State of the Union 2014: President Obama Pushes Immigration Reform
The president urges both parties of Congress to fix the broken immigration system in 2014.
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State of the Union 2014: President Obama Pushes Immigration Reform - Video
Cantor: Immigration reform hampered by "distrust" of W.H.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., discusses House Republicans approach to immigration reform, Obamacare, and the debt ceiling. House Majority Lead...
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Cantor: Immigration reform hampered by "distrust" of W.H. - Video
Jindal: GOP Should Do Immigration Reform Before 2014 Elections
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Jindal: GOP Should Do Immigration Reform Before 2014 Elections - Video
House Republicans are considering a list of principles that could guide immigration reform legislation, should they decide to act on the issue. The list includes a pathway to legal status, but not citizenship, for illegal immigrants. Here's the difference.
Of all the sticking points in immigration reform, the stickiest is what to do about the estimated 11 million people already living illegally in the United States.
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The Senate, in its bipartisan reform bill approved last June, opted to grant a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. In the House, many Republicans call that "amnesty," and want none of it.Now, however, House Republicans are discussing this alternative: Provide a pathway to legal status, but not citizenship.
So far, that idea is just a talking point on a list of immigration reform principles that House Republicans are considering at a retreat on Marylands Eastern Shore Jan. 29-31. Even so, it could mark the road to an actual law or laws, so the distinction is important. Below we answer questions about legal status versus citizenship, and the arguments on both sides of the debate.
What does legal status entail?
Gaining legal status would likely mean three things for people now living in the US illegally, according to Doris Meissner, director of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that studies global migration.
First, they would no longer be subject to deportation solely because theyre in the country illegally, as long as they are law abiding in other ways. Second, they would be authorized to work. Third, they would have the ability to travel in and out of the United States. At least 60 percent of the illegal population has been in the US for more than 10 years, says Ms. Meissner, and are unable to return to their home countries to visit family or for other reasons.
Republicans would want immigrants to meet certain conditions to qualify for legal status, such as admitting they entered the country illegally, passing background checks, paying fines and back taxes, and becoming proficient in English and American civics.
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Eliseo Medina fasted for 22 days on the National Mall in support of immigration reform. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Eliseo Medina is a relentless optimist. The 67-year-old activist has a genial demeanor and a calm, unassuming way about him -- qualities that have served him well during his decades-long career pushing for workers' rights and immigration reform. When you're fighting uphill battles, it helps to remain positive.
By the end of last year, however, even Medina was losing patience. Since retiring from his post as secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union in September, he had devoted himself to the immigration reform cause, full-time. Two weeks before Thanksgiving, he left his wife and children at home, moved into a tent on the National Mall along with a small group of supporters and started fasting in an effort to draw attention to the reform movement, which had stalled in Congress.
The lack of food was making Medina dizzy and weak. And despite his efforts, there appeared to be little hope of convincing Republican lawmakers to move forward with an immigration reform bill. Even starting a dialogue was proving impossible. Medina and his supporters had asked repeatedly to meet with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to discuss the issue, but their requests had been ignored.
On Nov. 19, seven days into his fast, Medina and his fellow advocates decided to escalate matters. A group of about 50 people trekked up to Capitol Hill, filed through the metal detectors in the Longworth Office Building and assembled in front of Boehner's office.
Brittany Bramell, Boehner's spokeswoman, positioned herself outside of the office door. She dutifully promised to pass along the letters and statements the protesters had brought with them, stories of families separated by deportation and border-crossers dying in the desert. But Medina was persistent in asking for a meeting with the Republican leader.
"What about tomorrow?" he asked. "Next week?"
"All we were asking is for a conversation, and yet Speaker Boehner closed his door, closed his office," Medina recalled recently. "In my mind, I said, 'What are they afraid of?'"
It wasn't supposed to have come to this. The 2012 election results were supposed to have convinced Republicans of the political necessity of passing immigration reform. Numerous GOP officials, senators and more nationally-ambitious House members said it was an electoral imperative. That logic has escaped most House Republicans, however, who are betting that blocking immigration reform will help more than hurt as they vye for reelection this year.
In response, immigration reform advocates have staged increasingly dramatic lobbying efforts. Undocumented immigrants have come out of the shadows, activists have chained themselves together outside deportation centers and others have infiltrated detention facilities to expose conditions there. Pushing immigration reform has become a decidedly risky business.
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