Senate Gang of Eight reveals details of immigration reform plan - The Hill

Senate Gang of Eight reveals details of immigration reform plan - The Hill

The Senate’s Gang of Eight on Tuesday released the details of a broad agreement to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws.

The legislation would give provisional legal status to an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants and put them on a pathway to citizenship, but only after several criteria for securing the U.S.-Mexico border are met.

It sets goals of persistent surveillance in high-risk areas — where more than 30,000 individuals are apprehended trying to enter the country illegally per year — along the southern border and a 90 percent success rate for stopping crossings in those sectors.

It would provide funding for 3,500 additional customs agents nationwide and authorize the deployment of the National Guard to the border to construct fencing and augment surveillance systems.

Illegal immigrants would not receive provisional legal status until the Secretary of Homeland Security submits to Congress a “notice of commencement” testifying to the completion of the bill’s border-security goals.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/294085-senates-gang-of-eight-reveals-details-of-immigration-plan#ixzz2QePsPBOg 
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