According to AP, Senate GOP leaders have a brand new tweak to the McCain-Kennedy bill:
Republican officials said the GOP plan would divide illegal immigrants into three categories:
• Those who had been in the country the longest, more than five years, would not be required to return to their home country before gaining legal status. They would be subject to several tests, including the payment of fines and back taxes, and be required to submit to a background check, according to these officials.
• Illegal immigrants in the United States less than five years but more than two would be required to go to a border point of entry, briefly leave and then be readmitted to the United States. As with the longer-term illegal immigrants, other steps would be required for re-entry, after which they could begin seeking citizenship, these officials said.
• Illegal immigrants in the United States less than two years would be required to leave the country and join any other foreign residents seeking legal entry.
My question: what exactly is the incentive for immigrants in categories one and two to come forward? Are their employer sanctions in the bill to force those "five years and under" illegal migrants to come forward? I think not. Truthfully, I fail to see the incentive for anyone in the country illegally to come forward, except for perhaps a feeling of belonging, bought with fines and back taxes they could just as easily avoid paying by remaining as they are...
And this and other compromise measures continue to ignore the question of whether all or even most of the illegal workers in the U.S. want to become citizens, vs. those who simply want to work and send money home, with the intention of eventually returning to their home countries.
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