Gutiérrez: Obama plan will include two-year work permits

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) said late Tuesday that he thinks President Obama’s executive action on immigration will grant two-year work permits and require those who apply to have American citizen children. 

“I think, Bill, the president is going to choose between five and 10 years, that is that you have to be in the United States for five to 10 years, and you have to be working here, and you are going to pay for [a] background check,” Gutiérrez said on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor.” “You’re going to submit your fingerprints and if they come back clear, he is going to give you a work authorization for two years and a Social Security card. He’s going to put you on the books paying taxes.”

Gutiérrez, a leading proponent of immigration reform, also gave details that would confirm a Bloomberg report on Tuesday that immigrants would need to have American citizen children in order to qualify.

“And I think he is going to include that, before you can submit for an application, you have to have American citizen children, that is, you have to have roots in America,” Gutiérrez said. 

He said that would cover about 3 million people, but there would also be measures for agricultural workers and high-tech workers. 

Gutiérrez, who has long pressed the administration for action, had indicated on Monday that he had inside knowledge of the upcoming plan, which is expected as early as this week. 

“I know that it’s going to be big, and it’s going to be bold,” he said then, when asked on MSNBC if the White House had been in touch with him. “I don’t want to say more than that.”

The administration has also begun briefing immigration activists, The Hill reported Tuesday, and preparing them for the upcoming announcement.