An obscure portion of the new immigration bill authored and negotiated by the bipartisan so-called “Gang of 8″ will allow illegal aliens with multiple misdemeanor convictions to still qualify for immediate legal status and potentially even citizenship down the road.
According to the pertinent portion of the text, those with three or more misdemeanor convictions no longer qualify for immediate legalized status under the new bill. Grounds for ineligibility status include anyone with one or more felony convictions along with three or more misdemeanor convictions. As the text states, only those with “3 or more misdemeanor offense (other than minor traffic offenses or State or local offenses for which an essential element was the alien’s immigration status or violation of this Act) if the alien was convicted on different dates for each of the 3 offenses” will be ineligible.