WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Janet Hook, Laura Meckler and Jared Favole
January 28, 2013
The push for a comprehensive overhaul of immigration law gathered steam Monday as a bipartisan group of senators unveiled a broad plan to liberalize treatment of illegal immigrants. Some Republican leaders in Congress cautiously supported the move.
The proposal was unveiled by the influential senators one day before President Barack Obama was scheduled to give a speech in Las Vegas on immigration reform, an issue he has identified as a top priority in his second term. Rather than a detailed plan, the senators released a set of principles to guide the process of writing a bill.
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) gave a measured welcome to the senators' framework, even though it offers a path to citizenship for many of the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants, which conservative Republicans have long opposed. The framework was co-authored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), a leading conservative who has argued that his party has to improve its standing among Latino voters.
A Boehner spokesman said the speaker "welcomes the work of leaders like Sen. Rubio on this issue and is looking forward to learning more about the proposal in the coming days."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) called it a "positive first step" and said any immigration bill should be comprehensive and include a path to citizenship.
"It cannot be piecemeal," he said. "This is one of the most important legislative missions this Congress will undertake this year."
The proposal also drew support from business leaders such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"We know that many details will need to be worked out, but we are very encouraged by this framework for reform and look forward to helping advance comprehensive immigration legislation and build public support," said Thomas J. Donohue, president of the chamber.
Opposition is expected in the House, where many Republicans oppose any path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte (R., Va.), was skeptical but not dismissive of the Senate effort.
"When we look at proposals that deal with the legal status of 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S., we have a lot to discuss," said Mr. Goodlatte. "The American people and members of Congress have a lot of questions about how this would work, what it would cost and how it will prevent illegal immigration in the future."
The framework—endorsed by four Republicans and four Democrats in the Senate, including Mr. Rubio and two members of the Senate Democratic leadership, would allow most people in the country illegally to qualify for legal status and work permits, provided they met certain standards.
People in the U.S. illegally would be required to register with the government, pass a background check and pay a fine and any back taxes, and then they would be able to gain probationary legal status. Those with criminal records or who posed a threat to the U.S. would be subject to deportation.
Once a set of border-enforcement measures was complete, people with probationary status could earn permanent legal residence, which could lead to citizenship if they paid taxes, learned English and met other requirements. They wouldn't be able to earn a green card until all those waiting on the day the legislation was passed got theirs.
While Mr. Obama's proposals are similar, he hasn't called for tying legalization to tightened border security. In his daily briefing Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney wouldn't say whether the president would sign a bill that includes requirements for border-security improvements. He said the administration has dedicated "unprecedented resources" to secure the border but praised the bipartisan Senate effort.
"This is an important first step that we've seen from Congress. We need to continue the movement," Mr. Carney said. "The goal here is not for everyone just to get together and say we share common principles, but to achieve legislation that gets the job done and does it in a way that can earn the support of Congress and earn the signature of this president."
The senators' proposal calls for adding federal agents and equipment to strengthen the borders and tightening work rules to ensure employers hire legally.
The agreement provides a variety of other provisions. Among them: alleviating the backlog of people waiting to immigrate legally; awarding green cards to those who earn doctorates from U.S. universities in science, technology, engineering or math; stiff fines and possible criminal penalties for employers that fail to verify workers' legal status; and creation of a program to fill low-skilled jobs that employers can't get Americans to take.
Tricky issues have yet to be resolved, including how to assess whether the border-security benchmarks have been met, how to alleviate the backlog of people waiting for legal visas and how many people would be admitted under the new temporary-worker program.
The provisions don't address some smaller and potentially contentious aspects proposed for an overhaul, such as whether gay and lesbian Americans would have the right to sponsor their noncitizen spouses or partners for citizenship. Also unclear is whether immigrants with temporary legal status, but not citizenship, could quality for health-insurance subsidies under the 2010 health-overhaul law.
The bipartisan group of senators includes Chuck Schumer of New York, Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, as well as Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mr. Rubio. They have met five times since the November election, alternating between the offices of Sens. Schumer and McCain.
In recent years, with the U.S. economy weak, illegal immigration has slowed to a trickle. But many in Congress, particularly Republicans, worry that after legislation is passed, there will be a fresh wave of illegal crossings as the economy rebounds.
To combat that, the framework proposes increased technology, infrastructure and personnel, including more unmanned aerial vehicles, to apprehend unauthorized entrants. It calls for stronger prohibitions against racial profiling and more training of border-patrol agents.
Those brought to the U.S. as children or agricultural workers would face a quicker path to citizenship. But most others wouldn't be able to apply until it was determined that the new border measures and visa-check system were in place.
It wasn't clear how it would be determined that those provisions had been met. An aide said Mr. Rubio would like to see "operational control of the border," a standard some advocates fear would be both hard to define and never met. A Schumer aide said the provisions should be gauged by empirical measures, such as whether the promised number of new agents were in place.
The outline also provides for businesses to hire new immigrants for low-skill jobs if they can show they were unsuccessful in recruiting Americans. Those who did well eventually would be able to earn green cards.
Left unresolved is how many workers would be allowed in each year. The framework says only that the number would be higher when the economy is creating jobs and lower when it isn't.
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