The second-ranking United States (US) Senate Republican John Cornyn unveiled a proposal to significantly tighten security on the US-Mexico border prior to giving undocumented workers legal status in a broad immigration bill being considered in the Senate.
The proposal from Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who sceptically views the bill that would grant legal status to some 11 million undocumented immigrants, would require the US Homeland Security to have surveillance over the entire US-Mexico border and meet a benchmark of apprehending at least 90 percent of people trying to cross the border illegally.
Cornyn argues that achievement of the benchmarks of the plan ought to follow giving permanent legal status to undocumented immigrants. Many immigrants’ rights groups oppose such provisions, saying they would erode the path to citizenship, which lies at the heart of the bill.
Cornyn’s amendment would also expand the use of biometric equipment to track foreigners leaving the country.
As Cornyn outlined his amendment in an opinion piece in the Dallas Morning News on Wednesday, he said the immigration bill had “some positives” but that its border security provisions ran the risk of amounting to “meaningless promises.”
The bill before the Senate would authorise billions of dollars in new expenditure on border security and would revamp visa programs, allowing employers to hire more high- and low-skilled workers from abroad.
An aide to Florida Senator Marco Rubio, one of the bill’s authors, said Rubio’s staff had been “working closely with Cornyn’s office” on parts of the amendment, for weeks. Rubio, who is popular with the conservative tea party movement, is playing a lead role in courting Republican votes for the immigration bill.
Rubio was among several Senate Republicans who were scheduled to meet on Wednesday with conservative House of Representatives Republicans to discuss the immigration issue.
The comprehensive immigration bill is expected to face its biggest challenge in the Republican-led House, where many conservatives view the provision to grant legal status to undocumented immigrants as amnesty to people who broke the law.
