Amnesty is a general pardon for a previous crime. By contrast. this reform plan includes serious consequences for those who remain in our country illegally. Under the committee bill. an illegal immigrant faces an immediate $1.000 fine. a security background check. application for a work visa. and an 11year path to citizenship. Most immigrants who apply for citizenship now achieve that in 5 to 6 years. After staying continuously employed for 6 years. paying all back taxes. learning Englishas my colleague from Oklahoma has expressed as being a very important part of this--learning U.S. history and government. and paying another $1.000 fine in application costs. the worker could then apply for a green card and legalization. That is not going to the front of the line. but it is going to the end of the line after those who have already chosen a legal path to begin with. Their green card application. as I said. will go to the back of the line behind all the legal applicants who are waiting for those green cards. Finally. this path is only available to the illegal immigrants who were here before January of This does not sound like amnesty to me. It sounds like a challenge but a challenge that presents excellent rewards instead of the dire consequences we would suffer if we took an irrational reaction to this enormous problem that is growing in our Nation. The other path for an illegal immigrant would be to continue trying to hide. But now. under increased enforcement measures and stiffer penalties as we have seen that we would put into place under this bill. I believe the majority of the people who have come here illegally but came to make a better life for themselves. will emerge from those shadows to become legal residents of their communities. to engage in what we came here to seek. because we have provided for them a pathway to become legal.
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