House Speaker John A. Boehner and the House Republicans are likely to release a draft of immigration principles by the end of this month. They are planning to release their principles before President Obama delivers his State of Union address and prior to their annual retreat.
The Senate, with bipartisan support passed a broad immigration reform bill in June 2013. This bill would permit the undocumented immigrants to become U.S. citizens. But with the Republicans not being in favor of this bill, it has faced a lot of hurdles in the House. Conservative Republicans in the House are against the path to citizenship that the Senate bill includes; they call it “amnesty”.
House Republicans who are against a comprehensive bill are in favor of a piecemeal approach. They want smaller bills and not a broad one. House Speaker Boehner stated that the House will not take up the Senate bill and not enter into formal negotiations on that bill. He prefers a piecemeal approach to immigration reform and he wants to fix America’s broken immigration system by dividing the reform into separate bills.
House Republicans have announced that they will come up with immigration principles to show that they are willing to tackle immigration this year. There are some lawmakers in the House, including Mr. Cantor and Mr. Goodlatte, who are willing to put the DREAMers, the undocumented youth who were brought to the country as minors, on a path to U.S. citizenship.
House Republicans believe that their new immigration principles will cover all the areas of immigration. Many lawmakers who belong to the Republican Party want to pass an immigration reform bill before the 2016 presidential elections. The party is now facing pressure from several groups including faith based organizations, immigration rights organizations and law enforcement groups. Such groups and immigration activists are urging the House to take up the Senate bill.