A couple of key points:

I thought it was important to run through all this in order to explain what I think the consequences of the Rubio amendment would be. It’s pretty clear to me that the bill’s authors (a group that included Sen. Rubio, in fact) were trying to strike a balance between the practical reality that we need to find a way to legalize the undocumented immigrants that are here (and also, importantly, encourage them to legalize), yet establish some kind of punitive measures against them for coming here illegally in the first place. You can argue about whether that was the right way to balance things—and whether it was tipped too much toward the punitive or towards helping people to integrate—but however you come out on that, I think it’s clear that this was the balancing they were trying to work out. It’s a balance that involves issues of not just fairness and justice but also pragmatic policy concerns—and politics.

And it’s a difficult, delicate balance that can be thrown off easily. The problem with the Rubio amendment, in my opinion, is that it does just that—it pushes the punitive end too far and throws off the pragmatic balance that was struck in the original provision.

If we assume that the experts are correct, and well over half of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country have an English proficiency level below what’s needed to achieve legal residency under this bill, it seems reasonable to assume that a substantial number are well below that level and may not be highly literate in their native language (as is increasingly the case among Spanish-speaking immigrants). I think it’s also reasonable to assume that many of these folks are working in relatively low-paying jobs. And, as discussed above, they are ineligible for federal benefits, like medicaid.

It seems to me that, at the end of the day, for comprehensive immigration reform to be considered a success, we want to have moved most of the undocumented population to legal resident status. It’s legal residents who put down roots, build careers, buy homes, and in most cases, become citizens. I understand that some want it to be a long and difficult pathway for those who came and stayed here illegally, but there’s a point at which you can make it so difficult that it’s no longer feasible for a lot of people. The Senate bill already established a pretty lengthy path. But by requiring absolute English proficiency for LPR status, we’d be moving the goalpost way down the field for many. I know ten years (the earliest one could apply for a green card) seems like a long time, but for those with very limited English, who are working full-time (and remember, most of them will have to be in order to maintain their lawful status under this bill)—in addition to whatever other family responsibilities they may have—it won’t be that easy to carve out the time needed to learn English at that level of proficiency. For many, there will not be a class available, or if there is they will be facing long waiting lists.

As a result, I think Sen. Rubio’s amendment would probably increase the probability that a large proportion of current undocumented people who are living in poverty will stay that way for a longer period. However much you may personally dislike the idea that people in the country speak a language you don’t understand, (which, somehow, other well-off democratic societies seem to manage reasonably well), it’s hard to understand the wisdom of setting up a legalization process that is going to likely confine millions of people to a life where they can’t get ahead.

As I wrote earlier this week, reasonable people could argue that the “course of study” langauge in the bill was too vague (I think it was fine, but that’s just my opinion). If that’s the case, the solution is to work to improve the language—perhaps there are more rigorous standards that could be written into the law, for example. But lopping it off completely is applying a blunt instrument where fine-tuning is needed. And frankly, I don’t get why it makes sense even from a political perspective. The “English only” crowd should be pleased with this bill as it stands, because it requires people to at least be learning English in order to become a legal resident—a requirement that has never before existed for those seeking a green card.

Again, if you don’t like this amendment, today is the day to call your Senator.