U.S. House Republican leaders pitched their caucus Thursday on a plan to pass an immigration overhaul this year, including the prospect of allowing the millions of immigrants here illegally to earn legal status but not citizenship.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, presented the outline to the House GOP caucus at its annual retreat in Maryland. Among the influential leaders backing the effort is Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the party’s 2012 vice presidential nominee who also hammered out a bipartisan budget accord last year.
The seven-part plan starts with stronger security on the Mexican border and enforcement against immigrants who overstay their visas. But it also includes a path to citizenship for people brought here illegally as children — similar to the DREAM Act, which has been blocked by Republicans — and possible legal status for others.
The legalization could only come after border security enforcement “triggers” are met. It didn’t specify what those triggers are.
The plan also would implement an E-Verify-type system for employers, establish an entry-exit visa tracking system and steer work visas more to sectors of the economy such as agriculture and technology.
The plan comes in contrast with a bipartisan Senate-passed bill last year that pours billions into border security and overhauls visa programs while giving immigrants who are here illegally a 13-year path to citizenship.
Osvaldo Flores, who was illegally brought from Mexico to the U.S. when he was 3 years old and now lives in Union City, called the principles a step forward for the Republican Party. But he is skeptical about how they could help him and others. The part of the Republican plan that resembles the DREAM Act says people like him could obtain legal status and citizenship if they serve in the U.S. military or get a college degree.
Flores considers the U.S. his home and wants to go to college and study nursing and international relations here. But he can’t afford college. And he isn’t eligible for state or federal tuition assistance because he doesn’t have legal status. If the Republican plan becomes law, “thousands of us would still be where we are right now,” said Flores, who has received a two-year reprieve from deportation.
The Republican principles would also provide a path to legal status for millions of other immigrants living illegally in the U.S.
“These persons could live legally and without fear in the U.S.,” the GOP document states, “but only if they were willing to admit their culpability, pass rigorous background checks, pay significant fines and back taxes, develop proficiency in English and American civics, and be able to support themselves and their families (without access to public benefits).”
Flores said many immigrants living illegally in the U.S. are paying taxes and are living on tight budgets. He fears many could not afford to meet the Republican requirements.
“I think that is ridiculous,” Flores said. “It would be impossible for us to do that because we are the working class. We barely have enough money to get by.”
The outline attempts to thread a political needle: Many party leaders see tackling the problem as vital to Republicans’ demographic future, with a rising Latino voting base heavily favoring Democrats. But most House Republicans have only a primary from the right to fear in seeking re-election and oppose anything resembling “amnesty.”
Republicans also do not trust President Barack Obama to follow through on border enforcement measures. Rep. Doug Collins, a Gainesville Republican, said earlier this week that any legalization goes too far right now.
“To secure our employment situation, to secure our visa situation, to secure our inland and border security makeups — if we get those, then you’re going to have more members of the House and the Senate to actually trust the administration to carry out those,” Collins said. “But if you just put it forward in a nebulous kind of way and you’re not sure where the discussion’s going to go, then I think you’re up for a heavy lift in the House.”
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