The Senate’s Immigration Bill
This from Robert Rector at the Heritage Foundation:
If enacted, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA, S.2611) would be the most dramatic change in immigration law in 80 years, allowing an estimated 103 million persons to legally immigrate to the U.S. over the next 20 years—fully one-third of the current population of the United States.
News reports have repeatly said that the bill doesn’t give illegal aliens amnesty but Rector notes:
Under the plan, illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. for five years or more (60 percent of illegals) would be granted immediate amnesty.
This isn’t quite as simple as it sounds here but it is pretty accurate. Upon application for adjustment of status the immigrant is here legally for all intents and purposes until and unless he or she is denied citizenship. From Senate bill 2611 Section 245B:
`(1) IN GENERAL- An alien who files an application under subsection (a)(1)(A) for adjustment of status, including a spouse or child who files for adjustment of status under subsection (b)–
`(A) shall be granted employment authorization pending final adjudication of the alien’s application for adjustment of status;
`(B) shall be granted permission to travel abroad pursuant to regulation pending final adjudication of the alien’s application for adjustment of status;
`(C) shall not be detained, determined inadmissible or deportable, or removed pending final adjudication of the alien’s application for adjustment of status, unless the alien commits an act which renders the alien ineligible for such adjustment of status; and
`(D) shall not be considered an unauthorized alien as defined in section 274A(h)(3) until such time as employment authorization under subparagraph (A) is denied.
The hardest part for illegal aliens is either proving they paid federal and state income taxes, or paying back taxes that they owe for.
The Heritage article is here.
The Senate Bill can be located here.
It is under the alphabetical list “I” and is listed as “Immigration Reform” and click on S.2611. On the next page click on “Text of Legislation” to see for yourself. Also the page is a temporary Search and will expire after a few minutes. Just go back to the beginning and start over.