Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Sunday that in addition to passing an amnesty bill this year that will only be implemented once President Barack Obama leaves office in 2017, Congress should also, in that bill, allow those who came to the country illegally as late as December 31, 2013 to be eligible for amnesty.
Appearing on NBC’s Meet The Press with host David Gregory, Schumer, who co-wrote the Senate immigration bill that the Congressional Budget Office determined would lower the wages of working class Americans and has conceded that amnesty would have passed long ago were it not for the strength of the Tea Party, suggested that if Congress passes a bill that delays the implementation of new immigration laws, the cutoff date for amnesty should also be extended as well.
He said that Congress could also “simply move the date back from December 31st, 2011 to December 31st 2013” as to when the deadline would be “for people who could get even legalization or citizenship.”
In the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed last year with the help of Republican Senators like John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Marco Rubio (R-FL), illegal immigrants who came to the country as late as December 31, 2011 would be eligible for amnesty.
Agreeing wth Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), who has also previously said that this year would be the last chance for amnesty legislation, Schumer had a sense of urgency in proposing his “solution” in light of House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) comments last week that Republicans may not proceed on immigration until they can trust that President Barack Obama will not circumvent the new laws with various executive actions. Boehner’s remarks came nearly a week after the House GOP leadership released its “immigration principles” that many Republicans found to be problematic.
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