Politico
Chuck Schumer floats 2017 immigration plan
By Seung Min Kim
2/9/14

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) floated a compromise Sunday intended to break the stalemate on immigration reform on Capitol Hill. It was immediately rejected by House Republicans, but key advocates said it is an option worth considering.

The Gang of Eight leader’s plan: Pass a law this year, but don’t allow it to actually start taking place until 2017 — when President Barack Obama leaves office. That’s meant to target the heart of House GOP resistance to taking up immigration measures this year — that they simply don’t trust Obama to implement the law, particularly provisions on border security and interior enforcement.

“Now I think that the rap against him — that he won’t enforce the law — is false,” Schumer said of Obama on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “He’s deported more people than any other president, but you could actually have the law start in 2017 without doing much violence to it.”

Though GOP complaints about the Obama administration and whether it will enforce any new laws have bubbled for months, those concerns took on new importance when Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said last week that it would be “difficult” to move forward on immigration until the president rebuilds that trust with House Republicans.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel threw some cold water on Schumer’s proposal, calling it “entirely impractical.”

The suggestion “would totally eliminate the president’s incentive to enforce immigration law for the remainder of his term,” Steel said Sunday.

The White House declined to take a position. “We’ve laid out our principles and we are now stepping back to see what, if anything, the House puts forward,” a White House official said.

Sen. Rob Portman, who appeared on “Meet the Press” with Schumer, said he thought Republicans could get on board with the New York Democrat’s idea. Portman voted against the Senate “Gang of Eight” legislation after failing to secure changes to the bill that would have bolstered workplace verification provisions.

“I think some Republicans would be interested in that, if we put in place the enforcement measures so that it would work,” the Ohio Republican said Sunday. “In other words, be sure the border is secure, be sure that you have a workforce enforcement program that works.”

The thinking behind Schumer’s plan is that even if current undocumented immigrants couldn’t become legalized until 2017, the administration could, in the meantime, focus on deporting immigrants who have committed crimes or otherwise would not meet requirements to apply for legalization if such a law were in place.

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