Menendez Signs On to Immigration Reform Plan

Eight senior U.S. senators have come up with a bipartisan immigration reform plan, reported Politico.com early Monday morning, that they plan to unveil later today.

NJ Sen. Robert Menendez (D), a longtime advocate for changes in immigration law, is on the panel of eight senators from both parties who came up with the sweeping changes.

The plan, Politico said, will overhaul the current immigration system as well as provide an alternate route to citizenship for the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.

The blueprint is "most serious bipartisan effort to act on the highly charged issue since George W. Bush’s comprehensive measure was defeated in the Senate in 2007," Politico said.

The senators' proposal would only come into play after stricter enforcement measures were enacted to ensure American employers were hiring workers here legally.

The plan includes a different gateway for citizenship for adults who were brought here illegally as children, and for agricultural workers, Politico said. The preliminary details also hints that illegals will not be able to "jump the line" ahead of immigrants who have patiently waited their turn to immigrate to the United States.

Menendez, a Democratic senator who is slated to become chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, was joined by fellow Democrats Sens. Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin and Michael Bennet. The Republicans who supported the immigration reform proposal are Sens. John McCain, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake, Politico said.