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WASHINGTON — The chances of Congress passing a comprehensive immigration-reform bill are the best in years — thanks to the impact Hispanic voters had in November’s elections, senators from both parties acknowledged yesterday.
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) both said a bipartisan deal unveiled yesterday has real momentum because of a shift in politics.
Asked at a Capitol Hill press conference what had changed, McCain — who had pushed a similar immigration package with Sen. Ted Kennedy in 2006 and 2007 — said: “Elections. The Republican Party is losing its support of our Hispanic citizens . . . This is a preeminent issue with our Hispanic citizens.”
“We cannot continue as a nation with 11 million people residing in the shadows, and we have to address the issue, and it has to be done in a bipartisan fashion,” he said, referring to the nation’s undocumented immigrants.
In 2012, President Obama trounced Mitt Romney among Latino voters, winning 70 percent of the vote, exit polls show.
Schumer said the politics of the situation augur well for the bill.
“There is more political risk in opposing immigration reform rather than supporting it,” said Schumer, a member of his party’s Senate leadership.
A group of eight Republicans and Democrats had ironed out the framework that was unveiled yesterday. The group included rising Republican star Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who spoke yesterday of “11 million human beings in this country today who are undocumented.”
“That’s not something that anyone is happy about. It’s not something anybody wanted to see happen, but it is what has happened, and we have an obligation and the need to address the reality of the situation we face,” Rubio said.
President Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech on immigration today in Las Vegas.
The White House quickly moved to embrace the bipartisan deal, even though it would first require progress to be made securing the borders and strengthening immigration enforcement before offering undocumented immigrants a “path to citizenship.” Obama has pushed hard for a citizenship path.
The framework would make illegal aliens pass a background check and pay taxes and fines to get a green card and get on a path to citizenship. It would require new border enforcement before illegals could get “probationary status” and would provide a separate path to citizenship for those who came here as minors.
Asked about the proposal’s call for delaying the path to citizenship until the borders have been secured, White House press secretary Jay Carney said, “Our borders now are more secure than they have ever been in history.”
Even if the new framework passes the Senate, it could run into trouble in the House.