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Rubio outlines elements of his new immigration plan

In a meeting in New York with reporters and editors of The New York Times, Mr. Rubio said that any broad immigration legislation should create a nationwide exit system to check foreigners out of the country, to confirm that they left before their visas expired. He noted that at least 40 percent of an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country came on legal visas but then overstayed.

Mr. Rubio said he would also insist on a nationwide program for employers to verify the legal authorization of new workers, although he did not specify whether he would favor an expansion of an existing federal electronic worker verification program or seek to create a new one. …

Mr. Rubio, saying immigration would be a top priority for him this year, said he was currently laying out principles and gathering support for them. As a tactical matter, Mr. Rubio is not delving too deeply into the details at this stage.

His plan would give a temporary “nonimmigrant visa” to illegal immigrants, which would allow them to remain and work in the United States. They would have to wait a “significant but reasonable” period of time before they could apply to become legal permanent residents, going to the back of the line in the existing system. Once they became residents, they could go on like other legal immigrants to naturalize as citizens.

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rubio, ryan and bor on board. what could go wrong?

renalin on January 18, 2013 at 8:03 AM

Sorry but Rubio is just another McCain/Romney/Dole with a permanent tan.

MoreLiberty on January 18, 2013 at 8:11 AM

Stop already with all these fracking plans.
Why don’t people just enforce the existing laws.
Like laws regarding employers check to make sure their employees are legally here?
I was to understand they are to do that.
Illegals have been undercutting the labor market for a long time now.
They get jobs from certain sectors bcs they work under the table etc. & this has kept citizens & legals from getting employment.
Consider the Swift slaughter plant in Greeley CO some years back.
Sorry, but Rubio’s done in my book.
This $hit is ridiculous.

Badger40 on January 18, 2013 at 8:14 AM

Reagan had a plan, Rubio has a similar plan…the big question is, what do we do with the existing 11+ million illegals?

We know we have to tighten border security…Rubio and others agree with that as being an absolute.

But what do you do with 11+ million, and most productive, illegals?

Deport them? Before you state that, sit down with a calculator and figure out how many “agents”, buses, attorneys, government officials, committees, panels, etc. would be needed to process 11 million people out of the country legally…just the paper work alone would be so staggering…it takes hours and hours of papers work to get one deported, but what happens if their is a “glitch”, that someone is here legally, but his paperwork is screwed up…could be many hours…and think about the lawsuits, protests…you are talking about literaly thousands of additional federal employees, union of course, across the nation, holding cells, buses, trains, logistically, it’s not possible for the feds to deport the largest displacement of people the world has ever known.

Look at the infrastructure the Nazi’s had to exterminate 1/2 as many, and that was just transporting them to a cell and killing them. That’s not housing families, moving families…taking their belongings, like we did to the Japanese during WWII, just forced them to sell their homes for pennies on the dollars because we “displaced” them.

You have to be a realist, not an emotionalist…

right2bright on January 18, 2013 at 8:31 AM

Rubio, desperately focusing his efforts on becoming the 2016 GOP nominee, opportunistically outlines elements of his new immigration amnesty plan, instead of demanding that existing laws be enforced.

Pork-Chop on January 18, 2013 at 8:33 AM

You have to be a realist, not an emotionalist…

right2bright on January 18, 2013 at 8:31 AM

It is exactly why you enforce work requirements, don’t give welfare benefits to anyone not able to show they’re here legally, etc. & they will deport themselves.
I agree, it’s unrealistic to try & physically deport everyone.
You simply take away the incentive they have for coming here & they will go home.
Hopefully to make their own country a place worth living in.

Badger40 on January 18, 2013 at 8:40 AM

Hmm. Sounds reasonable. :)

Genuine on January 18, 2013 at 8:45 AM

His plan would give a temporary “nonimmigrant visa” to illegal immigrants, which would allow them to remain and work in the United States. They would have to wait a “significant but reasonable” period of time before they could apply to become legal permanent residents, going to the back of the line in the existing system. Once they became residents, they could go on like other legal immigrants to naturalize as citizens.

“There are millions of people who have applied to enter this country legally,” Mr. Rubio said. “Our message to them cannot be: you should have come illegally because it’s faster and cheaper.”

He acknowledged that major pieces of his plan remain to be worked out. According to current federal visa rosters, most Mexican-born immigrants applying to become permanent residents now face a wait of at least 17 years to receive their document — known as a green card — even if they followed the rules and were approved. Mr. Rubio’s proposal could add seven million more Mexican immigrants to those backlogs. The path to citizenship he proposes for illegal immigrants could be several decades long.

“I don’t have a solution for that question right now,” Mr. Rubio said. He said he would seek to relieve backlogs by speeding up green cards for immigrants already in the legal line, not by creating special pathways for illegal immigrants.

This sounds like a reasonable starting point to me regarding the 12+ million illegals already here. He also has stated that illegals would be ineligible for public welfare services during this “limbo” phase. Further, Rubio has stressed that border security will have to come FIRST before we consider other immigration issues.

As I said in a thread yesterday, I would like to hear his thoughts on birthright citizenship because if you give green cards or “nonimmigrant” visas to illegals and they then have children here then they have gotten their foot in the door by virtue of their child and have opened the door for public welfare services. All in all, I would like to hear more from Rubio and feel that at this point it is counter-productive to slam him. A better approach would be for people and groups concerned about illegal immigration (as I am) to reach out to him and try to work with him to get a policy we all can live with. JMHO . . .

KickandSwimMom on January 18, 2013 at 8:58 AM

Illegal Aliens took part in a criminal enterprise and as such they should have to name names of anybody that helped them out. we would do this for any other criminal enterprise.

ChunkyLover on January 18, 2013 at 9:09 AM

It is exactly why you enforce work requirements, don’t give welfare benefits to anyone not able to show they’re here legally, etc. & they will deport themselves.
I agree, it’s unrealistic to try & physically deport everyone.
You simply take away the incentive they have for coming here & they will go home.
Hopefully to make their own country a place worth living in.

Badger40 on January 18, 2013 at 8:40 AM

Rubio addresses that…anyone that has owned or ran a manufacturing business, regardless of the pay, knows who are the best and most dedicated employees…the fact is, deporting or eliminating the “entrenched” illegals, creates an affirmative action type of program.

The less skilled, or less incentivised, now get to have a job because we remove the better workers…most who do pay taxes, buy groceries, buy autos, buy homes…

Here’s an idea, why not become better employees than the “illegals” and they will hire you instead of the illegals…but then you would have to actually go to work.

right2bright on January 18, 2013 at 9:20 AM

A better approach would be for people and groups concerned about illegal immigration (as I am) to reach out to him and try to work with him to get a policy we all can live with. JMHO . . .

KickandSwimMom on January 18, 2013 at 8:58 AM

Exactly…like Reagan did.

The problem is that the “conservatives” will attack Rubio, rather than help him draft a better law…and than he begins battling two fronts, and eventually has to choose a “partner”, is it the ones who completely deny him, or the ones that will work with him…

A law has to be made, and be made with a solid foundation so the liberals can’t dismantle it, piece by piece, like they did with Reagan’s bill…and the way to achieve that is for conservatives to take a deep breath, know we are not going to get everything, but make sure the border is secured, welfare is reduced, U.S. citizens are safe…and allow a detailed lengthy pathway to legal residency with conditions.

right2bright on January 18, 2013 at 9:24 AM

deporting or eliminating the “entrenched” illegals, creates an affirmative action type of program.

What complete and otter BS.

The less skilled, or less incentivised, now get to have a job because we remove the better workers…most who do pay taxes, buy groceries, buy autos, buy homes…

well, then we better not have a welfare to work program because that would be an affirmative action program too.

Here’s an idea, why not become better employees than the “illegals” and they will hire you instead of the illegals…but then you would have to actually go to work.

right and all of those closed shops in arizona that my parents encountered would suddenly go away.

ChunkyLover on January 18, 2013 at 9:27 AM

law has to be made, and be made with a solid foundation so the liberals can’t dismantle it, piece by piece, like they did with Reagan’s bill…and the way to achieve that is for conservatives to take a deep breath, know we are not going to get everything, but make sure the border is secured, welfare is reduced, U.S. citizens are safe…and allow a detailed lengthy pathway to legal residency with conditions.

And what do we do when the Fed. Government goes back on its word and doesnt give us Border Sec. you make it sound like we havent been down this road before.

ChunkyLover on January 18, 2013 at 9:32 AM

law has to be made, and be made with a solid foundation so the liberals can’t dismantle it, piece by piece, like they did with Reagan’s bill…and the way to achieve that is for conservatives to take a deep breath, know we are not going to get everything, but make sure the border is secured, welfare is reduced, U.S. citizens are safe…and allow a detailed lengthy pathway to legal residency with conditions.

And what do we do when the Fed. Government goes back on its word and doesnt give us Border Sec. you make it sound like we havent been down this road before.

ChunkyLover on January 18, 2013 at 9:32 AM

we dont get fooled again

ChunkyLover on January 18, 2013 at 9:35 AM

Translation… That being president thing sounds fun. I think I’ll try that.

Illinidiva on January 18, 2013 at 10:12 AM

An Israeli-style border fence, national E-Verify, make knowingly hiring an illegal a felony, sending remittances requiring photo ID, deporting Mexicans to Tampico, there are literally dozens of ways to get illegals out of the country through self-deportation.

And in a country with 20%+ real unemployment, anyone talking about “work permits” for anyone other than Americans is out of their head.

Rebar on January 18, 2013 at 10:40 AM