The immigration reform bill that was recently passed by the US Senate has an uncertain future in the US House that is controlled by the Republicans. Democrats are in favor of immigration reform but there are some members in the Republican party who are against it. They do not want to legalize the undocumented immigrants who violated the country’s immigration laws. However, there are few reasons why the bill will pass the House and why it will not.
Speaker of the House, John Boehner, stated that he will not bring the Senate immigration reform bill to the House, for a vote and that the bill will not be supported by the members of the Republican party. A majority of the Republicans in the House are against these reforms and they are against the provision of the Senate bill that would put the undocumented immigrants on a thirteen year path to US citizenship. Similarly, the House is likely to stick on to the bill that the members of the House are crafting.
This is one of the reasons why this bill will not pass. Apart from that, people believe that immigration reform will cost the country a lot. The Heritage Foundation, released a report stating that these reforms will hurt the country’s economy. That is because undocumented immigrants if legalized, would become eligible for federal benefits and they would receive more than what they would pay in taxes. However, the Congressional Budget Office, later came up with a report that states that the legalization of undocumented immigrants would not hurt America’s economy but boost the economy of the country.
Though there are few reasons why the immigration reform bill of the Gang of Eight will not pass, there are some reasons why it will pass. The public and many who belong to the Republican party strongly support some provisions of the Senate bill. A recent poll shows that most of the Americans support the path to citizenship that the Senate bill would create. Similarly, many are in favor of the border security provisions included in the bill. Likewise, E-verify and the new guest worker programs, have attracted some members of the Republican party and many Americans.
Unlike Republicans, members of the Democratic party strongly support the bill and they aim at legalizing the country’s undocumented immigrants. President Obama’s top priority is immigration reform and the Democratic party has to pass the bill in order to win the support of the Hispanics. Similarly, the Republican party also needs immigration reform and they need to attract the Hispanics who voted for President Obama, in large numbers. If the Republicans oppose the reforms, their party will soon become a minority party and so the Republicans must support immigration reform.