Legal immigration snarled now; fear is, reform may crush system

By CLAUDINE LoMONACO
Tucson Citizen

While the national debate around immigration reform has focused on the estimated 12 million people in the country illegally, those waiting to enter the country legally, such as Urquilla's children, face years of waiting.

Their situation raises a key question: How would the nation's immigration system handle millions of additional applications should Congress pass comprehensive immigration reform allowing illegal immigrants already here and foreign workers to apply for work permits and eventually citizenship?

The Senate this week resumes work on just such a plan.

Critics and supporters of immigration reform alike worry that those changes would overwhelm U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which inspects and approves applications.