Schumer sees deal this week on immigration

WASHINGTON (AP):

A key Democratic senator said yesterday he's hoping for a bipartisan deal by the end of this week on a sweeping immigration reform bill to secure the US border and allow eventual citizenship to the estimated 11 million people living here illegally.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, who is leading a bipartisan group of senators known as the Gang of Eight that has been working to draft immigration legislation, expressed optimism that an agreement was within reach.

"All of us have said that there will be no agreement until the eight of us agree to a big, specific bill, but hopefully we can get that done by the end of the week," said Schumer. "That's what we're on track to do."

In a bitterly divided Congress, the immigration bill appears to be one of the few major pieces of legislation that is likely to receive bipartisan support and become law. Republicans have become more open to immigration legislation since last November's election loss. President Barack Obama received about 70 per cent of the Latino vote after Republican candidates took an increasingly harsh stance on illegal immigration. Republicans risk faring poorly in future national and state elections unless they can increase their share of the Latino vote, a growing demographic within the US electorate.