Over the weekend, a draft of President Barack Obama’s immigration bill was leaked to USA Today. Unsurprisingly, the Republican Party took aim at this draft bill.
Perhaps the most outspoken of his critics is Republican rising star Sen. Marco Rubio, who declared that the draft is “half baked and seriously flawed.”
Let us analyze just how flawed this proposal really is.
The most noteworthy segment of the document is the call to establish a “Lawful Prospective Immigrant” visa for immigrants without criminal backgrounds.
If this deal became law, millions of undocumented immigrants would need not fear the government breaking down their doors to deport them and their families. Any economic gain from the immigrant population would be sustained, and families would be protected from the current threat of forced separation and deportation.
The proposal draft also includes a call for more border security funding. In addition, the draft included an 8-year plan for stricter requirements to undergo national and international background checks and necessitates the learning of English and basic U.S. history and government to attain a green card.
The irony is that the aforementioned declarations are commonplace among Republicans. Who are typically the first ones to call for more fences and background checks? Which group is more likely to complain about the inconvenience of reading signs that include both English and Spanish? The answer to both of these questions: Republicans in Congress. Given that logic, why would these Republicans be adamantly against what appears to be a bipartisan deal?
Obama has made it clear that he would prefer Congress to craft legislation that he would sign, but he also noted that, if Congress cannot forge a deal, he would submit a proposal for the Legislature. Assuming that the Republicans continue to obstruct most of the Obama agenda, which seems likely, we find that Obama will probably intervene.
In order to fix the problems of illegal immigration, Congress should adapt the points enumerated by the president’s draft bill to their own potential legislation.
