By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN and SEUNG MIN KIM | 5/21/13 11:56 AM EDT Updated:
5/21/13 11:50 PM EDT
The Senate Judiciary Committee will almost certainly pass
the sprawling immigration overhaul bill by the end of the week, setting up a
floor fight for early June.
Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy has been pushing the
panel to get its work done, holding a rare Monday markup that stretched into
the evening, with additional sessions scheduled each day this week until the
bill is finished.
The two biggest wild cards in the final days of the
markup are whether Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wins enough concessions on
high-skilled visas to persuade him to vote for the bill and whether Leahy
decides to offer an amendment allowing gay Americans to sponsor their
foreign-born partners for green cards. The former could boost bipartisan
support but the latter could wash it away.
Observers had expected the panel to take up Hatch’s
high-tech amendments on Monday, but senators were still negotiating throughout
the day. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he spent the weekend in discussions
with Hatch over the Utah Republican’s proposals, which would primarily ease
recruitment and hiring requirements on tech firms.
Maintaining bipartisan support has been a critical goal
of the Gang of Eight senators who wrote the bill — something that was apparent
Monday when Leahy and other Democrats grudgingly accepted a Republican
amendment spurred by the Boston Marathon bombing that would end an immigrant’s
asylum or refugee status if he or she returned to the home country.
The Gang of Eight has essentially turned back all but
minor changes to the measure, maintaining unity as the committee has considered
more than 140 amendments.
Despite offering the first extended debate on immigration
reform in years, the legislation has competed for attention against a
succession of higher-profile stories — first the Boston bombings during the
bill’s release, then the spate of Obama administration scandals during the
markup. The upshot: a lower-key atmosphere inside the committee room than many
would have predicted a few months ago.
“This markup is something we haven’t seen around here in
a long time — sitting down, day after day on one of the most important issues
in America,” Schumer said.
The mood could change in the coming days as the markup
moves to the pathway to citizenship for the country’s 11 million undocumented
immigrants, one of the most controversial elements of the bill. Pending
amendments range from making the pathway more expansive to eliminating it
altogether.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to put the bill
on the floor when the Senate returns in June, his spokesman said, and the
desire to finish up this week before Memorial Day was apparent Monday, when the
committee rushed to wrap up debate on enforcement issues and establish new
requirements on seekers of asylum and refugee status.
Senators agreed to strengthen the system for tracking
visa holders exiting the country — a move aimed at appeasing Sen. Marco Rubio
(R-Fla.), a key member of the Gang of Eight who criticized the panel for
rejecting a similar proposal last week.
The committee also approved a scaled-down measure from
Hatch that would establish a biometric exit system at 10 airports with the
highest volume of international travelers. Six years after the law goes into
effect, the systems would be set up at the next 20 busiest U.S. airports.
“We’d love to move to biometric, but we’ve got to make
sure it works,” Schumer said. “This is a good start.”
The Hatch proposal was less ambitious than the amendment
proposed last week from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) that would have required
implementation of the biometric system at all points of entry and exit before
granting legal permanent status to undocumented immigrants. It failed amid
concerns by Gang of Eight members that the requirement would cost too much
money and take too long to implement.
Sessions produced what he described as a suppressed 2009
report from the Department of Homeland Security concluding that a nationwide
biometric system “can be done right now” and at a lower cost than some members
of the Gang suggested. He linked the report to the IRS scandal in which that
agency targeted conservative groups.
“[People] don’t trust the government. The IRS can’t be
trusted,” Sessions said. “That’s the truth. I’m getting doggoned tired of it.”
The Boston Marathon attacks also continued to play a role
in the debate, with the committee approving a proposal that targets refugees
and immigrants who receive asylum status. The amendment from Sen. Lindsey
Graham (R-S.C.), another Gang of Eight member, would end an immigrant’s asylum
or refugee status if he or she returned to the home country.
The family of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the deceased suspect in
the bombings, had received asylum status, but Tamerlan had returned to
Dagestan, a province in southern Russia, for six months in 2012 — a time period
that has been highly scrutinized by law enforcement investigating the attacks.
Graham said that it would be “very smart” for government
officials to inquire as to why refugees and asylum recipients returned to their
home countries, unless it was for a “good cause” reason — such as a funeral for
a loved one. Under his amendment, the attorney general and the Department of
Homeland Security would determine what “good cause” means.
The amendment passed the committee on a voice vote, but
it was clear that Democrats — including Leahy — weren’t happy.
“There is an anxiety within the community about what this
means,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who also appeared uncomfortable with
the proposal.
Gaby Pacheco, a well-known immigration activist, tweeted after the vote: “We
are not happy.”
Another Graham amendment, which would create a government
database in order to streamline information-sharing about visa overstays, also
passed without objection from senators.
The committee also took up several noncontroversial
amendments Monday morning that tweaked some provisions in the bill relating to
refugees and asylum recipients.
One proposal split the committee down party lines: a
Sessions amendment that would limit the earned income tax credit to U.S.
citizens and permanent residents. That failed on an 8-10 vote.
Meanwhile on Monday, the union representing employees who
would largely process immigration applications unveiled its opposition to the
Senate legislation. In a statement, the National Citizenship and Immigration
Services Council outlined several objections to the bill. It largely argued
that the Gang of Eight legislation doesn’t fix problems in the current
immigration system.
“We need immigration reform that works,” said Kenneth
Palinkas, the union’s president. “This legislation, sadly, will not.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/orrin-hatch-chuck-schumer-reach-deal-on-high-tech-visa-program-91670.html#ixzz2U2ri64UU
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