Can it be possible?: Bipartisan Immigration Reform in the House

It looks like things are finally getting underway in regard to immigration reform as democrats in the House submitted the first immigration proposal yesterday since gaining the control of Congress this year.

This proposal from Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.) attempts to actually address U.S. immigration problems, unlike a measure passed by the Republican-controlled House in 2005. That bill focused on tough enforcement actions to reduce illegal immigration. In contrast, the Flake-Gutierrez proposal is much more similar to the Senate proposal of last year.

Flake-Gutierrez offers a bipartisan proposal for comprehensive immigration reform. It would allow millions of illegal immigrants to participate in a guest-worker program and possibly gain citizenship. Here are the specifics:

The bill seeks to clamp down on illegal border crossings from Mexico while allowing some illegal workers and their family members already in the United States to legally remain for up to six years if they pay a $1,000 fine for breaking the law and continuously hold a job.

Illegal immigrants who become guest workers could eventually become citizens if they have broken no additional laws, leave the country, return legally, pay a second $1,000 fine and become proficient English speakers.

The 110th Congress and Immigration Reform

The link above to the Council on Foreign Relations provides a detailed overview of the recent congressional debate on immigration reform. The site covers an overview of the debates that plagued the 109th Congress, as well as the current proposals that are under consideration. It also offers analysis of the political, economic and foreign policy implications for immigraiton reform.

The most interested aspect of this report are the new proposals that under consideration (with a link to the full PDF document). They include:

A bipartisan task force chaired by Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman, and Spencer Abraham, a former Bush administration energy secretary, released a set of proposals (PDF) in January 2007 calling for an overhaul of the U.S. immigration system.

It calls for simplifying the overburdened U.S. system and setting annual legal immigration levels at around 1.5 million, which it says is about three hundred thousand less than the annual number of both legal and illegal immigrants coming into the country today. It calls for the creation of a White House coordinator for immigration policy, as well as a body known as the "Standing Commission on Immigration and Labor Markets" to make recommendations to Congress biannually to adjust immigration levels. Hamilton told a recent CFR meeting such a realignment was essential. "Immigration is spread all over this government one way or the other," Hamilton said. "A lot of people have their finger in the pie. You don't get integration. You don't get coordination."

Overall, the report is concise and well informed. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to stay informed about the immigration debate.