A key architect of a bipartisan proposal for US immigration reforms has outlined three policy steps that would have to be taken before America's 11 million undocumented workers can apply for legal status.
The ‘triggers’ embedded in a legislative proposal to be unveiled Tuesday by the Senate ‘Gang of Eight’ are necessary to ensure workable reforms that discourage immigrants from coming to the US illegally, Republican Senator Marco Rubio said Sunday. Under the package worked out by the bipartisan group of four Democrats and four Republicans, 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.
‘All of these things are going to happen because they are triggers, triggers for the green card process that we are laying out in our proposal,’ Rubio said on CNN Sunday. ‘That is the incentive to ensure they happen.’
Rubio, who made the rounds of Sunday talk shows, disputed conservative critics who say a pathway to citizenship is tantamount to amnesty. ‘This is not amnesty. Amnesty is the forgiveness of something. Amnesty is anything that says do it illegally, it will be cheaper and easier,’ he told Fox News Sunday.
Meanwhile, Politico, a Washington newspaper reported that the business community is ‘preparing to unleash their lobbying forces broadly on Capitol Hill in hopes of securing changes to the package.
‘EVERYONE HAS A FIX FOR US IMMIGRATION SYSTEM’
With an estimated 11.5 million foreigners, including some 260,000 Indians, living in the country illegally, everyone is agreed that the US immigration system is broken and everyone has their own fix.
A so-called Gang of Eight Senators - four Democrats and four Republicans - is said to have worked out a deal offering undocumented workers a path to citizenship in 13 years. Another bipartisan Gang of Eight in the House is also working out its own separate scheme.
President Barack Obama, who has made immigration reform a key priority of his second term, has his own back up plan if the legislators fail to agree on one. And Indian-Americans have their own take on the issue.
Community bodies like the South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a coalition of 41 organisations from the sub-continent, favours preference for family ties in giving permanent residence green cards to immigrants. Professional bodies like the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) and the North American Association of Indian IT Professional (NAIIP), have sought more green cards for doctors and techies respectively. Even the Indian ambassador to the US, Nirupama Rao has appealed for a generous visa policy.
The ‘triggers’ embedded in a legislative proposal to be unveiled Tuesday by the Senate ‘Gang of Eight’ are necessary to ensure workable reforms that discourage immigrants from coming to the US illegally, Republican Senator Marco Rubio said Sunday. Under the package worked out by the bipartisan group of four Democrats and four Republicans, 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.
‘All of these things are going to happen because they are triggers, triggers for the green card process that we are laying out in our proposal,’ Rubio said on CNN Sunday. ‘That is the incentive to ensure they happen.’
Rubio, who made the rounds of Sunday talk shows, disputed conservative critics who say a pathway to citizenship is tantamount to amnesty. ‘This is not amnesty. Amnesty is the forgiveness of something. Amnesty is anything that says do it illegally, it will be cheaper and easier,’ he told Fox News Sunday.
Meanwhile, Politico, a Washington newspaper reported that the business community is ‘preparing to unleash their lobbying forces broadly on Capitol Hill in hopes of securing changes to the package.
‘EVERYONE HAS A FIX FOR US IMMIGRATION SYSTEM’
With an estimated 11.5 million foreigners, including some 260,000 Indians, living in the country illegally, everyone is agreed that the US immigration system is broken and everyone has their own fix.
A so-called Gang of Eight Senators - four Democrats and four Republicans - is said to have worked out a deal offering undocumented workers a path to citizenship in 13 years. Another bipartisan Gang of Eight in the House is also working out its own separate scheme.
President Barack Obama, who has made immigration reform a key priority of his second term, has his own back up plan if the legislators fail to agree on one. And Indian-Americans have their own take on the issue.
Community bodies like the South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a coalition of 41 organisations from the sub-continent, favours preference for family ties in giving permanent residence green cards to immigrants. Professional bodies like the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) and the North American Association of Indian IT Professional (NAIIP), have sought more green cards for doctors and techies respectively. Even the Indian ambassador to the US, Nirupama Rao has appealed for a generous visa policy.