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April 12, 2013

Report: Immigration Bill Could Deny Citizenship to Poor, Recent Arrivals 
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A Senate aide has told the Associated Press that a bipartisan
immigration bill currently being worked out in the Senate could bar
hundreds of thousands of immigrants from ever becoming citizens. The
unnamed aide said the bipartisan bill, which is expected to be unveiled
next week, would block anyone who arrived in the United States after
December 31, 2011, from applying for legal status and ultimately
citizenship. It would also require applicants to document that they have
no criminal record and enough financial stability to show they can
likely stay off welfare. Such a bill could deny legal status to vast
swaths of the 11 million people who entered this country without
documentation. The bipartisan proposal has already been criticized for
setting near-impossible goals for so-called "border security" that could
leave undocumented people waiting a decade or more before they can even
apply for permanent residency.

 

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