Springtime for immigration reform?

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Washington (CNN) -- Last November, Hispanic voters planted the seeds for serious immigration reform when they backed President Barack Obama by a record margin.

This April, we'll see if those seeds can grow in Capitol Hill's toxic partisan soil.

Congress returns from spring break Monday, and immigration reform tops the agenda. The Senate's bipartisan "Gang of Eight" is preparing to release its long-awaited plan for resolving the status of 11 million undocumented men, women, and children now living in America's shadows.

Can a unique confluence of factors -- a Democratic president trying to build his legacy, a Republican Party grappling with new demographic realities -- overcome the usual strong bias for inaction in a sharply divided Congress? The answer remains unclear.

"What we have now is not a 21st century legal immigration system," GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a key conservative at the heart of the talks, said back in January. "We have an obligation and the need to address the reality of the situation that we face."

Who's in the Gang of Eight? The list includes Rubio; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina; Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona; Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona; Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey; Sen. ####### Durbin, D-Illinois; Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado; and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York.

Details of the Senate plan

A source familiar with negotiations recently told CNN that the eight senators have tentatively reached agreement on some of the thorniest issues, including the establishment of a path to citizenship and the creation of a system to assess the state of border security.

The Senate proposal could come "in the next couple of weeks," Graham said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." But McCain told reporters later Sunday morning that he still thinks "it's very likely" and "very possible" to have it done by the end of the week.

"I'm guardedly optimistic. I can't guarantee it. But we have literally almost all of the issues resolved," he said.

Specifically, the senators have agreed to a 13-year path to citizenship, the source said. It would take 10 years for undocumented workers to get a green card, and then another three years to gain citizenship.

Along the way, undocumented workers would have to pay a fine and back taxes, and pass a background check. The size of the fine remains unclear.

No undocumented worker would be eligible for citizenship until the border is considered secure. To measure border security, a commission would be created with the task of establishing and assessing a set of quantifiable criteria. The commission would be made up of officials named by state and federal leaders.

Disagreement over agricultural workers

A sharp disagreement over the future treatment of undocumented workers on America's farms, however, is currently holding up progress on the bill.

The two key sticking points are wages and the number of visas to be granted to undocumented farm workers, two other sources close to the talks confirmed Friday. Four senators -- Rubio, Bennet, Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, and California Democrat Dianne Feinstein -- are trying to deal with the matter.

"It's the one major unresolved issue," one of the sources told CNN.

The sources were unable to provide specifics in terms of the number of visas or wage levels under consideration. But generally speaking, agricultural businesses have an interest in more visas and lower wages. Labor leaders, in contrast, typically support fewer visas and higher wages.

Saying there are a "few little kerfuffles" to work out in the drafting of the legislation -- referring to the disagreement over agricultural workers -- Schumer told CNN on Sunday the senators have written "most of the bill" and feel hopeful that they can announce a full agreement at the end of the week.

"We've solved most of the issues, there are a few more to go, there are a few more today and tomorrow. I'm very optimistic we'll be able to solve those last few problems," he said, declining to get into specifics.

Read more at: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/07/politics/immigration-reform-sunday/index.html

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

At least they are throwing ideas on the table. I hope a solution can come from this.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

These gang of whatever things seem to be the only way to get things through the Senate, and if the Majority Leader of the Senate has a friendly Speaker like Pelosi that can strong-arm enough of her majority to agree to capitulate to the will of the Senate without amendment and a desperate President, you might get a bill that becomes law. However, this mess is going to go through the regular order, so there will be a Senate debate on a bill, that may make it to a final vote unchanged, though unlikely, but the House will have to produce its own bill, and then take it all to conference to agree to a final version that will pass both houses and be signed by the President. If this all happens by the end of the summer, that will be amazing. I sense the House is in no hurry to take up the issue, before it takes care of all the appropriation bills, and finishes its work on tax and entitlement reform.

Edited April 8, 2013 by The Patriot

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I wonder how many people would complete the system. I feel the goal post moving as I've heard complaints that such a system is too long.

Depends on what benefits they throw into the system, 10 years to get a green card? There has to be a way for the person to live here properly.

[JstaRebel 48]

It will be interesting to see how the final draft reads. There are a few points that I found interesting like the "undocumented WORKERS" would have to pay a fine and back taxed (I like this) and it would take 10 years for them to get a green card. What about ordinary Joe Blow and his family of undocumented people that get food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, and Govt. asistance? How are they going to deal with them I wonder. Also I see that they (politicians) continue to refuse to discuss the corporations and companies that hire undocumented workers. At least I haven't seen where the "gang of eight" have ever even brought it up.

[mota bhai 2,675]

It is the height of inequity to disallow the free movement of labor across a border which already allows the free movement of capital.

Where there is one, there must be another. Big business and big agro can not be allowed to be the sole beneficiaries of the increased integration between the United States and Mexico.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Never ever ever should entering this country illegally lead to permanent residency . except when it's practical

Depends on what benefits they throw into the system, 10 years to get a green card? There has to be a way for the person to live here properly.

so then it would be cool to bring my Mother in Law here illegally, and support her for 10 years

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Never ever ever should entering this country illegally lead to permanent residency . except when it's practical

so then it would be cool to bring my Mother in Law here illegally, and support her for 10 years

I'm talking about those people who were brought over as kids and had no other choice in the matter, or those who lived in places like Juarez, Mexico and escaped that to come here.

[mota bhai 2,675]

I'm talking about those people who were brought over as kids and had no other choice in the matter, or those who lived in places like Juarez, Mexico and escaped that to come here.

Maybe the Mexican government could make a deal with us. Pay us a lot of money to take a bunch of their northern provinces (how long has it been since this country grew?). Mexico can have some much needed stability and the U.S. can make a dent in it's national debt and create a brand new training area for the development of its new drone army.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Maybe the Mexican government could make a deal with us. Pay us a lot of money to take a bunch of their northern provinces (how long has it been since this country grew?). Mexico can have some much needed stability and the U.S. can make a dent in it's national debt and create a brand new training area for the development of its new drone army.

That is almost a good idea

[Darnell 8,478]

well, it's springtime, and there's some immigration reform being poked at by the gang of Eight.

IMO, nothing's set till it gets voted on, but even then, The Kenyan could veto it.

Figure Summer or Autumn, for all of the fun frolics of voting and signing..

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Never ever ever should entering this country illegally lead to permanent residency . except when it's practical

so then it would be cool to bring my Mother in Law here illegally, and support her for 10 years

Go for it. If you like your MIL.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Go for it. If you like your MIL.

That was what we like to call her in Georgia a theatrical question.

Mixed emotion---Your Mother in law just backed your new Porsche over a cliff

[JstaRebel 48]

Maybe the Mexican government could make a deal with us. Pay us a lot of money to take a bunch of their northern provinces (how long has it been since this country grew?). Mexico can have some much needed stability and the U.S. can make a dent in it's national debt and create a brand new training area for the development of its new drone army.

More than likely, Mexico will do just what Castro did when the US opened up its boarder to Cuba, and empty out all of the jails and prisons..