Schumer: immigration bill by Labor Day, promises policy restoration

July 9, 5:36 PMLA Border and Immigration ExaminerAurelia Fierros

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Wednesday’s declarations of Sen. Chuck Schumer about introducing an immigration initiative to the Senate -presumably by Labor Day, is now the most tangible possibility of having an immigration policy restoration before the year ends, but also the preamble to a very intense debate.

"I think we'll have a good bill by Labor Day (…) I think the fundamental building blocks are in place to do comprehensive immigration reform," said the Democrat Senator from New York.

Immigration reform has been an unresolved matter inherited from one presidential term to another, mainly -and beyond mere ideology; due to the complex moral and legal issues surrounding the discussion of this policy, said to be broken; but it is at the same time, the one issue that touches the rawest of conservative and liberal nerves.

Sen. Chuck Schumer revealed to The Associated Press this new proposal would give preference to highly skilled immigrant workers and would set a very strong approach on illegal immigration. The challenge is now to equilibrate divergences between labor and business interests pertaining to the selection and eligibility of foreign skilled workers.

"We have a shortage maybe of engineers here or Ph.D's in physics, but we probably don't have a shortage of people who can do construction work," Schumer specified.

Self-declared as pro-immigration advocate, Schumer said the United States should offer a path to legal citizenship to those already living in the U.S., a population calculated in 12 million.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano had announced earlier Wednesday, that the Social Security No-Match Rule will be rescinded in favor of the E-Verify program, which will require of full compliance by September 8, this year.

The new announced proposition would seek to legalize those eligible within 12 million undocumented aliens and reduce future illegal immigration by strengthening border enforcement, prosecuting and penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants, and implementing a modernized national system for legal status verification of new workers. Huge controversy is imminent. Parties on both sides of the issue are preparing for what is expected to be an intense debate over how to refurbish the U.S. immigration system.