Duffy: House has a plan to reform immigration, student loans - Page 4

Listen, after being undocumented for almost two decades of my life, I will be happy with a work visa and being able to travel. I definitely agree that this is about as good as we probably will get considering the climate.

Nonetheless, I don't think people are looking at this issue long term because there is a true concern of creating a class of second class citizens if you take citizenship or permanent residency off of the table.

That's an incredibly real possibility and we have to be EXTREMELY careful when it comes to examining the legislation because at the end of the day, we might still have a situation not that much different to what we're seeing now (i.e people getting exploited because of their legal status). The circumstances may change as to how this is done, but don't take this issue for granted.

It's not about citizenship per se, but having some type of legal protection.

Either way guys, just so you know that it doesn't matter wha they put out Obama has already said he will veto anything without a path so I don't know why you guys are becoming accepting of this.. If they do come up with a bill without a path Obama will veto, so by us giving into a bill without a path is basically us killing it.. I hope everyone is calling the house cause I have.. It's literally a bill with citizen or nothing regardless of what you'll accept.

That's a bit short sighted though. All it's going to take is a few more election cycles to get a more friendly congress. In the meanwhile, having legal status could completely change people's lives, including mine.

You're right. If they can give us a legal status of some sort, then it wouldn't make sense to leave as that or revoke it later on. The idea here is to move forward.

There's a good chance that we could get an immigration bill that only provides pathways to citizenship through existing channels, such as marriage to a citizen or sponsorship by either a relative or an employer. The Dreamers will probably be allowed to apply for citizenship like other permanent residents. Personally, I think that's good enough at this stage. Even the path to citizenship in the Senate immigration bill wouldn't lead to the creation of any new U.S. citizens until 2026. However, the end goal always should be providing citizenship opportunities for every undocumented immigrant who qualifies for legalization. Democrats will almost surely control the whole federal government at some point between now and then, so this isn't the last or the best chance for getting citizenship included.