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Despite shift, barriers still impede change to immigration laws

U.S. Border Patrol vehicles
U.S. Border Patrol vehicles operated about 10 miles from Mexico in the Arizona desert.
Ross D. Franklin/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama challenged Congress to "get it done" regarding immigration reform. But Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., says the prospect that a bill will reach the president's desk is "clearly in doubt."

The Senate has already passed a broad measure that includes a 13-year path to citizenship for immigrants who are in the United States illegally. House leaders suggest that they'll consider a path to legal status only after the United States secures its borders.

"Security first, no amnesty, then we might be able to get somewhere," a skeptical Ryan said Sunday on ABC.

Republicans unveiled a set of principles to guide their own reform plan last week. They support a path to legal status, though not to citizenship, and emphasize strict enforcement efforts. Republicans allied with the tea party have rejected the principles as likely to lead toward amnesty.

The Daily Circuit looks at the coming debate over immigration reform.

LEARN MORE ABOUT LIKELY CHANGES TO IMMIGRATION LAW:

• House leaders lay out principles for immigration reform
A Republican blueprint for immigration reform offers legalization for some of the nation's 11 million people who are in the country illegally, but no special pathway to citizenship, except in the cases of children brought to the country illegally by their parents, according to a draft of the plan obtained by the Los Angeles Times. ... The much-anticipated blueprint, discussed Thursday during a Republican retreat at a Chesapeake Bay resort here, would offer legal status to immigrants as long as they admitted to wrongdoing, paid fines and taxes, submitted to a criminal background check and demonstrated a mastery of English and civics. (Los Angeles Times)

• House G.O.P.'s Immigration Plan Presents Tough Choices for Obama
Mr. Obama's comments do not necessarily mean he will compromise, but at the very least they reflect a strategy on the part of the White House and leading Democrats in Congress of seeing where the process goes and giving Republicans room to engage in a real negotiation, rather than simply have the two sides posture on longstanding differences. (New York Times)

• Sen. Marco Rubio: Obama Has Lost All Credibility, No Chance For Immigration Reform While He's In Office
For his part, Rubio said Republicans told him they feared a repeat of President Ronald Reagan's immigration overhaul that gave about 3 million immigrants legal immigration status without following through with corresponding security improvements. (Fox News Latino)