[The framework identifies
two groups as deserving of special consideration for a separate and potentially
speedier pathway to full citizenship: young people who were brought to the
country illegally as minors and agricultural workers whose labor, often at
subsistence wages, has long been critical to the nation’s food supply.]
 |
| J. Scott Applewhite/AP - The Capitol dome is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. |
A key group of senators from both parties will
unveil on Monday the framework of a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration
laws, including a pathway to citizenship for more than 11 million illegal
immigrants.
The detailed, four-page statement of principles will carry
the signatures of four Republicans and four Democrats, a bipartisan push that
would have been unimaginable just months ago on one of the country’s most
emotionally divisive issues.
The document is intended
to provide guideposts that would allow legislation to be drafted by the end of
March, including a potentially controversial “tough but fair” route to
citizenship for those now living in the country illegally.
It would allow
undocumented immigrants with otherwise clean criminal records to quickly
achieve probationary legal residency after paying a fine and back taxes.
But they could pursue
full citizenship — giving them the right to vote and access to government
benefits — only after new measures are in place to prevent a future influx of
illegal immigrants.
Those would include
additional border security, a new program to help employers verify the legal
status of their employees and more-stringent checks to prevent immigrants from
overstaying visas.
And those undocumented
immigrants seeking citizenship would be required to go to the end of the
waiting list to get a green card that would allow permanent residency and
eventual citizenship, behind those who had already legally applied at the time
of the law’s enactment.
The goal is to balance a
fervent desire by advocates and many Democrats to allow illegal immigrants to
emerge from society’s shadows without fear of deportation with a concern held
by many Republicans that doing so would only encourage more illegal
immigration.
“We will ensure that
this is a successful permanent reform to our immigration system that will not
need to be revisited,” the group asserts in its statement of principles.
The framework identifies
two groups as deserving of special consideration for a separate and potentially
speedier pathway to full citizenship: young people who were brought to the
country illegally as minors and agricultural workers whose labor, often at
subsistence wages, has long been critical to the nation’s food supply.
Expanding visas
The plan also addresses
the need to expand available visas for high-tech workers and promises to make
green cards available for those who pursue graduate education in certain fields
in the United States.
“We must reduce backlogs
in the family and employment visa categories so that future immigrants view our
future legal immigration system as the exclusive means for entry into the
United States,” the group will declare.
The new proposal marks
the most substantive bipartisan step Congress has taken toward new immigration
laws since a comprehensive reform bill failed on the floor of the Senate in
2007.
It comes as the White
House is gearing up for a renewed push for reform. On Tuesday, President Obama
will travel to Las Vegas to urge quick action; he told Hispanic members of
Congress at a White House meeting Friday that the issue is his top legislative
priority.
The emerging bipartisan
consensus over immigration has developed with remarkable speed, as leading
Republicans have concluded the GOP must quickly shift in response to its
sweeping November election loss or risk becoming a permanent minority in a
nation with a growing number of Latino voters.
Obama won roughly seven
in 10 Hispanic voters last fall, exit poll data show, while Mitt Romney carried
just over a quarter of the Latino vote, which had increased its share of the
electorate.
Romney won an even
smaller share of the Hispanic vote than did the party’s 2008 nominee, Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.), stoking widespread post-election concerns among Republicans.
“I’ll give you a little
straight talk,” said McCain, a member of the bipartisan working group, on ABC’s
“This Week With George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday. “Look at the last election.
Look at the last election. We are losing dramatically the Hispanic vote, which
we think should be ours, for a variety of reasons, and we’ve got to understand
that.”
The group’s Republicans
also include Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham of South
Carolina and Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona. Rubio unveiled a similar list of
principles to guide reform three weeks ago that has received a surprisingly
warm reception from leading conservative pundits.
Rubio has insisted that
those who came to the country illegally must wait in line behind those who
pursued legal routes, a view he reiterated in a Sunday op-ed in the Las Vegas
Review-Journal.
Some immigration
advocates fear that Rubio’s approach would
result in waits that last for decades. But the group’s chances of
bipartisan success were boosted with Rubio’s decision to sign on. A potential 2016
presidential contender, Rubio is particularly popular with tea party groups
that have been opposed to immigration reform.
Although advocates have
long assumed that legislative action would probably begin in the
Democratic-held Senate, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said last week
that members are working on the issue on a bipartisan basis in his chamber as
well. It is “time to deal” with immigration, he declared.
In addition to the
political imperative for the GOP, McCain said Sunday, current immigration laws
are simply unsustainable and must be changed. That analysis was echoed by Sen.
Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).
“First of all, Americans
support it, in poll after poll. Secondly, Latino voters expect it. Thirdly,
Democrats want it. And fourth, Republicans need it,” Menendez said on “This
Week,” explaining the rationale for quick action.
The framework is the
result of intense behind-the-scenes talks between the senators, who have met
five times since the November election, rotating between offices of McCain and
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Other Democrats involved
are Menendez, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Michael F. Bennet
(D-Colo.). On Sunday, Schumer informed top White House officials of the group’s
progress and alerted them to the impending Monday announcement.
Key details to settle
Many details remain to
be negotiated before legislation can be introduced. They include the especially
difficult question of how the government would verify that enforcement has been
sufficiently enhanced to allow an expanded pool of legal residents to seek
citizenship.
“Our goal, once we get
our principles, is to sit down and negotiate a bill. That is often difficult.
How is the path to citizenship? How does it work?” Schumer told reporters in
New York on Sunday. “We’ll have to work all that out.”
But, he added: “I’m
impressed with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle over their desire to
meet in the middle.”
