Despite weeks of debate and preparations, the bipartisan U.S. Senate panel postponed their Tuesday plans to unveil its outline on an immigration reform bill on Tuesday after the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday.
A copy of the legislation was leaked to the Arizona Republic on Monday, one day before the senate panel was due to make a public announcement that would unveil its immigration reform draft legislation.
However, as the Washington Post reports, the announcement was postponed out of respect to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday that left three dead and dozens upon dozens injured. But the bill will still be rolling onwards, as the panel plans to formally file the legislation Tuesday night, with legislators expected to hold the first of two public hearings on the bill on Friday, according to ABC News Univision.
The language of the bill was crafted after hearing arguments from business, labor and political leaders that the panel has heard since announcing in January that they would meet and create a bill to resolve the nation's immigration problems.
According to the leaked 17-page outline provided to several media outlets, known formally as the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, the bill seeks to set border security objectives that include the establishment of "effective control in high-risk border sectors along the Southern border."
That would be met due to "persistent surveillance" and reaching what was dubbed as an "effectiveness rate" of 90 percent in certain sectors of the border within one fiscal year.
Effectiveness rate is defined in the bill as the number of apprehensions and turn-backs of illegal border-jumpers in a specific sector divided by the total number of illegal entries. Any sections of the border that see more than 30,000 apprehensions on a yearly basis would be dubbed high-risk areas under the legislation.
There are also guidelines for the path to citizenship sought by roughly 11 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S. within the bill.
The bill would also give Homeland Security 180 days from the date of the bills enactment to submit both a $3 billion strategy to secure the southern border and a $1.5 billion plan to secure the fence. As requested by conservatives still wary on immigration, both strategies must be submitted prior to immigrants being able to change their legal status under new legal status provisions in the next part of the bill.
According to the legislation, the Republic reports, immigrants would have a chance to legalize their status by applying for registered provisional immigrant status, a new temporary visa.
The visa would last six years and could be renewed pending upon the legal standing of applicants who apply and receive the visa. However, to apply, immigrants must have a clean legal record; any immigrant who is convicted of a felony, aggravated felony, three or more misdemeanors, or voted illegally would be ineligible to apply.
Another potentially controversial stipulation includes the cutoff date instituted in the bill. Immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally before Dec. 31, 2011 and were deported could be able to apply for provisional status if they are married to a U.S. citizen or have a child who is a U.S. citizen. However, those who came after the cutoff date would not be able to apply for the visa.
Those who get provisional status would not be able to apply for public welfare benefits or tax credits when filing their taxes.
To become permanent U.S. citizens, immigrants who obtain provisional status would have to wait 10 years and shown that they paid all taxes, worked regularly in the U.S. and can show good knowledge of the English language and U.S. civics.
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