HELENA -- The Senate took a mixed approach to dealing with illegal immigration Friday, shelving one measure while approving another.

About three-fifths of the body voted against a measure that would make it a felony for non-citizens to register to vote. About the same number later gave final approval to a bill that would prohibit unlawful workers from obtaining or renewing state occupational licenses.

The sponsor of both bills, Sen. Jim Shockley, R-Victor, said he was "very surprised" by the outcome of the votes.

Several Senators gave impassioned pleas both for and against the bill that would make it a felony for non-citizens to vote.

Shockley said his bill would clarify current law that is unclear as to whether the penalty for such an act should be a misdemeanor or a felony.

But Senate President Mike Cooney, D-Helena, said the bill was xenophobic, "feel bad legislation."

"This is a sad day for the United States of America," Cooney said.

He added that in the 12 years he served as Montana's secretary of state he'd never heard of problems with illegal immigrants trying to register to vote.

Sen. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, said it was "strange" that Montanans would be "so afraid" of illegal immigrants since so many legal residents claimed immigrant roots.

"If Indians had had a better immigration policy then we might be in a different situation," she joked.

Other opponents said the bill, which called for a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, would be putting more people into an already strained corrections system.

But supporters of the bill said the right of a citizen to vote was "sacred" and at "the root of democracy." Protecting that right, they said, was one of the Legislature's most important jobs.

"I can't think of anything more righteous than that," said Sen. Dan McGee, R-Laurel.

Shockley's bills are Senate bills 258 and 260.