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  1. #1
    Senior Member HAPPY2BME's Avatar
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    Backing in G.O.P. for Legal Status for Immigrants

    NY Times
    By JONATHAN WEISMAN and ASHLEY PARKERJAN. 28, 2014

    Backing in G.O.P. for Legal Status for Immigrants

    Barry Jackson, Mr. Boehner’s former chief of staff, is consulting for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which supports an overhaul that expands high-technology visas and guest worker programs.
    WASHINGTON — The House Republican leadership’s broad framework for overhauling the nation’s immigration laws will call this week for a path to legal status — but not citizenship — for many of the 11 million adult immigrants who are in the country illegally, according to aides who have seen the party’s statement of principles. For immigrants brought to the United States illegally as young children, the Republicans would offer a path to citizenship.

    But even before the document is unveiled later, some of the party’s leading strategists and conservative voices are urging that the immigration push be abandoned, or delayed until next year, to avoid an internal party rupture before the midterm elections.

    “It’s one of the few things that could actually disrupt what looks like a strong Republican year,” said William Kristol, editor of the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard, calling an immigration push “a recipe for disaster.”

    “Don’t Do It,” said the headline on a National Review editorial on Monday aimed at the House speaker, John A. Boehner of Ohio. “The last thing the party needs is a brutal intramural fight when it has been dealt a winning hand” — troubles with the president’s health care law — ahead of the elections, the editorial said.

    At the same time, Republicans have seen their support from Latinos plummet precisely because of their stance on immigration, and the “statement of principles,” barely more than a page, is intended to try to reverse that trajectory.

    The statement of principles criticizes the American higher education system for educating some of the world’s best and brightest students only to lose them to their home countries because they cannot obtain green cards; insists that Republicans demand that current immigration laws be enforced before illegal immigrants are granted legal status; and mentions that some kind of triggers must be included in an immigration overhaul to ensure that borders are secured first, said Republican officials who have seen the principles.

    With concern already brewing among conservatives who call any form of legal status “amnesty,” the document has the feel more of an attempt to test the waters than a blueprint for action. House Republican leaders will circulate it at a three-day retreat for their members that begins Wednesday on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Several pro-immigration organizations that have been briefed on the guidelines say they are not intended to serve as a conservative starting point for future negotiations, but as a gauge of how far to the left House Republicans are willing to move.

    The principles say that Republicans do not support a “special path to citizenship,” but make an exception for the “Dreamers,” the immigrants brought into the country illegally as children, quoting a 2013 speech by Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader. “One of the great founding principles of our country was that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents,” Mr. Cantor said at the time. “It is time to provide an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home.”

    Even ardent proponents of an immigration-law overhaul are, at best, cautiously optimistic. In June, a broad immigration overhaul — with a 13-year path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants now in the country illegally, and stricter border security provisions that would have to be in place before the immigrants could gain legal status — passed the Senate with bipartisan support. But that legislation has largely stalled in the Republican-controlled House, where Mr. Boehner has rejected any negotiations with the Senate over its comprehensive bill.

    “This is obviously a long, hard road,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat, who helped negotiate the Senate bill, “but I think since August, the number on the other side vehemently opposed has stayed the same, the number who think it should go forward has grown, and numbers in the wide middle are less opposed than they used to be. But that doesn’t guarantee an outcome one way or another.”

    Republican Party leaders, backed strongly by business groups, have said an overhaul is critical if they are to repair their political position with Latino and other immigrant voters.

    Barry Jackson, Mr. Boehner’s former chief of staff, is consulting for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which supports an overhaul that expands high-technology visas and guest worker programs.

    But immigration is less of an issue during midterm elections, when immigrants are not as likely to vote and House members in safe districts are insulated somewhat from the wrath of more moderate swing voters. Often the biggest threats to Republicans are primary challenges from more conservative candidates who say that changing the immigration status of someone who is in the country illegally amounts to amnesty for a lawbreaker.
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    Representative John Carter, Republican of Texas and one of the Gang of Eight House members who tried to forge a bipartisan overhaul, was quoted by the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call as saying that an election year is not the time to press forward. “Immigration is a very, very contentious issue,” he said.

    Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, has allowed his staff to discuss with House conservatives ways to derail the push. On Monday, he said they were making headway.

    “Republicans in the House have a choice whether to go along with certain powerful forces and the president or stand with conviction against a larger flow of immigration that threatens the financial future of middle-class Americans,” he said.

    Mr. Kristol, who said he had spoken with a number of Republican candidates, said “a rebellion is beginning” among Republicans who feel blindsided by the resurgence of the immigration issue.

    On the Democratic side, a major question is whether those pushing for a broad immigration overhaul would accept any Republican proposal that falls short of full citizenship for immigrants who are now here illegally. President Obama has said he wants any new immigration legislation to include a path to citizenship for both children and adults.

    But citizenship, said Randel K. Johnson, a senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is not “really critical to getting a deal done.”

    “I think most people would think citizenship is important because then people feel they are part of the American dream,” Mr. Johnson said. But, he added, “if these people can come out of the shadows, work and travel, that’s what they want, that’s what recent polls have shown, and that will move the economy along.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/us...ants.html?_r=0
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  2. #2
    Senior Member HAPPY2BME's Avatar
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    sophie brown moscow idaho 14 minutes ago

    Interesting that many posters here are weighing in from the right, and they are vehemently opposed to any recognition of undocumented workers and their families.

    Interesting that the republicans are still pushing this solution, which is sought by the business community and the Koch brothers in particular.

    That kind of shows who has won the battle for the soul of the GOP.

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  3. #3
    Senior Member HAPPY2BME's Avatar
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    UPDATED January 28, 2014

    Progress on an Immigration Overhaul in 5 Areas


    By ALICIA PARLAPIANO and JULIA PRESTON

    While the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration bill in June, Republicans in the House, many of whom say they would not support a plan that includes a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally, have opted to take up the issue in a piecemeal fashion.




    Border Security

    What’s in the Senate bill

    Increases spending by roughly $40 billion over the next decade to bolster border security, adding 20,000 new Border Patrol agents and 700 miles of fencing along the southern border. After border security goals are met, undocumented immigrants could begin the path to citizenship.
    Creates an exit system to confirm the departure of foreigners at airports and seaports.

    Action in the House

    A statement of principles written by House Republican leadership and being circulated at a party retreat this week mentions that some kind of border security triggers must be included in an immigration overhaul, according to aides who have seen the document.
    In May, the House Homeland Security Committee passed a bipartisan bill that requires the Department of Homeland Security to draft a plan within five years to achieve a 90 percent apprehension rate of those who attempt to cross the southern border illegally.
    A comprehensive immigration bill unveiled by House Democrats this month also includes this legislation.


    Legalization

    What’s in the Senate bill

    Includes a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants that would take a minimum of 13 years.

    After passing background checks and paying fees and back taxes, immigrants could gain provisional legal status. After 10 years, and only when the current backlog of visa applications is cleared, formerly illegal immigrants could apply for green cards. After three years with green cards, those immigrants could apply for citizenship.

    A faster track would be available for young illegal immigrants who came here as children and for agricultural workers.

    Action in the House

    The Republican leadership's statement of principles is reported to call for a path to legal status (but not citizenship) for many of the 11 million adult immigrants in the country illegally and a path to citizenship for young immigrants who came here as children.


    Legal Immigration

    What’s in the Senate bill

    Makes more family and employment-based visas available to reduce the current backlog.
    Creates a new merit-based point system for future immigration, based on education, current employment, job skills and family ties. The system would shift the priority over time from family-based immigration to grant about half of all visas each year based on job skills.

    Allows immediate immigration for spouses and children of green card holders.

    Eliminates the diversity visa lottery and the current green card category for siblings of citizens, and requires that married sons and daughters of citizens seeking green cards be under 31 years old.

    Action in the House

    House Republicans also favor a merit-based system, but no bills have been passed.


    Interior Enforcement

    What’s in the Senate bill

    Within five years, would require all employers to use a federal electronic verification system to determine that all newly hired employees, including American citizens, are authorized to work.

    Action in the House

    In June, the House Judiciary Committee approved a measure that also creates an E-Verify system, which would be phased in over two years.

    Another approved bill allows states and localities to enact and enforce immigration laws, provided they are consistent with federal laws; makes unlawful presence in the country a criminal offense (just as illegal entry is); and strengthens the ability of federal immigration agents to make arrests for violations and allows them to carry firearms.


    Temporary Visas

    What’s in the Senate bill

    Increases limits for temporary high-skilled H-1B visas to 115,000, rising to a maximum of 180,000, from the current 65,000 per year.

    Creates a new temporary “W” visa for low-skilled workers, offering 20,000 visas in the first year, increasing to 75,000 annually and possibly higher, based on the labor market.

    Creates a separate W visa program for agricultural guest workers.

    Creates a new three-year visa for entrepreneurs who start companies in the United States.

    Action in the House

    A bill approved by the House Judiciary Committee in June creates a temporary agricultural guest-worker program, making it easier for farmers and other employers to hire immigrants for those jobs. It uses a market-driven approach, paying workers the higher of either the market’s prevailing wage or the state minimum wage.

    Another approved bill provides green cards to foreign graduates of U.S. universities in the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math, and raises the cap on high-skilled H-1B visas.


    By ALICIA PARLAPIANO and JULIA PRESTON

    http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...-overview.html
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    "At the same time, Republicans have seen their support from Latinos plummet precisely because of their stance on immigration, and the 'statement of principles,' barely more than a page, is intended to try to reverse that trajectory."
    This quotation from the (New York Times?) article, second one below, is so shamefully false.

    Reagan got more Hispanic votes when he was elected BEFORE he signed the 1986 amnesty than George Bush got AFTER the 1986 amnesty. Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute studied Hispanic voting history. She proved that Hispanics vote for Democrats BECAUSE HISPANICS AGREE WITH THE DEMOCRAT PARTY'S policies of big government, big welfare, and government controls on the economy.
    Last edited by csarbww; 01-28-2014 at 03:11 PM.

  5. #5
    Senior Member oldguy's Avatar
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    She proved that Hispanics vote for Democrats BECAUSE HISPANICS AGREE WITH THE DEMOCRAT PARTY'S policies of big government, big welfare, and government controls on the economy.
    Having lived in the Hispanic communities I know this to be true and see the younger 3th generation more pro socialism then there parents. There is no win for the GOP in any immigration bill other then tough border security.
    I'm old with many opinions few solutions.

  6. #6
    Senior Member HAPPY2BME's Avatar
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    GOP leaders call for legal status, no path to citizenship (SMOKE AND MIRROR DECEPTION

    "Rather, these persons could live legally and without fear in the U.S., 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)."
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