While the Senate seems close to presenting a bipartisan immigration reform bill, the House of Representatives has been working on its own proposal, and it looks like it contains three different path to citizenship for immigrants in different circumstances.
While the Senate bill will offer a single, unified method for legalizing the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country, the House bill divides the immigrant population into three categories.
First, the "Dreamers," undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as minors. Republican Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, one of the most outspoken critics of the Senate's immigration reform bill, has said the Dreamers should not be punished, since they had no control over their immigration.
"Those who entered the U.S. as children, through no fault of their own, will be allowed to have a pathway to citizenship," Labrador said. The House bill doesn't specify how quickly the Dreamers would be allowed citizenship, only that the process would be expedited. In addition to the Dreamers, low-skilled agricultural workers will also be eligible for expedited processing, according to the House bill.
The second group consists of undocumented immigrants who would otherwise be able to apply for citizenship already through a family member or employer, except that they are currently residing in the country illegally. The House bill would ease the waiting period for those immigrants before they could apply for residency, which is now between three and ten years. However, they would be required to travel back to their home countries during the waiting period, an arrangement that is untenable for many people who have lives, families and businesses in this country, as well as for people who escaped oppressive regimes or human rights violations.
The last group consists of the remainder of the country's undocumented population. After paying back taxes, a fine, and learning English, they would be allowed to remain in the country and work legally, but they would need to wait ten years for a proper green card and another five years for citizenship.
While the Dreamers get a good deal with the House bill, many of those young undocumented immigrants have family members and friends who fall into the other two categories. The House will find it difficult to drum up public support when a much less punitive bill is about to come out the Senate any day now.