Reuters: Politics: Obama draft bill would clear path to citizenship for illegal immigrants: paper

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Obama draft bill would clear path to citizenship for illegal immigrants: paper Feb 17th 2013, 05:38 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News RPT-New Texas Senator Ted Cruz blazing a trail in Washington Thu, Feb 14 2013 Senate Republicans cast doubt on broad immigration bill Wed, Feb 13 2013 In rebuttal to Obama, Rubio tries to soften Republicans' tone Wed, Feb 13 2013 Cantor: children of illegal immigrants should get U.S. citizenship Sun, Feb 10 2013 Among U.S. evangelicals, surprising support for immigration reform Sun, Feb 10 2013 Analysis & Opinion Time for a shift in the tax incentive regime? Obama’s 'war on inequality' U.S. President Barack Obama speaks from the briefing room of the White House in Washington February 5, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque WASHINGTON | Sun Feb 17, 2013 12:38am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A draft of a White House immigration proposal would allow illegal immigrants to become legal permanent residents within eight years, USA Today reported on Saturday. The plan, obtained by the newspaper, also would provide for more security funding and require businesses to check the immigration status of new hires within four years. Illegal immigrants could also apply for a newly created "Lawful Prospective Immigrant" visa, under the draft bill, it said. If approved, they could apply for the same provisional legal status for spouses or children living outside the country, according to the draft. The White House has emphasized the importance of creating a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants who are in the United States illegally. Many Republicans emphasize that the nation's borders must be secured first. Latinos favored President Barack Obama over Republican Mitt Romney in the November 6 election by 71 percent to 27 percent, helping tilt politically divided states to the Democratic incumbent. Members of Congress also are drafting their own immigration bills. In the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, a bipartisan group has been negotiating an immigration proposal for years and is writing its own bill. Last month, four Republican senators joined with four Democratic senators to announce their agreement on the general outlines of an immigration plan. One of those Republican senators, Marco Rubio of Florida, dismissed the leaked White House draft bill, however, as a seriously flawed rehash of failed immigration policies that would make the country's immigration problems worse. "If actually proposed, the president's bill would be dead on arrival in Congress, leaving us with unsecured borders and a broken legal immigration system for years to come," Rubio, who is a Cuban-American, said in a statement on Saturday. (Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Peter Cooney) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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