The White House is preparing a backup immigration plan that, among other elements, would give undocumented aliens permanent citizenship after eight years.
The plan has been drafted, according to USA Today.com, in case a bipartisan Congressional committee does not act quickly enough for The White House.
According to the newspaper, which obtained a copy of the plan, the proposal also would provide for more security funding and require business owners to check the immigration status of new hires within four years. In addition, the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants could apply for a newly created “Lawful Prospective Immigrant” visa, under the draft bill being written by the White House. If approved, they could then apply for the same provisional legal status for their spouse or children living outside the country, according to the draft.
The article also quoted Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who said Obama’s bill repeats the failures of past legislation and would be “dead on arrival” in Congress. “It fails to follow through on previously broken promises to secure our borders, (and) creates a special pathway that puts those who broke our immigration laws at an advantage over those who chose to do things the right way and come here legally,” Rubio told USAToday.com. “It would actually make our immigration problems worse.”
