GOP to release principles, moving immigration reform debate forward

As many in the Los Angeles immigration community know, the fight for a new path to citizenship has been at a stalemate for what many consider to be far too long. However, the recent nation-wide show of support may have given the issue the prompting that it needs to be set into motion again.

A team of GOP members have recently begun coordinating in order to write up a draft to address the immigration reform issues that they have been avoiding for months. In this draft, which is expected to be released within the next few weeks, there will be an attempt to gather and write down the GOP’s basic stand and “principles” regarding reform. The process has already reportedly been ongoing for several weeks.

It is largely speculated that this recent push to address immigration reform related issues is due in part because of the looming 2016 presidential election. Due to the amount of influence that the Latino population in particular has on the vote, many in the GOP correlate a stronger stance on immigration with more support from the populations heavily tied to immigration. It is believed, however, that the GOP will maintain a narrower focus that may not address as many issues as reform-seekers might like.

Though this is good news in the long term, many immigrants have issues that need to be dealt with in the short term. To those who are in such a position, seeking legal aid from an attorney may be very helpful.

Source: Los Angeles Times, “House GOP writing ‘principles’ for immigration reform”, Lisa Mascaro and Brian Bennett, Jan. 8, 2014