Key US Democrat and Republican senators said Thursday they had reached a deal on bringing 12 million illegal immigrants out of the shadows, after exhaustive road-the-clock talks.

Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy said the deal was the best chance in years to secure US borders and provide a path to legal status for illegal immigrants.

The crunch talks, which stretched into overtime this week, and forced Senate Democratic leaders to postpone debate on the issue, produced an immigration bill which is now likely to be taken up by the chamber next week.