We mentioned in The Skinny a few days ago that an immigration-reform package remained at the top the legislative agenda in Washington.
Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake are part of a bipartisan group of senators who are unveiling an immigration package today.
Flake spokeswoman Genevieve Rozansky tells The Range via email: “Sen. Flake believes that now is the time to move forward with immigration reform that includes increased border security, a workable program to address future labor needs, and a plan to deal with those already in the country illegally without granting them amnesty.”
Slate has a roundup of details here. Matthew Yglesias’ summary:
The framework features extra money for border enforcement and the establishment of a border commission composed of governors, attorneys general, and the like from border-area states. It will provide for automatic green cards to “immigrants who have received a PhD or Master’s degree in science, technology, engineering, or math from an American university.” It will also create what I take to be an enlarged agricultural guest-worker program, only with some mechanism for veteran guest workers to earn green cards. It will provide a mechanism for unauthorized migrants to turn themselves in, pay a fine and back taxes, and receive provisional legal status.
Yglesias notes that details are yet to come:
This is a “framework” and not legislation, so there are lots of loose elements and further questions one might ask. But all in all it seems like a humane and sensible approach that will, among other things, do more to improve the fiscal position of the United States than all the discretionary spending caps in the world.
This article appears in Jan 24-30, 2013.
What might happen when the Senate’s “bipartisan” effort gets to the House, Jim Nintzel?
We do not need “immigration reform”, we need our elected officials to remember whom they serve, and grow a set of balls and enforce our imigration laws. This is a slap in the face of those immigrants that have followed our procedures and became American citizens. This is yet another disgrace and betrayal of our elected officials.
I think Marcus_Jim has given you some idea of what happens when it gets to the House, Red Star.
This is nothing but smoke and mirrors to fool the idiots who elected them. These cons know that this will never get by their obstructionist counterparts in the house.
And Marcus, you are a prime example of what’s wrong with Arizona.
Hopefully this insanity will die down and go away as we get closer to 2014. The US needs to get rid of illegal aliens, not invite more of them in.