No longer can Democrats accuse Republicans of stalling when it comes to overhauling immigration.
Republicans Sen. Jon Kyl and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison unveiled the ACHIEVE Act, a program created so young undocumented citizens, brought by their parents, could procure visas — not citizenship.
Undocumented citizens will essentially undergo three stages of visa status to obtain permanent residency. Applicants can receive a W-1 visa by earning a bachelor’s, associate’s, vocational or advanced degree or by serving in the military. After a W-1 visa, applicants can apply for a W-2 work visa, which is a four-year work visa. If applicants can comply with the requirements of the W-1 and W-2 visa — which includes, among other things, maintaining “good moral character,” "not accessing public welfare benefits" and application fees of $525 — then they can apply for a W-3 visa and a non-conditional nonimmigrant visa.
It should be noted that no additional green cards will be granted during the W-1, W-2 and W-3 phases of citizenship. Holders of W-3 visas must reapply every three years.
The ACHIEVE Act, a conservative version of the DREAM Act, is comfortable immigration reform for Republican leaders. Considering the Republican losses in this year’s election, perhaps it is conservative leaders’ way of acknowledging immigration reform as pressing legislation, something more than a trivial talking point put on for show.
ABC News notes that this is the “first concrete immigration proposal put forth by congressional Republicans” — timely, considering more than “seven in 10 Latino voters backed President Barack Obama.”
Conservative leaders are taking a note from political pundits who urge them to tone down the rhetoric on immigration, but it appears their immigration package is unfinished, missing a critical step. As immigration policy analyst Phil Wolgin tweeted, the ACHIEVE Act misses the “path to citizenship” and paves the road “only (to) second-class legal status.” Undocumented immigrants still won’t be able to access federal student loans, work-study opportunities or other benefits under the Higher Education Act.
Because Democrats in Congress are unlikely to approve immigration reform sans citizenship, some interpret Kyl and Hutchison’s move as a ploy to recruit Hispanic voters onto Republican sidelines — a relatively riskless maneuver, considering both plan to retire at the end of this Congress. For a party that frequently bemoans bureaucracy, Hutchison and Kyl’s immigration platform erects walls of bureaucratic triviality in all three stages of visa status. Applicants must continually reapply for their W-3 visas and check in with the Department of Homeland Security every six months during their W-2 phase. It appears the ACHIEVE Act is another way of keeping tabs or managing a group of people some wish would stay out of the country in the first place.
The act will create a hierarchy of undocumented immigrants, in which no level is more likely to earn citizenship than another. Kyl and Hutchison’s act is almost as useful as our current state of naturalization, but it will be something the GOP can herald as a definitive step in quickening immigration reform efforts, wowing their Republican base and engaging Hispanic voters in the process. Democrats are unlikely to push the act through, considering it doesn’t include a pathway to citizenship. When they don’t, it might be something for which Republicans can fault Democrats.
For Republican leaders, Kyl and Hutchison’s solution is a happy medium, but it makes certain assumptions about undocumented immigrants. No matter how one spins it, immigration reform is complicated, and it seems to lend itself well to extreme opinions. Whether one believes in complete amnesty or no amnesty, it won’t hurt to remind voters and lawmakers that undocumented immigrants, particularly those who were brought to the country by their parents, deserve to be treated like human beings, not as talking points or a second-rate demographic that needs to be managed — dealt with — by law after law.
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