Immigration Agreement Reached

[nursegirl6572]

..WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of leading senators has reached agreement on the principles for a sweeping overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, including a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country.

The deal, to be announced at a news conference Monday, also covers border security, non-citizen or "guest" workers and employer verification of immigration status.

Although thorny details remain to be negotiated and success is far from certain, the development heralds the start of what could be the most significant effort in years toward overhauling the nation's inefficient patchwork of immigration laws.

President Barack Obama also is committed to enacting comprehensive immigration legislation and will travel to Nevada on Tuesday to lay out his vision, which is expected to overlap in important ways with the Senate effort.

Passage of legislation by the full Democratic-controlled Senate is far from assured, but the tallest hurdle could come in the House, which is dominated by conservative Republicans who've shown little interest in immigration reform.

Still, with some Republicans chastened by the November elections which demonstrated the importance of Latino voters and their increasing commitment to Democrats, some in the GOP say this time will be different.

"What's changed, honestly, is that there is a new, I think, appreciation on both sides of the aisle — including maybe more importantly on the Republican side of the aisle — that we have to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

"I think the time is right," McCain said.

Besides McCain, the senators expected to endorse the new principles Monday are Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, **** Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado; and Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida and Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Several of these lawmakers have worked for years on the issue. McCain collaborated with the late Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on comprehensive immigration legislation pushed by then-President George W. Bush in 2007, only to see it collapse in the Senate when it couldn't get enough GOP support.

The group claims a notable newcomer in Rubio, a potential 2016 presidential candidate whose conservative bona fides may help smooth the way for support among conservatives wary of anything that smacks of amnesty. In an opinion piece published Sunday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Rubio wrote that the existing system amounts to "de facto amnesty," and he called for "commonsense reform."

According to documents obtained by The Associated Press, the senators will call for accomplishing four goals:

—Creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already here, contingent upon securing the border and better tracking of people here on visas.

—Reforming the legal immigration system, including awarding green cards to immigrants who obtain advanced degrees in science, math, technology or engineering from an American university.

—Creating an effective employment verification system to ensure that employers do not hire illegal immigrants in the future, including requiring prospective workers to verify legal status and identity through a non-forgeable electronic system.

—Allowing more low-skill workers into the country and allowing employers to hire immigrants if they can demonstrate they couldn't recruit a U.S. citizen; and establishing an agricultural worker program.

The principles being released Monday are outlined on just over four pages, leaving plenty of details left to fill in. What the senators do call for is similar to Obama's goals and some past efforts by Democrats and Republicans, since there's wide agreement in identifying problems with the current immigration system. The most difficult disagreement is likely to arise over how to accomplish the path to citizenship.

In order to satisfy the concerns of Rubio and other Republicans, the senators are calling for the completion of steps on border security and oversight of those here on visas before taking major steps forward on the path to citizenship.

Even then, those here illegally would have to pass background checks and pay fines and taxes in order to qualify for a "probationary legal status" that would allow them to live and work here — but not qualify for federal benefits — before being able to apply for permanent residency, a critical step toward citizenship. Once they are allowed to apply they would do so behind everyone else already in line for a green card within the current immigration system.

That could be a highly cumbersome process, but how to make it more workable is being left to future negotiations. The senators envision a more streamlined process toward citizenship for immigrants brought here as children, and for agricultural workers.

The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement that the framework agreed on by the senators could provide important protections for illegal immigrants who are exploited by employers and live in "constant fear" over their immigration status.

But the ACLU took issue with the proposal to require employers to use an electronic employment-verification system, calling it "a thinly disguised national ID requirement" that would undermine employees' privacy and lead to discrimination against those "who look or sound 'foreign.'"

The debate will play out at the start of Obama's second term, as he aims to spend the political capital afforded him by his re-election victory on an issue that has eluded past presidents and stymied him during his first term despite his promises to the Latino community to act.

"As the president has made clear for some time, immigration reform is an important priority and he is pleased that progress is being made with bipartisan support," a White House spokesman, Clark Stevens, said in a statement. "At the same time, he will not be satisfied until there is meaningful reform and he will continue to urge Congress to act until that is achieved."

For Republicans, the November elections were a stark schooling on the importance of Latino voters, who voted for Obama over Republican Mitt Romney 71 percent to 27 percent, helping ensure Obama's victory. That led some Republican leaders to conclude that supporting immigration reform with a path to citizenship has become a political imperative.

[el_em_en_oh]

I'm happy Repubs & Dems are working together on SOMETHING... finally.

However, this type of immigration-reform (making the 11million-or-so legal) isn't going to help anyone, except the Democrats.

Chalk up another 11million hungry mouths to feed, and people that'll vote for the Democrats (as they're clothed and fed and cell-phoned by the Left).

Go back to Mexico... no jobs here.

[brice1967]

There was some talk that Marco Rubio was and had voted against this, but he is running around touting the thing......  I don't get it.  

[specialmom]

I think --- something ---  needs to be done and has needed to be done for a long time.  

Let me just say this . . .   at this point, what I want to see is Repubs and Dems working on something together.  In a positive way.  

So, I see this as positive.  I have hope that these 'people' (I had a bunch of other words i was going to use there but went with just people as the others might be insulting/offensive) can work issues that need to be addressed out.

[brice1967]

For that matter, the illegals are already taking more out of the system than they are putting in.

And I completely agree with making everyone earn $50k a year.  In about 1 year we are going to be missing the hell out of those rich folks and the tax dollars they used to pay.... Hell yeah, equal pay people.  That's where its at.

[el_em_en_oh]

Wait, I have an idea...

The "rich/wealthy" bar needs to be lowered, to $50,000/yr.

That way, anyone making $50K/yr or better, will be considered RICH/WEALTHY, and be subject to the 39% automatic tax-rate that the rich/wealthy are currently subject to.

RAISE TAXES ON THE WEALTHY!!!

Meanwhile, back in reality, we get ever-closer to a communist state, where everyone throws their salary into a big pot, and the gov't doles out what they want us to have.

Way to go America!!!

[el_em_en_oh]

The cost for mowing my lawn is gonna skyrocket because of this....

And my house-cleaning bill? Forget about it.

The whole reason we're able to get "them" to work for so little, is because they're NOT citizens, and because they ARE here illegally. Grant "them" citizenship, and the economy is going down the toilet (even moreso).

None of them will earn enough money to "pay into the system", and will be taking more out than what currently coming out. We're going to grant citizenship to a bunch of people that'll suck off the gov't teet.

EF'ing awesome.

[brice1967]

I just wish this thing didn't stink so much of ulterior motives.  I wish I could believe that these people sat down to accomplish something that needed to be accomplished for the sake of the people involved.

I trust these people less and less every day.  I think their lack of getting anything accomplished warrants my lack of trust.  

I guess regardless of reasoning, they are looking like they are trying to put a handle on this.  

[nursegirl6572]

I have no doubt there is an ulterior motive...because repubs need to expand their voting demographics.  I think mostly everything we do (country as a whole) always involves an ulterior motive of some sort.  Even when both sides are fairly agreeable (lol)...there's usually something in it for both of them.  I mean, that IS their job after all...to try to get an outcome that their constituents would be happy with.

In this case...the repubs see this as an opportunity to do two things...one, start working on the huge immigration/illegal alien situation we've got going on, and two...find ways to gain popularity among populations where they had horrible results with on election day.

[brice1967]

I posted this on the other board.  I still think it's amnesty and the republicans did something similar around the Reagan era because they felt they were losing votes.  (McCain clearly says that he thinks they can get the latino vote.)  I think its funny that these guys are walking around acting like geniuses... this is one of the first things that should have been looked at when it came to reform, IMO.

I am okay with the plan.  Something has to be done and there are a lot of people that would now be paying taxes and the likes.  I think the plan is a bit weak when it comes to border protection.  On paper it looks as if more man power and drones is a good thing, but we've been doing that.  Is more better?  I don't know.... more of the same thing?  We need additional tools along the border.  Doing more of the same thing (that isn't affective) is normal for the government.  

[nursegirl6572]

........continued....


http://news.yahoo.com/senators-reach-agreement-immigration-reform-085239296--politics.html;_ylt=Ah5Gl8hgQAvsQuQbF4mekY2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNrODBnN200BG1pdANNZWdhdHJvbiBGUARwa2cDODYyMDE4ZjItZDg3MC0zNjEyLWE1NzUtYTEwZDBhMTgzNjYwBHBvcwMyBHNlYwNtZWdhdHJvbgR2ZXIDNzI5NTAwOTgtNjk0ZS0xMWUyLWFhYWMtMDAxZTY4OGU1MjI2;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3


"In order to satisfy the concerns of Rubio and other Republicans, the senators are calling for the completion of steps on border security and oversight of those here on visas before taking major steps forward on the path to citizenship.

Even then, those here illegally would have to pass background checks and pay fines and taxes in order to qualify for a "probationary legal status" that would allow them to live and work here — but not qualify for federal benefits — before being able to apply for permanent residency, a critical step toward citizenship. Once they are allowed to apply they would do so behind everyone else already in line for a green card within the current immigration system."

I like it...it seems like a fair compromise!  Allow them a process where they can become citizens, without being able to take advantage of federal benefits before they complete the process, and when they DO get into the system to become a citizen, they get in the back of the line, behind all the people who are trying to do it the right way.  Sounds good to me....seems like leaders on both sides would win with this kind of set up.


"What's changed, honestly, is that there is a new, I think, appreciation on both sides of the aisle — including maybe more importantly on the Republican side of the aisle — that we have to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

Good!  I hope so, because this needs addressed.  Let's just hope the tea party people don't throw up road blocks.