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A ‘Path to Citizenship’ for Illegals?
FrontPage Magazine
Arnold Ahlert
1/14/2013
Excerpt:
President Obama’s promise to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” continues apace. Despite the twin controversies surrounding the debt ceiling and gun control, senior administration officials and lawmakers have told the New York Times that Obama intends to push Congress to embrace comprehensive immigration reform that includes a “path to citizenship” for the nation’s illegal alien population.
The bill proposed by Senate Democrats and the president runs counter to Republican efforts to break reform down into smaller segments. Republicans believe that such an approach that addresses the issues of young illegal immigrants, migrant farmworkers, or highly skilled foreigners separately could make anything that smacks of de facto amnesty more palatable to party members. At the same time, the administration and Democrats will oppose any measures that do not offer subsequently legalized immigrants the chance to become American citizens.
Democrats are facing competition from Republican Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL). In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the likely 2016 presidential candidate laid out his own agenda, characterized as an effort to “triangulate” the differences between hard-left liberals who want open borders, and the hard-right’s effort, as the Journal puts it, to “close the door.” As Rubio himself puts it, “legal immigration has been, for our country, one of the things that makes us vibrant and exceptional,” even as he covers himself with commonsense notions that appeal to law-abiding Americans: “Every country in the world has immigration laws and expects to enforce them and we should be no different,” he says.
An integral part of Rubio’s plan, and one likely to resonate with most Americans, includes the “modernization” of legal immigration. “I’m a big believer in family-based immigration,” he says. “But I don’t think that in the 21st century we can continue to have an immigration system where only 6.5 percent of people who come here, come here based on labor and skill. We have to move toward merit and skill-based immigration.” Thus, his preference is for lifting the current hard cap on skilled immigrants, adjusting the number on the basis of demand.
With respect to the other end of the spectrum, Rubio proposes a sufficient number of guest visas for the largely Hispanic (and largely illegal) agricultural workers who pick America’s fruits and vegetables, in order to ”give American agriculture a reliable work force and to give protection to these workers as well,” he contends, further noting that illegals are “vulnerable to being exploited.”
As part of his split-the-difference approach, Rubio has co-sponsored E-Verify legislation that would require employers to check the status of would-be hires against a federal database. E-Verfiy has been extended through September 30, 2015 after Congress approved the measure and the president signed the bill September 28. Yet on the state level, E-Verify requirements remain varied. Some require every employer to use the database, while others limit it to government agencies or, as in the case of Illinois, it is barred completely “until accuracy and timeliness issues are resolved.”
With respect to illegals, Rubio’s ideas sound almost exactly like what the president and Democrats are proposing. All of them would require the payment of fines, and back taxes, usage of the aforementioned verification system, an increase in the number of visas, and the creation of a guest worker program to accommodate low-skill workers.
The sticking points are both procedural and political. Rubio and other Republicans prefer a step-by-step approach rather than a catch-all bill, with Rubio warning that “comprehensive” reform, which he likens to the rancor surrounding Obamacare and the fiscal cliff deals, shows how bad policy “easily sneaks” into such legislation, even as it becomes an easier target for critics as a result. Democrats believe a comprehensive bill is necessary in order to address the more contentious issues. Rubio disagrees, but says it is not a make-or-break consideration with one exception: no bill should give illegals an edge over those who came here legally and applied for residency in the proper way.
............................................
View the complete article at:
http://frontpagemag.com/2013/arnold-...-for-illegals/
FrontPage Magazine
Arnold Ahlert
1/14/2013
Excerpt:
President Obama’s promise to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” continues apace. Despite the twin controversies surrounding the debt ceiling and gun control, senior administration officials and lawmakers have told the New York Times that Obama intends to push Congress to embrace comprehensive immigration reform that includes a “path to citizenship” for the nation’s illegal alien population.
The bill proposed by Senate Democrats and the president runs counter to Republican efforts to break reform down into smaller segments. Republicans believe that such an approach that addresses the issues of young illegal immigrants, migrant farmworkers, or highly skilled foreigners separately could make anything that smacks of de facto amnesty more palatable to party members. At the same time, the administration and Democrats will oppose any measures that do not offer subsequently legalized immigrants the chance to become American citizens.
Democrats are facing competition from Republican Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL). In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the likely 2016 presidential candidate laid out his own agenda, characterized as an effort to “triangulate” the differences between hard-left liberals who want open borders, and the hard-right’s effort, as the Journal puts it, to “close the door.” As Rubio himself puts it, “legal immigration has been, for our country, one of the things that makes us vibrant and exceptional,” even as he covers himself with commonsense notions that appeal to law-abiding Americans: “Every country in the world has immigration laws and expects to enforce them and we should be no different,” he says.
An integral part of Rubio’s plan, and one likely to resonate with most Americans, includes the “modernization” of legal immigration. “I’m a big believer in family-based immigration,” he says. “But I don’t think that in the 21st century we can continue to have an immigration system where only 6.5 percent of people who come here, come here based on labor and skill. We have to move toward merit and skill-based immigration.” Thus, his preference is for lifting the current hard cap on skilled immigrants, adjusting the number on the basis of demand.
With respect to the other end of the spectrum, Rubio proposes a sufficient number of guest visas for the largely Hispanic (and largely illegal) agricultural workers who pick America’s fruits and vegetables, in order to ”give American agriculture a reliable work force and to give protection to these workers as well,” he contends, further noting that illegals are “vulnerable to being exploited.”
As part of his split-the-difference approach, Rubio has co-sponsored E-Verify legislation that would require employers to check the status of would-be hires against a federal database. E-Verfiy has been extended through September 30, 2015 after Congress approved the measure and the president signed the bill September 28. Yet on the state level, E-Verify requirements remain varied. Some require every employer to use the database, while others limit it to government agencies or, as in the case of Illinois, it is barred completely “until accuracy and timeliness issues are resolved.”
With respect to illegals, Rubio’s ideas sound almost exactly like what the president and Democrats are proposing. All of them would require the payment of fines, and back taxes, usage of the aforementioned verification system, an increase in the number of visas, and the creation of a guest worker program to accommodate low-skill workers.
The sticking points are both procedural and political. Rubio and other Republicans prefer a step-by-step approach rather than a catch-all bill, with Rubio warning that “comprehensive” reform, which he likens to the rancor surrounding Obamacare and the fiscal cliff deals, shows how bad policy “easily sneaks” into such legislation, even as it becomes an easier target for critics as a result. Democrats believe a comprehensive bill is necessary in order to address the more contentious issues. Rubio disagrees, but says it is not a make-or-break consideration with one exception: no bill should give illegals an edge over those who came here legally and applied for residency in the proper way.
............................................
View the complete article at:
http://frontpagemag.com/2013/arnold-...-for-illegals/