A bill for immigration reform

A group of Republican and Democratic senators this week introduced long-awaited immigration legislation that would overhaul the nation’s current system and provide a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country. Under the legislation, worked out over months by the bipartisan “Gang of Eight,” undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. before Dec. 31, 2011, would be eligible to apply for “provisional” legal status six months after the president signs the 844-page bill. To meet concerns of conservatives, the reforms would only apply once the federal government tightens border security standards and punishes employers who hire undocumented workers; immigrants would also have to wait at least a decade before applying for full citizenship and the federal benefits it brings. The proposal faces months of debate and scores of possible amendments, particularly in the Republican-controlled House.

Let’s marvel for a moment at this bill’s “mere existence,” said The New York Times in an editorial. As the product of a “delicate balancing of competing interests,” it includes some provisions that are hard to stomach. The bill throws at least $6.5 billion at a “foolishly costly” effort to militarize our southern border, and leaves millions of people stuck in “registered provisional immigrant” limbo for years. But for the first time, they will be able to work and travel freely. “The importance of legalizing them, erasing the crippling fear of deportation, cannot be overstated.”

Don’t call this reform, said Fred Bauer in NationalReview.com. It’s “amnesty,” and on an unbelievable scale. Under these proposals, millions could renew their “provisional” status over and over again. The expanded H-1B visa program, along with the new W-visa programs for lower-skilled positions, would allow hundreds of thousands of “supposedly temporary” workers to enter the U.S., “and bring their immediate family members with them.” All conservatives get in return is “a few provisions for enforcement.”

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Face facts, said Jennifer Rubin in WashingtonPost.com: “The status quo now is ‘amnesty.’” These people are already here, and they’re not going home. At least these proposals “get these immigrants into a system,” forcing them to pass background checks, have a clean record, and pay taxes. “Like all compromises, it is imperfect.” But it’s still “very conservative-friendly.”