WASHINGTON — House Republicans came out with an outline for immigration reforms Thursday that would allow illegals to “get right with the law” and stay in the US, but they stopped short of joining President Obama’s plan to give them a path to citizenship.
“There will be no special path to citizenship for individuals who broke our nation’s immigration laws,” declared the document, hammered out at a two-day retreat for House GOP members in Maryland.
It stressed that tough border security and interior enforcement must come before any move toward legalization.
Still, the new approach might not be enough to avoid a split between a Republican establishment that is keen to court Latino voters and Tea Party conservatives opposed to anything that looks like free pass for America’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.
Even before the document was released, the expectation that it would include legalization prompted Tea Party champion Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to denounce it as “amnesty.”
The House GOP prescribed a list of requirements for illegal immigrants to “live legally and without fear in the US,” including passing background checks, paying fines and back taxes and learning English and American civics.