Immigration Reform 2013 News: 'Gang of Eight' Says Deal Could Be Reached as Early as End of Next Week

Robert Menendez, on of the "Gang of Eight" senators working on a bipartisan immigration reform bill, said the group hopes to have all the disagreements worked out soon.

"That's our goal," Menendez said. "We hope to agree on all of the major issues, hopefully, by the end of next week. But it could slip a bit."

The senators are trying to create a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

If they can complete their work on time, they can submit the legislation to the Senate Judiciary Committee, headed by Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a supporter of immigration reform who has been hinting that if the Gang of Eight can't present him with a compromise bill soon, he will move ahead with President Obama's more progressive proposal, a move that Republicans want to avoid at all costs.

Earlier this week, senators said they have been able to hash out the part of the bill that offers a path to citizenship. Now they are focusing on getting businesses on board, as well as determining what kind of procedures will be required to verify immigration status, particularly for people applying to jobs.

The systems proposed so far have either been prohibitively expensive, rankled civil and privacy rights advocates, or both.

Still, Democrats are unlikely to raise too many objections with whatever the end result of the compromise bill might be, as they have been pushing for some kind of immigration reform for years. Many of those 11 million immigrants will become Democratic voters once they have legal status, and Democratic candidates at both the state and national levels have long promised reform.

Republicans are much more divided over the proposals, and even members of the Gang of Eight are steeling themselves for primary challenges from more conservative elements in their home states.

But Obama's bill lurks in the shadows, ready to hit Congress if they fail to pass the bipartisan legislation currently on the table. Whether the Tea Party can bring itself to vote for the bill remains to be seen.