Although congress is currently immersed in the looming government shutdown and a partisan brawl over the Affordable Care Act, a few Republicans have remained vigilant working on immigration reform legislation under the radar.
The issue hasn't been a priority for many congressional members since the Democratic-led Senate passed a sweeping immigration bill three months ago. However, lawmakers and advocates insist that the issue is showing signs of life in the Republican-run House.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has discussed granting legal status to the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Rep. Goodlatte has also been working with Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on a bill offering citizenship to immigrants brought illegally into the U.S. as children. At the same time, GOP Reps. Raul Labrador and Ted Poe are working on a plan to create a visa program allowing more lower-skilled workers into the country.
Goodlatte's committee has signed off on legislation addressing a range of issues, including visas for high-skilled workers and enforcement of immigration laws, as he continues to push to resolve the issue, reports the Assoicated Press. However, a House GOP bill addressing what to do about immigrants already here illegally has yet to be presented.
House leaders, who have been more circumspect about reform, have said they plan a step-by-step approach, in contrast to the comprehensive Senate bill that added billions of dollars in new spending to border security, remade the legal immigration system from top to bottom and created a 13-year path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
A bill in the works by Cantor and Goodlatte appears to have support from a fair number of Republicans, although many others are wary of backing anything broader that could be perceived as "amnesty" for people who migrated into the U.S. unlawfully, reports the Power Line. There's no guarantee House Republicans will ever offer a bill to resolve that issue, much less bring it to the floor for a vote.
Still, Goodlatte has outlined in some detail what he would like to see in such a bill and his approach may contain the seeds of compromise. Goodlatte would allow immigrants living here illegally to obtain legal work status, and from there, they could use the existing routes to citizenship: marrying a U.S. citizen or getting sponsored by an employer or U.S. citizen relative. Such an approach would allow Republicans to deal with millions of people living in the U.S. illegally without bestowing a so-called special path to citizenship as the Senate did.
Depending on how it's structured, Goodlatte's approach could ultimately result in citizenship for perhaps as many as 7 million undocumented immigrants, Jacoby estimates.