In the midst of the government shutdown debate, House Republicans are “quietly” working to advance immigration reform “beneath the radar.”
“Don’t start an obituary for immigration reform just yet,” Fox News Latino declared on Monday.
According to Fox News Latino, “while the spotlight on Congress is on the partisan brawl over government spending and President Barack Obama’s health care law, some Republicans in the House are quietly working to bring some momentum to work on fixing the immigration system.”
Outside groups like Jacoby’s and lawmakers have all insisted in recent days that “three months after the Democratic-led Senate passed a sweeping immigration bill, the issue is showing signs of life in the Republican-run House.”
On Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) said conservatives must be “ever vigilant” about the House’s efforts to move amnesty provisions and comprehensive immigration reform forward, especially on days where there is nothing yet planned on the legislative calendar.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has been working with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) “on a bill offering citizenship to immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children” that could potentially legalize seven million illegal immigrants. According to Fox News Latino, Reps. Raul Labrador (R-ID) and Ted Poe (R-TX) “are working on a plan to create a visa program allowing more lower-skilled workers into the country.” House Speaker John Boehner also supports moving comprehensive immigration reform forward.
Though the House may not be able to pass a bill that gives illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship, they can pass a series of piecemeal bills and go to conference with the Senate to combine the various bills into one. If that occurs, provisions in the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill, which included a pathway to citizenship for all of the country’s illegal immigrants, would likely win out, as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has indicated.
Last week, Cantor held meetings on immigration reform and House Republican leaders recently met with Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who poured millions into his political action group, FWD.us, to get comprehensive immigration reform passed.
To put more pressure on the House, proponents of comprehensive immigration reform will rally and protest nationwide on October 5 to “keep up the pressure” on the House. President Barack Obama even recently declared that comprehensive immigration reform was his “number-one priority.”
“Comprehensive immigration reform is within our reach,” Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), one of the fiercest advocates of comprehensive immigration reform in the House, reportedly said at a news conference. “We have the ugly, bitter, partisan fight, and in the middle we must continue to see the light to get this done.”
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