Republican Paul Ryan, who has been among those at the forefront of the push for immigration reform, has joined with many other politicians in admitting that there is no chance of immigration reform happening this year.
John Boehner, the speaker of the House, has already said that immigration reform will not be happening in 2014, which prompted President Obama to declare that he will take executive action to pass the more pressing aspects of the bill. Ryan, who is the US Representative for Wisconsin, is now confirming that immigration reform is not on the docket of the House of Representatives for the remainder of the legislative term this year. He told National Review Online that Republicans want Congress to focus on the increasing problem of protecting the US border in the wake of the mass influx of unaccompanied immigrant minors pouring into the country from Central America.
Ryan says that he would deal with the new immigrants and the 11 million undocumented immigrants already living in the United States by giving them a probationary period during which they would be able to earn a work permit. They would pay a fine for illegally entering the country and have to learn English and pass a criminal background check before starting on a path to US citizenship.
Ryan is also arguing for the guest worker program to be improved, which is as near as legal immigration has come to the forefront of the debate recently. The guest worker program is largely focused on fixing illegal immigration.