With Democrats on the verge of unveiling their comprehensive immigration reform bill, 15 Republican senators, led by Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), today asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make the legislation publicly available online at least a week before it’s acted upon in the Senate. The move comes amid concerns that Democrats will rush the bill to passage without any time for Republicans to study it.

Last year Sens. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) and Teddy Kennedy (D.-Mass.) supported immigration reform legislation that totaled hundreds of pages. This year’s version could be even larger. Democrats’ failure to abide by the Republicans’ wishes would most certainly smell of hypocrisy. After all, Democrats ran on the issues of openness and honesty. Refusing to give Republicans — and the American people — an opportunity to read the bill would break major campaign promise.

There are few surprises among the 15 Republicans who signed the letter, but it should be noted that it includes two senators in the GOP leadership: Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, both of Texas. And also adding his name to it is Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.), who has retreated from his stance last year to take a more conservative position on immigration reform.