged harsh words in recent weeks over a possible plan to create a pathway by which America’s 11 million undocumented immigrants can obtain legal status. As that legal battle continues, the immigrant population has grown increasingly restless with the measures they see materializing in Washington.

The Senate passed legislation in the Judiciary Committee last week that would naturalize undocumented immigrants who paid fines and behaved as model, working citizens, but that proposal has mostly stalled on the Senate floor as a result of partisan bickering.

Some Republican leaders have charged that such leniency for immigration lawbreakers amounts to “amnesty,” a word that has become lodged at the heart of the debate. Senators have been working this week to hash out a compromise that would likely impose stiffer sanctions on undocumented immigrants, but would also fall short of deporting them.

“It may very well be rewarding lawbreaking,” Bloomberg said in the CNN interview. “But let’s get real. I mean, you know, we don’t live in a perfect world.”

A Senate bill could still face opposition in the House, however, where Republican members are more adamant about preventing a path to citizenship. Queens delegates supported the Senate Judiciary legislation, calling the opposition’s approach to immigrant “right-wing,” and “fear driven.”

“Right now it’s a question if the Republican Party and the President are committed to having any bill at all,” said U.S. Rep Anthony Weiner (D-Kew Gardens). “If the President showed some leadership and used some of his political capital to get this done, it will happen.”

President Bush issued a statement this week suggesting support for a guest worker program, though the details of that plan remain unclear.

In recent weeks, immigrant advocacy groups have taken to the streets to show their disappointment with the sentiments coming out of Washington, holding large demonstrations in cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago. A protest march across the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday drew an estimated 10,000 people waving flags from the United States and their home countries.

Nydia Lugo-Spahr, event coordinator the Queens Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said her group does not favor a specific piece of legislation, but advocates a platform of ideas, which includes support for a path to citizenship but opposition to a guest worker program.

“Immigrants that are here want to do work and support their families,” Lugo-Spahr said. “We have very highly qualified people here washing dishes. Not every person here immigrates because they don’t have education.”

Immigrant groups around the country have been collaborating to hold more events in coming weeks. Some have proposed having a day near the end of the month when all undocumented immigrants will stay home from work, demonstrating their importance to the economy, Lugo-Spahr said.

“They don’t see the contributions of the immigrants,” she said. “They broke the law, but they also are doing a lot of good stuff.”