House Democrats try to revive push to double immigration | The ...

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House Democrats are trying to jump-start their stalled effort to open up America’s immigration laws.

“We’re ready to move… the time if now to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” Los Angeles Rep. Xavier Becerra said at a press conference introducing a House version of the immigration bill passed in July by the Senate.

The draft “Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act” is “not just a Democratic dream come true,” he said at the press conference Oct. 2.

But one of the House bill’s sponsors, Colorado Democrat Jared Polis, acknowledged the political trade-off behind the immigration push.

The strategy — at least according to critics — is for business-backed Republicans to allow at least 10 million illegal immigrants to win citizenship by 2025 in exchange for Democrats’ agreement to double the annual 1 million inflow of immigrant workers and guest-workers used by companies.

“Many Democrats, myself included, would also be willing to separate out a pathway to citizenship for the 10 million and pass it tomorrow,” without allowing in some of the extra workers, Polis told The Daily Caller.

“But in the interest of forging a bipartisan coalition, we’re taking the work of the Senate and moving forward with it in the House,” he said.

Republican leaders suggest they’d like to push through a major rewrite of the immigration law, but have delayed action because of disagreement from GOP legislators and base voters.

Democrats at the press conference touted the bill as a stimulus for the economy. “We believe that fixing our broken immigration system will be good for our economy… it is actually a wonderful element in resolving this fiscal and budget fight that we’re in,” said Becerra.

“Immigration is truly the economic engine that has grown our economy for generations,” said Polis, who made a fortune in the 1990s dot.com bubble by selling an online greeting-card company, Blue Mountain, for $780 million.

“This is going to create jobs, grow our economy, become a more vibrant economy that it would otherwise be,” said Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking Democrat in the House.

In recent years, however, record levels of immigration haven’t reliably spurred the economy, but have generated strong public opposition to any immigration increase.

Roughly 1.3 million fewer native-born Americans have jobs today than had jobs in 2000, even though their working-age population has grown by 16.4 million, according to a July 3 report by the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigration group. In contrast, 5.3 million new immigrants have won jobs since 2000, while the nation’s working-age immigrant population has grown by 8.8 million, said the CIS report.

Some Democrats suggested they might temporarily accept an emerging proposal from Republicans that would provide residency and work-permits to the 11 million-plus illegals, but deny them a novel “path to citizenship.”

That proposal has been pushed throughout September by Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the chairman of the House judiciary committee.

Democrats might temporarily support a House bill without a clear citizenship option, but would insist that any final bill provide a citizenship option, said Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader. “This is about a ‘path to citizenship,’” she insisted.

“We are not for a second class of citizenship in this country,” said Becerra, presaging the Democrats’ likely campaign-trail pitch if the GOP legislators endorse a bill that allows the 11 million illegals to work alongside Americans, but not to vote.

Becerra’s argument was extended even further by Pelosi, who said every additional immigrant “makes America more American.”

Democrats, including Pelosi, say extra immigrants highlight the importance of immigration in America’s collective and cultural life.

Pelosi’s argument reflects the fact that immigrants are far more likely than Americans to support greater levels of government aid, and to vote for Democrats.

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