Broad Outlines Of Senate Immigration Agreement Emerge

[Admin 174]

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators has largely agreed on a broad immigration bill that would require tough border measures to be in place before illegal immigrants could take the first steps to become American citizens, according to several people familiar with drafts of the legislation.

But in a delicate compromise worked out over weeks of negotiations, the bill avoids any hard hurdles related to border enforcement that could eventually halt the progress of those immigrants on a pathway to citizenship.

Instead, the bill sets ambitious goals for the Department of Homeland Security to fortify the borders — including continuous surveillance of 100 percent of the United States border and 90 percent effectiveness of enforcement in several high-risk sectors — and other domestic enforcement measures over the next 10 years. It provides at least $3 billion to meet those goals.

The bill includes provisions or “triggers,” that allow Congress at different points to ensure that the enforcement goals are being met.

On the same day that the group of eight senators continued to iron out details of the bill, thousands of immigration activists who support a path to citizenship for immigrants who are here illegally were converging on Washington for a rally. The activists are pressing Congress to move quickly to pass a broad immigration overhaul, and they are calling for a direct path for illegal immigrants toward becoming Americans.

“We need a clear path to citizenship,” said Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA de Maryland, one of the lead organizers of the rally. “Anything less than that undermines American democracy.”

The senators’ compromise allows Republican lawmakers, including Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, to say that they succeeded in including border enforcement advances that will be met before any illegal immigrants will apply for permanent resident green cards, the first step toward citizenship. It also allows Democrats to say that the border measures are goals, but they are not roadblocks that could stop the immigrants from reaching the final stage of citizenship.

President Obama, who has been largely silent during the negotiations, is strongly opposed to any hindrances that could be subject to political battles later on.

According to the draft, the legislation would provide $3 billion for the Department of Homeland Security to draw up and carry out a five-year border security plan. Officials must present the plan within six months, and no immigrants can gain any provisional legal status until the plan is in place.

The plan must include how border authorities will move quickly to spread technology across the border to ensure that agents can see along its entire length. The authorities will also have five years to reach 90 percent effectiveness in their operations, a measure based on calculations of what percentage of illegal crossers were caught or turned back without crossing.

Homeland Security officials also have six months to draw up plans to finish any border fencing they deem necessary.

If, after five years, border officials have not reached the surveillance and enforcement goals, the bill creates and finances a border commission, made up of officials from border states and other experts, to help the Department of Homeland Security reach its goals.

Homeland Security officials will also be required to expand a worker verification system, making it mandatory nationwide for all employers within five years. They must also create an electronic exit system to ensure that foreigners leave when their visas expire.

Under the legislation, illegal immigrants who pass background checks and meet other requirements will have to wait in a provisional status for 10 years, during which time they would be allowed to work and travel but not to remain permanently, before they could apply for green cards.

At the end of 10 years, officials must show that the border security plan is operational, the fence is completed, and the worker verification and visa exits systems are operating. At that point, immigrants in provisional status will be allowed to apply for green cards.

On Tuesday, Senator Diane Feinstein, a Democrat of California who is spearheading a deal on an agricultural worker program, said that she expected to have an agreement between the farm workers and growers within 24 hours. The talks had stalled earlier this month when the labor unions and employers could not agree on the number of workers to allow into the new visa program, and what wage rate to pay the workers.

On Wednesday, a person with knowledge of the discussions said that the workers had offered a cap of 200,000 workers total through 2020, in addition to roughly 50,000 workers who are already in the existing agricultural guest worker program, known as H-2A. That number, the person added, is “far more generous” than the cap reached under a similar deal between the nation’s leading business and labor groups, for a low-skilled worker program.

In terms of wages for agricultural workers, the person added, there is currently a deal under consideration that offers specific starting wage rates — divided by region, job type, and crop type. If growers and workers cannot agree on fair wages, the senators will likely fall back on a process that takes into account various economic factors and is overseen by the secretaries of agriculture and labor.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/us/politics/bipartisan-group-of-senators-agrees-on-outline-of-immigration-bill.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=2&

[pswa83 302]

so 5 yrs on top of the possible 10 that some people might have to wait in order to gain full citizenship??

this whole 5 yrs here and 10 yrs there is BS!!!!

[stolenlacs 37]

wow.. just wow.. I can't believe this. I'll probably die before I even get to see the day that I can proudly say I am legal.

[REPutation 83]

they can't be serious!

[Rawf 336]

This is seriously BS. I can't believe how shitty this plan is!

They have been planning a more secure border for years, now they are using this as an excuse to delay a reform.

[Gezinha 121]

I honestly don't care if it takes 13 years become a citizen, a green card in a shorter period of time would do wonders...but does this mean that only after we get a green card we will be allowed to travel outside US? 10 years????? I mean, will there not even exist a "pass" sort of thing? Like a temporary travel "card"? I can't belive this, it is so horrible. I haven't seen my family in over 12 years! I can't take this, sometimes I don't even think it is worth all this heartache.

[Osha 126]

Sometimes I don't understand why people like to make life harder for others. Life is short, we don't have another 15 to 20 years to waste, we've been waiting for decades already!

I will have to wait and read the whole bill next week. All we're reading right now are just some broad outlines, we still have to see how the Dreamers will be handled. The farm-workers and the Dreamer's path to citizenship will be expedited according to earlier remarks from John McCain, and I'll be damned if the Dreamers will put in that 15 years waiting period.

[srs 11]

That is just so wrong been waiting for so freking long decades with a family petition might as well go freaking marry the old neighbor that is trying to hit on me 30 years older than me but that is no the point so frustrating i will rather die than marry an old freak.

[engineer2mike 36]

SRS LOL :lol: !! That's funny, I hope they come to an agreement on Tuesday, so you don't have to marry your neighbor..lol..jk. Your beautiful girl to sacrifice yourself to that

[roadrunner11 167]

Patience. Let's just wait to see what they have to say this week. We probably won't get everything we want but we have to have faith. It is ridiculous how they try to please both sides but something has to happen it has been too long.

Best wishes to all of us immigrants. Let's keep making the best out of our lives so we don't waste it in bitterness and regrets.

[Santi 353]

Patience. Let's just wait to see what they have to say this week. We probably won't get everything we want but we have to have faith. It is ridiculous how they try to please both sides but something has to happen it has been too long.

Best wishes to all of us immigrants. Let's keep making the best out of our lives so we don't waste it in bitterness and regrets.

+1

In my opinion, although they are trying to push for this bill (as it is), increased lobbying by several special interest groups (read: us, dreamers, etc), will eventually lead to either a shift in what the bill will offer to undocumented immigrants, or perhaps lead to an addendum that will benefit people that meet certain criteria (paying income taxes, clean records, etc etc).

We will just have to wait and see how things turn out. Even though I know for a fact that our (Dreamers) path to naturalization will be a priority, among others, I am worried about how our parents will be affected by whatever the G8 bring to congress this week.

Let us just see how things develop...