A new immigration reform proposal crafted by a bipartisan group of senators would allow for a gradual path to legalization for most of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the country.
A bipartisan working group of eight senators on Monday unveiled details of the proposal, calling it a "tough but fair" way to reform the nation's immigration system.
The senators' path to citizenship for illegal immigrants is less direct and could take longer than the one proposed by President Barack Obama in his immigration reform blueprint. The president will announce his push for immigration reform in more detail Tuesday in Las Vegas.
The senators' plan puts forward several hurdles before undocumented immigrants could obtain permanent residence visas, called green cards, which is the first step towards citizenship. First, immigrants would apply for temporary legal status by registering with the government, completing a background check and paying a fine. Before any immigrant could obtain a green card, "a commission comprised of governors, attorneys general, and community leaders living along the Southwest border" must declare that the government has taken enough steps to beef up border security and has also implemented a system that tracks when temporary visitors have left the country. It's unclear how long that would take, especially since border state governors are divided on how secure the border is now and ideally should be in the future.
The plan also says that no undocumented immigrant would receive a green card until every legal immigrant who is currently waiting for a green card has already received it. Wait times for green cards can be as long as 20 years in extreme cases, depending on whether the applicant is being sponsored by an employer or a family member. Family-based immigration, especially when a U.S. citizen is attempting to sponsor his or her sibling, can have especially long wait times.
The blueprint says the senators want to eliminate these wait times and drastically increase legal, high-skilled immigration, so it's possible that the bill could expedite the process. If not, illegal immigrants seeking a green card could be waiting for years.
The plan also excludes the children of illegal immigrants, commonly referred to as "Dreamers," as well as agricultural workers from the long wait for a green card.
Obama's blueprint asks for a wait time of eight years before illegal immigrants could get green cards, during which time they could live and work legally in the country. After five years with a green card, immigrants could apply to become citizens.
Speaking on the Senate floor before the announcement Majority Leader Harry Reid praised members of the committee for proposing an outline for an immigration overhaul and said he would do "everything" in his power to ensure an immigration bill passes through the upper chamber.
"Nothing short of bipartisan success is acceptable to me," Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, said."There is no reason why we should not pass comprehensive immigration reform immediately."
Immigration advocates, who generally favor a fast path to citizenship for the country's illegal immigrants, mostly praised the senators for adding to the "momentum" of reform, but did not comment on the specifics of the plan.
"Creating a 21st century immigration process won't be easy, but the framework the senators are proposing is a powerful and practical start to the legislative process, and it will make the peaks and valleys ahead much easier to traverse," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the the National Immigration Forum, in a statement.
But Chris Rickerd, policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, said his organization has "concerns" that the lengthy time frame and fine might discourage people from applying to legalize. Rickerd also noted that some people might be excluded from legalization because they were prosecuted for immigration-related crimes in their states. For example in Arizona, illegal immigrants can be charged with "self smuggling," which is a felony that does not exist in other states.
Groups that favor less immigration, meanwhile, have blasted the plan as "amnesty."
"Like previous amnesty proposals, this most recent iteration creates a 'path to citizenship' for nearly all illegal aliens and offers empty promises of enforcement without providing any concrete details," said the Federation of American Immigration Reform in a statement.
The eight senators who hammered out the deal are Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Marco Rubio of Florida, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Democrats Chuck Schumer of New York, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Robert Menendez of New Jersey.
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