WASHINGTON — After years of gridlock on the issue, Congress finally appears ready to reconsider the nation’s immigration laws, U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Little Rock said.
The second-term congressman said he had discussed moving forward on immigration with fellow Republican House members and predicted that progress could be made on a comprehensive bill this year.
His comments came soon after the unveiling of the Bipartisan Framework for Immigration Reform, a proposal pushed by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.
It seeks to beef up border security while ensuring that industries that depend on immigrant labor get the workers they need. It also provides a pathway to citizenship for millions of people who are in this nation illegally. Those people would have to pay taxes, if owed, and fines and pass background checks but could obtain “probationary legal status” - a first step on the path to receiving a green card and permanent residency status. Eventually, citizenship would become a possibility.
While not agreeing with all of the provisions, Griffin said the Bipartisan Framework advances the debate.
“This proposal definitely starts the conversation,” Griffin said.
Immigrant advocates welcomed news of a possible compromise.
The time is “ripe” for broad changes in immigration policy, said Mireya Reith, executive director of the Arkansas United Community Coalition, an immigrant advocacy group.
Since the 2012 election, “we’ve seen a greater concurrence that our immigration system is broken,” she said.
Griffin said he found the proposal’s emphasis on border security promising. The framework would require developing a tracking system to make sure people entering the country for a limited time don’t overstay their visa, increasing the number of border-patrol agents and using more unmanned drone aircraft to survey the border.
The senators’ proposal reflects a softening of views on immigration among congressional conservatives, said Diana Gonzalez Worthen. Worthen is director of Project RISE, a program at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville that aims to prepare teachers to work with students of different cultural backgrounds.
She said any plan had to allow families to stay together in the United States if one member was here illegally and noted that many industries heavily rely on immigrant labor.
“It would create chaos,” to deport workers in those industries, she said.
According to a study conducted by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, immigrants contribute $3.4 billion per year to the Arkansas economy, a figure arrived at by subtracting state services - totaling $555 million - from immigrants’ total consumer spending and state tax contributions, which are $3.9 billion.
The study, which was released earlier this month, said the foreign-born population in Arkansas increased 82 percent between 2000 and 2010, when about 133,000 of the state’s population were born elsewhere. That rate of growth ranked Arkansas fourth nationally.
Immigrants represented only about 5 percent of the state’s population, compared with the national average of 13 percent, the study said.
In Arkansas, 42 percent of aliens were here illegally, the report said.
The senators’ proposal emphasized the importance of immigrants to the food industry.
“Due to the utmost importance in our nation maintaining the safety of its food supply, agricultural workers who commit to the long term stability of our nation’s agricultural industries will be treated differently than the rest of the undocumented population because of the role they place in ensuring Americans have safe and secure agricultural products,” the proposal said.
Rep. Rick Crawford, a Republican from Jonesboro and member of the House Agriculture Committee, stressed that he would not support any bill that gave amnesty to people who entered the United States illegally.
Rep. Tom Cotton, a Dardanelle Republican, said immigration policy needed to focus on border security and ensure that people who have applied to enter the country legally get priority over people here illegally. He said he doubted that the senators’ proposal would work.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 01/29/2013