Assahafa.com
A group of House Democrats is unveiling their own plan for border security and immigration reform, another sign the left is gradually growing to embrace discussions of how to solve the U.S. migrant crisis.
The New Democrat Coalition, a caucus of nearly 100 lawmakers that bills itself as “center-left,” revealed a framework that called for increased manpower at the southern border and within immigration courts, as well as more pathways for legal residency and citizenship for workers, “Dreamers” and others.
Among other measures, the plan would permanently authorize a program to allow international medical students studying in the U.S. to legally stay in the country after completing their degrees. It would also expand legal pathways for migrant farmworkers and establish a new non-immigrant work visa category for U.S. industries experiencing personnel shortages.
It also would include a legal pathway for people who came here illegally but have been working and paying taxes for at least five years, provided they pay a fine and pass a criminal background check.
On the enforcement front, the plan called for increasing the number of border agents at ports of entry by at least 500 and increasing some Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers’ pay.
The Democrat framework would also create an independent judiciary system for immigration courts and increase the number of judges to cut down on the current backlog of cases.
Source: foxnews
