House lawmaker: Simple path to citizenship unlikely

WASHINGTON -- The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Sunday that any attempt at comprehensive immigration legislation cannot offer a "special pathway to citizenship" for those in the United States illegally.

With last week's Senate passage of a comprehensive immigration bill, the emotionally heated and politically perilous debate is now heading toward the Republican-led House, where conservative incumbents could face primary challenges if they appear too lenient on the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Virginia Republican who leads the Judiciary Committee, said he does not foresee a proposal that could provide a simple mechanism for immigrants here illegally to earn full standing as U.S. citizens, as many Democrats have demanded. Goodlatte's committee members have been working on bills that address individual concerns but have not written a comprehensive proposal to match the Senate's effort.

The House answer would not be "a special pathway to citizenship where people who are here unlawfully get something that people who have worked for decades to immigrate lawfully do not have," he said. A pathway to legal standing, similar to immigrants who have green cards, could be an option, he said.

That approach, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, would bring electoral doom for Republicans looking to take back the White House after the 2016 elections.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has ruled out taking up the Senate bill and said the Republican-controlled chamber would chart its own version of the legislation with a focus on border security.