Path to citizenship

Beto O'Rourke proposes immigration overhaul, path to citizenship

By DAVID SIDERS

Beto O’Rourke on Wednesday proposed a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s immigration system, including a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants and a $5 billion investment in Central America.

In his proposal, O’Rourke said he would take executive action on his first day in office to end family separations at the border, rescind travel bans, reunite families and “remove the fear of deportation” for younger immigrants known as Dreamers and people with temporary protected status.

The plan formalizes and builds on proposals O’Rourke has made while campaigning — and in the months before he entered the presidential race, when the former Texas congressman placed immigration at the center of his political agenda. Early on, however, he was criticized for putting few specifics behind his immigration ideas.

If elected, O’Rourke pledged to halt work on the U.S.-Mexico border wall and require detention only for people with criminal backgrounds who “represent a danger to our communities.” He said he would increase immigration court staff, including deploying as many as 2,000 lawyers to the border, while also hiring and assigning additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees to land crossings along the border.

Like other Democrats, O’Rourke said he would work with Congress to enact legislation creating a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. He said he would make naturalization easier by making the process free for anyone who meets the requirements for citizenship. And he proposed raising visa caps and establishing a new visa category, allowing communities and congregations to sponsor visas.

A native of the border city of El Paso, Texas, O’Rourke has long called on the United States to shift its foreign policy focus to the Western Hemisphere.

He said Wednesday that he would invest $5 billion in Central America, primarily through non-government organizations, community groups, congregations and public-private partnerships, “to fight violence and poverty while bolstering our shared security and prosperity.”

“This innovative plan overcomes a generation of inaction to finally rewrite our immigration laws in our own image -- reflecting our values, the reality of the border, the best interests of our communities, and the longstanding traditions of a country comprised of families from the world over," O'Rourke said in a prepared statement.