Thread: House Democrats have released their own immigration bill. Here’s what it does.

House Democrats have released their own immigration bill. Here’s what it does.

By Brad Plumer, Published: October 2 at 2:51 pmE-mail the writer

The federal government has shut down and Congress can't even agree on basic measures to fund the government. But House Democrats are trying to urge everyone not to forget about immigration reform.

Latino farm workers at a farm on Chandler Mountain in Steele, Ala., make $8 an hour. (Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)

You remember immigration reform, right? That big, contentious debate that was consuming all of official Washington just a few short months ago?

On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and several other Democrats unveiled their own bill to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. The legislation is very similar to the bipartisan immigration bill passed by the Senate back in June — with one big exception: The House Democrats' bill would not include billions of dollars requiring 700 miles of new border fence, the way the Senate bill did. Instead, the House bill would set specific goals for border enforcement.

The House Democrats' bill has little chance of passing as is. Elise Foley of the Huffington Post reports that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has already ruled out putting it on the calendar. (Another bipartisan group in the House is struggling to come up with its own bill.)
But the bill is an attempt to keep the topic from vanishing altogether. So here's a breakdown of what the House Democrats' immigration bill actually does — and how it differs from the Senate version:

1) The House Democrats' border-security measures would be more goal-oriented. Thanks to a last-minute amendment, the final version of the Senate immigration bill would spend $30 billion to double the number of federal border agents, complete 700 miles of fencing, and expand radar and aerial drone surveillance along the border.
The House Democrats' bill takes a different approach, adopting a plan approved by the House Homeland Security Committee in late July. That measure would require the Department of Homeland Security to create a detailed plan leading to the apprehension of 90 percent of illegal border-crossers in high-traffic areas within 33 months and across the U.S.-Mexico border in five years. The measure doesn't specify a path toward that goal, but any plan would have to be reviewed by Congress before money started flowing.

2) Both bills would grant legal status to around 7.7 million of the 11.5 million unauthorized immigrants currently in the United States. The CBO estimated that, under the Senate bill, 6.3 million people would receive “registered provisional immigrant" status, which requires paying a $1,000 fine and other fees. These immigrants could stay and work in the United States, but wouldn't receive federal benefits. After 10 years, they could apply to become permanent residents.
An additional 1.4 million currently unauthorized farm workers (and their families) could apply for special "blue cards" after paying fees. This would enable them to stay and keep working in the United States, with the option of applying for residency after five years.
According to an earlier analysis of the Senate bill, that would still leave roughly 5.5 million unauthorized immigrants left in the country five years from now (give or take a few million). These are mostly people who don't qualify for the amnesty provisions. This number would either shrink or keep growing very slowly in the years ahead, depending on how effective those various security measures proved to be.

3) Both bills would allow an additional 5 million legal immigrants into the United States in the next five years. That's over and above the 4.5 million legal immigrants who were already expected. The House bill, like the Senate bill, would revamp the system for legal residents and temporary workers. Here are some highlights from the CBO's analysis of similar legislation:
-- By 2018, an extra 700,000 immigrants would arrive legally through family-based visa programs. That's because the Senate bill would allow spouses and children of legal residents to apply for a green card in the near term, but would then slowly reduce the cap for family visas over time.
-- An additional 1.1 million immigrants would arrive through new employment-based programs. That's because the Senate bill would allow more high-skilled and highly educated workers to enter the United States without counting against the existing cap on visas.
-- An additional 2.5 million immigrants would come in through a "merit-based program" that awards visas based on a point system. This part of the Senate bill would try to cut through the current backlog of applications. Many of these new immigrants would be relatives of current legal residents.
-- Then there's an extra 900,000 temporary workers entering the country by 2018. This includes 100,000 extra high-skilled workers with H1-B visas and 300,000 extra low-skilled and farm workers under the W-visa program.

4) Both bills would tighten employer enforcement of illegal immigration. The House Democrats' bill, like the Senate version, would require employers to use a new version of E-Verify, an electronic system for determining the legal status of current and prospective employees. Non-citizens would have to show "work authorization cards" or Green Cards that include biometric data to prevent forgeries.

5) Both bills would include a number of smaller changes to the immigration system. That includes reforming the courts and detention process, making it harder for immigrants to attain legal status if they commit certain crimes (such as drunk driving or passport fraud), and streamlining the asylum program.

Further reading:
--Here's the full text of the House Democrats' bill.

--Elise Foley has some great reporting on the politics of the bill.

--Here’s how immigration would change under the Senate immigration bill.

--Border security is the key to immigration reform. So how do we measure it?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/02/house-democrats-are-still-trying-to-make-immigration-reform-happen/

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f9/we-need-info...0/#post1371192

Immigration reform: House Democrats try to jump start stalled debate

CNN

- ‎51 minutes ago‎

(CNN) -- Even as Capitol Hill remained consumed by the government shutdown, House Democrats hoping to jump start the stalled debate over immigration reform put a new proposal on the table Wednesday. "The American people have spoken," said Rep.

Washington Post Washington Post (blog) ABC News Slate Magazine (blog) Progress Illinois Politico The Atlantic Wire ABC News Latinos Post Kansas City infoZine Latin Post La prensa 89.3 KPCC (blog) Politico ABQ Journal Talk Radio News Service

Senate and House members still pushing immigration reform

UPI.com

- ‎11 minutes ago‎

House Dems Introduce Immigration Reform Bill, Call Republicans To ...

Progress Illinois

- ‎1 hour ago‎

Democrats unveil new(ish) immigration plan

MSNBC

- ‎2 hours ago‎

House Dems offer immigration bill, fate uncertain

San Francisco Chronicle

- ‎2 hours ago‎

Horsford helps draft new immigration reform; says, 'Now is the time to get this done'

Las Vegas Sun

- ‎3 hours ago‎

Show recently hidden articles




In Depth




Immigration: After Weeks In Limbo, House Democrats Introduce Bill To Resurrect ...

Fox News Latino

- ‎25 minutes ago‎

Saying that they are ready to move on legislation that would overhaul the nation's immigration system, House Democrats unveiled a bill Wednesday that includes a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants who meet a strict set of criteria, and that ...

House Democrats file immigration bill, urge GOP to act

USA TODAY

- ‎3 hours ago‎

WASHINGTON — House Democrats impatient with the pace of immigration legislation in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives introduced their own bill Wednesday that would overhaul the nation's immigration laws. Congress remained in the ...

House Democrats lash out at GOP over shutdown

Politico

- ‎Oct 1, 2013‎

Visibly angry and at times raising their voices, House Democrats slammed Republicans for sending Washington into shutdown mode. A last-minute move by the House GOP to seek a conference with the Senate on a continuing resolution ensured that the ...

Shutdown could spill into debt ceiling fight — Military academies hit hard ...

Politico

- ‎8 hours ago‎

With Jonathan Topaz and Austin Wright. THIS MIGHT GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER: POLITICO's Manu Raju, Jake Sherman and Carrie Budoff Brown do some truth-telling about the government shutdown. Their conclusion: "The U.S. government ...

Pelosi rallies Dems behind sweeping immigration proposal (Video)

The Hill

- ‎14 minutes ago‎

House Democratic leaders unveiled legislation Wednesday to overhaul the nation's broken immigration system and create a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal residents. The sweeping proposal, which largely mirrors the bipartisan package approved ...




Highly Cited




House Democrats to release immigration bill

Politico

- ‎Oct 1, 2013‎

House Democrats are planning on releasing their comprehensive immigration reform bill on Wednesday, according to a Democratic aide. Key Democratic lawmakers in the chamber — including Nancy Pelosi, the top House Democrat; Xavier Becerra of ...

How Steve King Will Kill Immigration Reform

National Journal

- ‎12 hours ago‎

King has a bloc ready to vote against any bill, no matter how conservative, to deny leadership the chance to compromise on reform. Americans Think GOP's Top Priority Is Troublemaking. Steve King is so worried about 'amnesty' he's unwilling to see any bill ...

House Democrats introduce separate immigration bill

Washington Post (blog)

- ‎3 hours ago‎

House Democrats released their own comprehensive immigration proposal Wednesday, hoping to keep pressure on Republicans to move forward on stalled plans to overhaul the nation's border control laws. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and several ...

House Democrats Introduce Immigration Bill With Little Chance Of A Vote

Huffington Post

- ‎5 hours ago‎

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats unveiled their immigration reform bill on Wednesday in the midst of the government shutdown, in an attempt to pressure Republicans to act on comprehensive reform that most of them have said is dead on arrival. The bill is ...

House Democrats file immigration bill, urge GOP to act

Alan Gomez, USA TODAY 4:18 p.m. EDT October 2, 2013


House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., joined other Democrats to file a bill that would overhaul the nation's immigration laws.(Photo: Mark Wilson, Getty Images)

Story Highlights

• Bill combines bipartisan approaches approved by both chambers
• It would cut $46 billion border security plan approved by Senate, add House GOP security plan
• Critics say it stands no chance of advancing in the House, calling it a political ploy

WASHINGTON — House Democrats impatient with the pace of immigration legislation in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives introduced their own bill Wednesday that would overhaul the nation's immigration laws.

Congress remained in the grips of the government shutdown Wednesday. Even when that's resolved, the Democratic bill faces a difficult road in the House of Representatives, where Speaker John Boehner refused to consider a similar, comprehensive bill that was passed by the Senate in July.

Democrats decided to introduce their own immigration bill to try to get Republicans moving.

"This is not a challenge to the speaker. This is a suggestion," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "The timing (of the introduction) really relates to what hasn't happened. Now we want to rally around comprehensive immigration reform."

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who chairs the House Judiciary Committee that oversees much of the immigration legislation moving through that chamber, said the bill introduced by the Democrats on Wednesday "is basically the Senate bill. I strongly oppose the Senate bill."

Critics saw the Democrats' bill as a political ploy to pressure Republicans and show groups advocating for a new immigration law that Democrats are fighting for one.
"I don't think Nancy Pelosi has any intention of actually passing the bill," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which opposes the Senate bill. "They need to demonstrate to the pro-amnesty folks that the Democrats are still active and still working on it."

The plan laid out by the House Democrats includes most of the immigration bill passed by the Senate in July. It would allow the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants to get a temporary legal status within six months, and apply for U.S. citizenship within 13 years if they pass a criminal background check, pay fines and learn English. The bill would revamp the legal immigration system to allow more high-tech and lower-skilled immigrants to enter the country each year.

The House plan would eliminate a $46 billion border security plan added to the Senate bill to appease Republicans concerned about future waves of illegal immigration. In its place, the bill adds a proposal by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, that would require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a border security strategy that will ensure 100% of the border is monitored and agents are stopping 90% of people trying to cross it.

Supporters of the bill said they could have filed a purely Democratic bill, but they included portions of the Senate bill and McCaul's border security bill, which was approved unanimously by the House Homeland Security Committee, to show how serious they are about reaching a bipartisan agreement in the House.

"We put a bill that got Marco Rubio to vote on and got Bob Menendez to vote on," said Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Fla., referring to the Republican senator from Florida and the Democratic senator from New Jersey who co-sponsored the Senate immigration bill. "Those are two very extreme political positions, and yet both of them voted on it."

The House has been following a "piecemeal" approach to an immigration plan, considering smaller bills that affect different parts of the country's immigration laws. Along with McCaul's border security plan, the House has advanced bills that would add visas for high-tech workers and low-skilled workers and would expand a program to allow business owners to check the immigration status of new hires.

No House members have filed a bill to deal with the question of how to handle the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants. House Republican leaders plan to continue with their bill-by-bill approach instead of an all-encompassing bill like the one passed by the Senate.

"Once Washington Democrats allow us to reopen the federal government, House Republicans will continue to work on common-sense, step-by-step reforms to our broken immigration system," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/02/immigration-democrats-file-bill/2907677/

First article added to the HP
http://www.alipac.us/content.php?r=2...s-what-it-does

WATCH THE OTHER HAND: HOUSE DEMS PREPARE FOR IMMIGRATION BATTLE

Oct. 2, 2013 11:45am
Meredith Jessup

While all of the drama of a government shutdown occupies our attention, Politico notes that House Democrats are getting ready to make a push for immigration reform today:

House Democrats are planning on releasing their comprehensive immigration reform bill on Wednesday, according to a Democratic aide.
Key Democratic lawmakers in the chamber — including Nancy Pelosi, the top House Democrat; Xavier Becerra of California, and Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairman Ruben Hinojosa — have been working on a comprehensive piece of legislation in recent weeks.

In writing their bill, House Democrats are taking the Senate Gang of Eight bill, but erasing controversial border-security provisions known as the Corker-Hoeven amendment. In its place, Democrats are inserting a bipartisan border-security bill that passed the House Homeland Security Committee in May.

Watch for more details on this to drop today around noon ET.

http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2013/10...ration-battle/

RELATED

9/26/2013

http://www.alipac.us/f12/immigration...ct-5-a-288620/

The National Day for Dignity and Respect will be a prelude to a rally and concert on the Mall on Oct. 8, 2013