WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker John Boehner says it would be difficult for Congress to tackle Sen. Marco Rubio's immigration bill this year.
At his weekly news conference Thursday, Boehner said the current political environment is hostile and taking on the divisive issue of immigration would be hard. Boehner said he had spoken to the Florida senator about his still-evolving bill.
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, is working on legislation that would permit young illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. with their parents to apply for non-immigrant visas. They would be allowed to stay to study or work and obtain a driver's license but would not be able to vote. They later could apply for residency, but they would not have a special path to citizenship.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.