In today’s Washington Post, Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham finally outline their proposal for immigration reform. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details, and this broad outline is short on details. But it does outline the overall goals of the plan, which are to create biometric Social Security cards to ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs; fulfill and strength our commitments on border security and interior enforcement; create a process for admitting temporary workers; and implement a tough but fair path to legalization for those already here.
In today’s Washington Post, Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham finally outline their proposal for immigration reform. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details, and this broad outline is short on details. But it does outline the overall goals of the plan, which are to create biometric Social Security cards to ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs; fulfill and strength our commitments on border security and interior enforcement; create a process for admitting temporary workers; and implement a tough but fair path to legalization for those already here.
The Senators also recognize that the United States should not educate foreign students and then force them to leave the U.S. because of our broken immigration system. This legislation would award green cards to immigrants who receive a PhD or master’s degree in science, technology, engineering or math from a U.S. university. And, for the first time that we can recall, these Senators also suggest that we create a rational system for admitting lower-skilled workers. This has been sorely lacking in our current immigration system.
Once Congress and the President are finished tackling the healthcare issue, we’ll see if they focus on immigration reform. It might be tough because of the economy and the upcoming November elections, but we hope that President Obama fulfills a signature campaign promise and helps reform our immigration system soon.
To read Senator Schumer and Graham’s proposal on immigration reform, please click HERE.