Sitting against a looming white tower of washing machines, amongst the low rumble of dryers, Gaby tells me her story. Her left hand clings to her mop. Her soft voice seems to thread under the low steady rumble of the nearby dryers.
Every now and then she momentarily reclines her head against the wooden stick of the mop. It seems to have become a twisted paradoxical representation of her salvation and her disillusionment.
The more Gaby talks, the more she seems to become the laundry room she cleans every day. Her hands, like the grooves of the washing machine have twisted over each other. Her voice, like the rumble of the dryer has fallen. Her eyes, like the long gray tresses of the mop have become wet.
“They denied my husband residency and he had to stay in Juarez. It’s really hard,” she continues, “when one is over here and the other is over there.”
Her head rises from its resting spot on the wooden handle of the mop; she looks away into the window at the passing legs of strangers then turns and looks into my eyes “Years have passed already and nothing happens, there is no immigration reform, who knows when…I’ll have wait another four, five, six years. I don’t know.”Gaby is a citizen of the US. She tried sponsoring her husband for a greencart after years of him leaving undocumented in the US. He is one of 1.5 million undocumented immigrants that have been deported under the current immigration system. He’s also one of 1.5 million that could potentially return to the US and receive lawful status through a comprehensive immigration bill that has already passed the senate in June by a vote of 68-32.
The comprehensive bi-partisan bill S.744 known as The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act was written by a group of eight bi-partisan senators known as the Gang of 8 and was introduced by Senator Charles Schumer.
The senate bill would allow undocumented immigrants to gain legal status by applying to become a Registered Provisional Immigrant. Spouses or children of RPI would also be eligible to apply.
The requisites to becoming an RPI are to have been in the US since December 31 2011, pay a 1,000 penalty and other processing fees, have not been convicted of a felony or other misdemeanors and pass background checks, among other requirements. RPI’s would not be eligible for federal means tested programs such as Medicaid and Food Stamps.RPI status would last six years and can be renewed if the person shows evidence of continuous employment. After ten years of having RPI status a person could apply to become a permanent resident and receive a green card. After a minimum of three years of having a green card a person could apply for citizenship. This would mean an RPI would have to wait a minimum of 13 years before obtaining citizenship.
S.744 includes a version of the DREAM act. DREAMers would be able to receive their green card after five years rather than 10.
To qualify as a DREAMer an applicant must have to had entered the US before he or she was sixteen, earned a high school diploma or GED, completed two years of college or four years of military service, have passed a English test and background checks, among other requirements.
In terms of family based immigration, spouses and children of lawful permanent residents would be removed from current visa caps an immediately be eligible to apply for green cards. The senate bill would also indoctrinate a legal pathway for agricultural workers and a merit track based system for current and future visa holders.
In contrast to other immigration bills, the senate bill focuses on integrating immigrants into society through civic engagement, language acquisition and economic mobility.
If the senate bill were to become law a set of “triggers” of the Border Security section of S.744 would have to go into effect before undocumented immigrants could apply to become RPI’s. Those triggers include over $30 million in mandatory border spending, deploying 34, 405 Border Patrol Agents, 700 miles of fencing, and 24-hour surveillance of the border, among others.
Only a few days after Gaby’s lamentation for the lack of passage in immigration reform the President of the United States delivered a speech to a group of immigrant activists in which he called for Republicans in the House to pass the Senate bi-partisan bill.
“It’s not going to pass, the Republicans have the solid majority in the House, there are parts of the bill they already said they wouldn’t vote for” said Richard Gutierrez, Political Science professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.
If the House were to vote on the Senate bi-partisan bill it would not be in a comprehensive form “they might want to take it apart” said a Legislative Intern from Senator Charles Schumer’s office.
However, the House has introduced and altered version of S.744, also known as the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization act or H.R 15.
H.R 15 is based on S.744 after it passed the Judiciary committee. It includes six amendments and replaces the Corker-Hoeven amendment with the bi-partisan House border security bill H.R 1417, better known as the McCaull bill.
The McCaull bill is more focused on measured approaches that require extensive reporting from the Department of Homeland security rather than mandatory spending. However, the McCaull is a stand-alone bill and does not carry the same “triggers” the Senate bill does.
Currently the House bill has been referred to the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee.
Amidst skepticism of the House voting on S.744 National grassroots movements are not deterring in their efforts to getting the Senate bi-partisan bill passed.
“Our plan is to push elected officials to look at the bi-partisan effort and push Boehner to have a vote on the House floors… Polls show Americans support a path to citizenship on a 2:1 margin,” said Soñia Troche, Texas Regional Director of the National Council La Raza. “We want to get families on a path of citizenship, get them re-united.
If the efforts like the ones NCLA are pushing for are successful, Gaby could be and her family could potentially be re-united with her husband.
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