Kevin McCarthy backs path to legal status
The third-ranking House Republican is offering support for a path to legal status that would allow millions of undocumented immigrants in the country to work and pay their taxes.
In a new interview published late Tuesday, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) hinted that those contours of legal status may be included in the immigration principles that House GOP leaders are poised to soon release.
“The principles aren’t combined or written out yet, but in my personal belief, I think you’ll go with legal status,” McCarthy told KBAK/KBFX Eyewitness News in Bakersfield, Calif. “That it will allow you to work [and] pay your taxes.”
McCarthy has expressed support for legal status before, but his comments take on renewed significance with the imminent release of immigration reform principles from House Republicans.
The document is expected to call for an uptick in border security and interior enforcement measures, a worker verification program for employers and earned legal status for the millions who are living in the country illegally – as well as key visa reforms and a system that will help track legal immigrants in the United States.
The principles will also state that immigration reform will be conducted on a piecemeal basis – broken up into several different bills, rather than the sweeping comprehensive legislation passed by the Senate last year.
As a top House Republican who represents a district with a wide swath of Latino residents and agricultural workers, McCarthy has faced significant pressure from immigration reform advocates to move on the issue.
McCarthy said he opposes an explicit pathway to citizenship, according to the Bakersfield news outlet. The Senate’s bill establishes a minimum 13-year pathway to citizenship for millions of qualifying undocumented immigrants, but many Republicans have said they oppose building a separate – or a “special” – track for those currently in the country illegally.
Instead, one proposal that has been discussed in the Capitol for months is legalizing current undocumented immigrants, and having them apply for citizenship through existing channels – such as family or employer sponsorship.