Immigration Reform 2013 News: Amnesty Absent from New Bill, Says Rubio; New Reforms Backed by GOP Donors

With his panel's highly anticipated immigration bill rumored to be unveiled Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., took to the airwaves on Sunday to defend the bill.

In an appearance on ABC's "This Week," Rubio spoke out in defense of a provision in the proposed legislation that his panel has drafted that would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

Contrary to speculation from opponents of the bill, Rubio said that the bill would not be offering "amnesty" to said immigrants, while adding that having undocumented immigrants become citizens would be more cost-effective for the country in the long haul as opposed to having them leave the country first in order to apply for citizenship.

"All we've done here is create an alternative to that that they can access, and the alternative we've created is going to be longer, more expensive and more difficult to navigate," Rubio said this morning on "This Week." "It will actually be cheaper if they went back home, waited 10 years, and applied for a green card.  And so, secondly, we've not awarding anything.  All we're giving people the opportunity to eventually do is gain access to the same legal immigration system, the same legal immigration process that will be available to everybody else."

Rubio also made an appearance on Fox News Sunday to talk more about the bill, as he further explained that the path to legal status will be more difficult for undocumented immigrants due to their ineligibility to qualify for federal benefits such as food stamps, welfare or Obamacare.

"They will have to stay in that status until at least 10 years elapses ... and then all they get is a chance to apply for a green card," he said.

Critics of the bipartisan efforts on immigration reform has argued that allowing undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. while applying for citizenship--being allowed to work and travel legally under the bill's provisions--would be creating more problems than under the current immigration system. Rubio disputed that, arguing that the current system employs "de facto amnesty ... people who are hiring illegal aliens and paying them less than American workers."

"If somehow being in the country illegally is cheaper, easier and quicker than the right way, I wouldn't support that," Rubio said. "It will be cheaper, faster and easier for people to go back home and wait 10 years than [go through] this process. That's why it's not amnesty."

The panel is expected to unveil its new immigration legislation to the public this week, possibly on Tuesday, according to recent reports.

Meanwhile, as the debate on immigration continues to be marked by debate and demonstrations such as the on in Washington, D.C. last week, a group of GOP fundraisers are looking to spread support for the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship in the bill.

According to the Associated Press, business leaders and donors have been reaching out to top Republican lawmakers and GOP fundraisers who have reservations about supporting the bill.

With the backing of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, these fundraisers have indicated that they are getting a good reception from those they are approaching, their efforts likely aided by the numbers that the Latino vote gave President Obama at the polls during the November election.

A new bipartisan group, Partnership for a New American Economy, is attracting top donors. The group, which includes business leaders and mayors supporting a pathway for citizenship for undocumented immigrants, is backed by supporters such as billionaire and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bill Marriott, Jr., head of the Marriott International hotel company.

While the donors declined to say which legislators they are lobbying, they did say that they are communicating with as many Republicans as they could reach, including Sen. Rubio.

"People are starting to understand that immigration is one of the issues that allows Republicans to have a comeback on all issues," said Charlie Spies, the founder and treasurer of a super PAC that raised more than $142 million for the 2012 presidential campaign of GOP candidate Mitt Romney.