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HOUSTON : Congressional Democrats are offering their version of immigration reform plan by introducing an ambitious immigration reform bill on Monday that will pave the way for millions of illegal immigrants to attain citizenship.
However, it plans to restrict the entry of more workers to the US. The Democratic plan would offer green cards and permanent resident status to all immigrants who have been in the US for at least five years, can prove they have worked at least 24 months and have passed background and medical checks, according to a report in Los Angeles Times.
It also would loosen quotas that prevent many immigrants from bringing relatives into the US. The Democrats' proposal, coupled with the Bush plan, would frame the election-year debate on a politically sensitive issue.
In many parts of the country, and especially in swing states such as Florida and New Mexico , both parties are courting immigrant constituencies.
The democratic report is in contrast with US President George W Bush's guest worker proposal.
The Democrats would make it harder to import so-called "guest workers", but would open the path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country.
Bush would allow illegal immigrants to become legal temporary workers, but without a promise of green cards or citizenship.
The Democratic bill was drafted by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, D-Ill.
It is an effort to recapture a traditionally Democratic issue from Bush, who got out in front by proposing a new guest worker plan that would allow as many as 12 million now-illegal immigrants to obtain temporary legal status.
"It's political tit for tat," said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan Washington , DC , think tank.
"The Democrats have been working on immigration for quite a while, and they cannot afford to have the president one-up them on it."
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/655063.cms
However, it plans to restrict the entry of more workers to the US. The Democratic plan would offer green cards and permanent resident status to all immigrants who have been in the US for at least five years, can prove they have worked at least 24 months and have passed background and medical checks, according to a report in Los Angeles Times.
It also would loosen quotas that prevent many immigrants from bringing relatives into the US. The Democrats' proposal, coupled with the Bush plan, would frame the election-year debate on a politically sensitive issue.
In many parts of the country, and especially in swing states such as Florida and New Mexico , both parties are courting immigrant constituencies.
The democratic report is in contrast with US President George W Bush's guest worker proposal.
The Democrats would make it harder to import so-called "guest workers", but would open the path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country.
Bush would allow illegal immigrants to become legal temporary workers, but without a promise of green cards or citizenship.
The Democratic bill was drafted by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, D-Ill.
It is an effort to recapture a traditionally Democratic issue from Bush, who got out in front by proposing a new guest worker plan that would allow as many as 12 million now-illegal immigrants to obtain temporary legal status.
"It's political tit for tat," said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan Washington , DC , think tank.
"The Democrats have been working on immigration for quite a while, and they cannot afford to have the president one-up them on it."
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/655063.cms
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