Obama Immigration Plan: More Direct Path to Citizenship Than Senate's
President Barack Obama is expected to lay out his principles for
immigration reform in a speech in Las Vegas today that will include a
potentially quicker path to citizenship than the bipartisan plan a group
of senators unveiled earlier this week.
The president will offer some new details about the White House's immigration reform plan, which expands on a blueprint
it released in 2011, a senior administration official told ABC News.
But for now Obama will stop short of offering his own piece of
legislation because of the progress made by the Senate "Gang of Eight."
The White House has sounded positive notes about the Senate group's plan
thus far, but the specifics that Obama announces are expected to have
some key differences that might cause concern for some Republican
senators who have signed onto the senate deal.
Like the senators' plan, Obama's proposal calls for a pathway to
citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in
the U.S. The senators' plan would grant "probationary legal status"
immediately to eligible undocumented immigrants, but would not allow
them to apply for permanent legal status, or a green card, until the
border is deemed to be secure. Think of that as a trigger system.
On the other hand, administration officials told media outlets that they
believe a path to citizenship needs to be more straightforward. They
believe a trigger system, like the one in the senate plan, could lead
to a state of legal limbo for the undocumented immigrants who receive
legal status, The Washington Post reported.
The border-security-first plan, however, is essential to Republican senators who signed onto the Senate "Gang of Eight" deal.
"I will not be supporting any law that does not ensure that the
enforcement things happen," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the
group, told conservative blogger Ed Morrissey on his web radio show.
Obama's plan is likely to include language that would allow same-sex
bi-national couples to have the same rights as heterosexual couples, BuzzFeed
and The Washington Post reported. Under current law, gays and lesbians
who are married to U.S. citizens under state laws cannot obtain a green
card. Obama's plan would allow them a path to citizenship, but the issue
is not mentioned in the Senate "Gang of Eight" proposal.
As noted by the Post, that language may anger Christian groups who have
signaled they would support comprehensive immigration reform.
But the White House remains optimistic about the progress that has been
made so far. An official described the senators' announcement as a
"breakthrough" to ABC News because it wasn't clear whether Republicans
would sign on to any path to citizenship.
Some observers couched the Senate group's decision to come out with his
plan a day before Obama as an attempt to outfox the White House
politically. But administration officials told media outlets they remain
generally pleased with the plan and believe that the president's speech
could build momentum for a final bill.
The White House reiterated that the president was very encouraged by the
Senate's proposal since it includes a pathway to citizenship that is
endorsed by Republicans, who have previously opposed immigration reform
that includes such a path.
"Our focus is that this is a positive development," White House
spokesman Luis Miranda told ABC/Univision. "We feel very positive that
there is a proposal in the first place and that it is consistent with
what the president has supported in the past."
The White House clarified that it is withholding judgment on language in
the Senate framework that requires a border security "trigger" to
obtain a green card until actual legislative language is released by the
senators.
"What we have said is that there needs to be a clear path to
citizenship," said Miranda. "We'll wait to see what they flesh out."
