英语访谈节目:8位参议员最后调整移民改革法案细节

BRIAN BENNETT:This has.

So, one of the main things that the senators wanted to tackle in this bill was, how do you manage the future flow of immigrants so that you don't have as much pressure on the border of people wanting to come over illegally to find work? And so they have created a couple of work visa programs in the bill.

And one is for farmworkers. Over 50 percent of farmworkers in the United States came here illegally or overstayed their visas. And the bill would create a new visa system that would allow farmers to hire farmworkers from overseas.

Also, for the farmworkers who are already here, they would have a—if they stayed in agriculture work, they would have an expedited path to legal—to get a green card. And then when it comes to low-skilled workers, people like housekeepers, meat-packers, janitors, there's another new visa program that would be established as well to accommodate work shortages here in the United States.

GWEN IFILL:And that's different from the highly educated workers who the tech companies have been agitating to allow more of them in the country, right?

BRIAN BENNETT:And then there are also provisions in the bill to bring in more tech workers.

So, it would approximately double the number of slots that are currently available for high-skilled workers to try to satisfy the needs of Silicon Valley and other tech companies that want to hire more workers with advanced degrees.

GWEN IFILL:So, let's go back to the border security issue. That's been one thing that everybody, at least rhetorically, agrees about, that there ought to be, if not higher fences, at least higher enforcement along—tougher enforcement along the border.

Is that something which is now settled?

BRIAN BENNETT:It is essentially settled for this group of senators. We will see what happens when they roll it out to the other 92 senators in the Senate.

But this group of senators has decided that they have come up with a solution for border security and that they feel will help secure the border and prevent illegal immigrants from crossing in the coming years.

And what it essentially does is increases dramatically the amount of surveillance on the border and tries to get to a point where border security can respond to people crossing the border in a very quick way.

GWEN IFILL:Isn't there some disagreement at this point about how severe a problem it really is at this point?

BRIAN BENNETT:There is.

The White House and the Obama administration says that the border is more secure than it's been in 40 years and that spending more money on border security is not really necessary. And their also -- their follow-on point would be that by creating a legalization program and also by creating a way for people to come legally into the U.S. to work, that you take some of the pressure off the border.

And, you know, that said, there's been frustration among people who have seen these efforts go before without really trying to clamp down on the border and create a legalization program.

GWEN IFILL:And, Brian, what also feels different this time is we have gotten used to seeing rallies like the one we saw on Capitol Hill today with the same usual suspects saying it's time for immigration reform.

But it feels like this time like other people are on that bandwagon, including members of the larger faith community.

BRIAN BENNETT:The political environment is a lot different than it was, say, in 2007, the last time Congress took up an effort to overhaul the nation's immigration laws.

Right now, we have evangelical leaders who have signed on and said, look, there's a religious imperative to embrace the stranger and to reach out and help people who are in our community. And, on the Republican side, you have what they call a coalition of Bibles, badges and business. You have faith leaders. You also have law enforcement leaders, attorney general from the states, and other sheriffs, and business leaders who are saying, look, it's time to come—our system is broken. It's time to come and fix the system.

So, on the Republican side, they're getting pressure from some of these core constituents to come up with a solution.

GWEN IFILL:And is it fair to say, after seeing his kind of tour de force on the Sunday talk shows yesterday, that Sen. Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican, is the face of this? Or are there other—is there other agitation going on, especially over in the House?

BRIAN BENNETT:So, Marco Rubio is seen as essential to presenting this bill to conservative members of the Republican Caucus, because here's Marco Rubio. He was elected to his Senate seat in 2010 on a wave of Tea Party support.

And we will see if he's successful at trying to bring a lot of the conservatives in the Republican Caucus along board. There's a big hurdle in the House going forward. And the effort in the Senate is to try to get a bill passed with a lot of bipartisan votes to try to put pressure on the House to come up with either their own bill or to take up the Senate version.

GWEN IFILL:Which some members of the House are working on, I gather?

BRIAN BENNETT:That's right. So, there are about eight members of the House, four from each party, that have been working for several months on drafting their own legislation.

And that bill, they're going to take a look at what the Senate came up with, and they may present their own version of an immigration overhaul in the coming weeks.

GWEN IFILL:OK. Brian Bennett of the L.A. Times, we know you will be watching, and we will too.

BRIAN BENNETT:Happy to be on. Thanks.

GWEN IFILL:Online, we're kicking off a week of conversations on the evolving immigration debate. First up, Hari Sreenivasan talks to Shawn Moran of the National Border Patrol Council.