GOP Leaders Set to Embrace Legal Status for Immigrants

Article subtitle: 
Principles for Immigration Overhaul Would Stop Short of Path to Citizenship
Article author: 
Laura Meckler
Article publisher: 
The Wall Street Jouranl
Article date: 
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Article category: 
National Issues
Medium
Article Body: 

WASHINGTON—House Republican leaders are preparing to release a set of principles to guide a House immigration overhaul, including legal status for many of the 11 million people in the U.S. illegally, people familiar with the planning said.

This would represent the first time that the House GOP leadership has explicitly endorsed allowing illegal immigrants to remain and work in the U.S....

The one-page document is being developed by House Speaker John Boehner's office in conjunction with the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and others in the Republican House leadership. It contains few details but voices support for the major planks of the comprehensive bill that cleared the Senate last summer. That includes increased border security, stepped-up employment verification, a temporary worker program for low-skilled workers, more visas for high-technology workers and a path to citizenship for people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, according to two people who have seen a draft....

The document also expresses support for legal status for undocumented immigrants and envisions some sort of legal process by which they admit guilt and pay fines and any back taxes owed. It will also insist that no legalization provisions take effect until border security and other enforcement measures are in place, people familiar with the draft said.

Immigration advocates have pressed for citizenship, not just legalization, for those undocumented residents, saying that anything less would sentence them to permanent second-class status. Legislation that cleared the Senate last summer provides for a 13-year path to citizenship for those who meet qualifications.

Legislation is being developed by House Republicans that wouldn't exclude citizenship for those here illegally. But it rejects what many Republicans see as a "special path" not available to would-be immigrants who didn't break the law. Rather, after people win legal status they could apply for green cards, the same as any other legal immigrant.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.) has voiced support for such an approach for months. He signaled openness to legalization again in an interview that aired on Telemundo on Sunday....

The emerging GOP approach was welcomed by some immigration advocates, who have grown frustrated waiting for the House to act. Frank Sharry, who leads the influential advocacy group America's Voice, pointed out that it wasn't long ago when GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney proposed that the U.S. make life so miserable for illegal immigrants that they voluntarily "self-deport."...

It wasn't even clear when the House would hold its first immigration votes. Some have pointed to a window this spring, after the bulk of Republican primaries are over. Others have said it makes more sense to move more quickly.