Immigration System: Bipartisan Group

Political Issue Dept: The famously snarled immigration system turned into a top political issue after Hispanics voted strongly last year to help give President Barack Obama a second term. Opposition Republicans have been struggling ever since to find ways to shift from a white, aging, conservative image that continues to slip away from mainstream demographics, according to Montreal Gazette. The bipartisan group's legislation would install new criteria for border security, allow more high- and low-skilled workers to come to the U.S. and hold businesses to tougher standards on verifying their workers are in the country legally, according to outside groups and lawmakers involved and WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of influential U.S. senators is nearing agreement on a comprehensive immigration bill that would put the country's 11 million illegal immigrants on a 13-year path to citizenship, officials with outside groups keeping up with the talks said. Their plan represents the most sweeping changes in immigration law in decades. With both top political parties focused on the issue, immigration overhaul faces its best prospects in years. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.