Immigration reform seems to have achieved a major breakthrough, and the eight-member Senate reached a consensus

Immigration reform appears to have achieved a major breakthrough, and the eight-member Senate reached a consensus How to provide legal status for the 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States has always been immigration...

Immigration reform seems to have achieved a major breakthrough, and the eight-member Senate reached a consensus. How to provide legal status for the 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States has always been the most controversial part of the comprehensive immigration reform. Now, after working for weeks to draft an immigration reform bill, eight members of the Senate, known as the "Gang of Eight," have reached a private agreement to allow illegal immigrants to gradually obtain legal status with conditions. Analysts believe this is a major breakthrough in immigration reform. The Los Angeles Times reported that the new bill would require illegal immigrants to register with the Department of Homeland Security, file taxes for the period they lived in the United States and pay a still-to-be-determined amount of fines, according to people familiar with the closed-door negotiations. Of course, they must maintain a clean record with law enforcement. After receiving temporary legal status, these immigrants can work legally but cannot receive federal benefits such as food stamps, cash assistance for families, Medicaid and unemployment insurance benefits. The eight-member Senate panel's current draft is consistent with President Obama's call for immigration reform to provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. More recently, Republican members of Congress have tried to address the same issue, having been hurt by Republican candidates' hardline stance on immigration in last November's election. Although the new draft is still a long way from actual legislation, immigration advocates remain cautiously optimistic about a possible breakthrough. Angela Kelley, an immigration expert at the Center for American Progress, said: "Nine months ago, if anyone had said that four Republicans and four Democrats would come together to formulate a plan to legalize 11 million illegal immigrants, people would have thought it was nonsense. Now, it's like a Rubik's Cube, with more aspects of the same color. That makes sense." What has not yet been finalized is how long illegal immigrants will have to wait to apply for permanent resident status, and how long they will have to wait to eventually become citizens. The senator's staff said it may take more than 10 years to get a green card. Politically sensitive issues also include: how many visas to issue each year to high-tech experts and other guest workers, how to track when tourists leave the United States, and how to fund expanded Border Patrol personnel, a border wall and other security measures. The eight senators hope to submit the completed bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee before the Easter recess on March 22. But the rest, aides said, requires more technical consultants and spending estimates, which won't be available until early April. The eight-member Senate panel includes Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida, John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona, and Democrats Charles E. Schumer of New York, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado. The new bill is hundreds of pages long. McCain said in an interview with the media: "We are working hard to formulate it. However, I am not sure whether it can be completed completely. ... Some issues are very controversial."