Updated at bottom with statement from Immigration Equality.
One day before President Barack Obama is to announce his plans for reforming the nation’s immigration laws, a bipartisan package of reforms is gaining momentum on Capitol Hill.
The deal, which was to be announced at a news conference Monday afternoon, covers border security, guest workers and employer verification, as well as a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the United States.
Although thorny details remain to be negotiated and success is far from certain, the development heralds the start of what could be the most significant effort in years toward overhauling the nation’s inefficient patchwork of immigration laws. ….
The eight senators expected to endorse the new principles Monday are Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado; and Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida and Jeff Flake of Arizona.
ABC News has further details in a presentation made by the senators themselves.
Think Progress has “everything you need to know” about the proposal, and Reuters says Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid backs the plan.
Mother Jones offers a critical look.
The Episcopal Church has long supported immigration reform, and strengthened that stand at the 2012 General Convention, passing resolutions D059 on halting unjust immigration reform and D011 on refomring inequalities in immigration law.
Update: Immigration Equality released a statement that began:
This morning, a bipartisan group of Senators issued a framework for comprehensive immigration reform. The framework, which is the starting point for fixing our country’s broken immigration system, does not include explicit mention of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) binational families. Immigration Equality is exceptionally disappointed the Senators’ framework did not specifically outline a solution for keeping our families together.
Earlier this year, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus released their own priorities for immigration reform, and LGBT families were #2 on the CHC list. Just last week, the White House issued its strongest statement yet in support of our families, noting that the President “has long believed that Americans with same-sex partners from other countries should not be faced with the painful choice between staying with the person they love or staying in the country they love, and he welcomes changes that would help keep families together.”