Immigration Reform 2013: US Warns Migrants That Crossers Won't Qualify for Reform Laws

On Wednesday, the United States issued a warning to migrants thinking of crossing the border into the U.S. that they will not qualify for any U.S. immigration reform laws. 

The Senate-passed reform bill provides a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, but only covers people who entered the United States prior to Dec. 30, 2011, The Associated Press reports. 

House GOP members rejected the Senate bill and may pass piecemeal reform measures, which have the possibility of being even less generous than the Senate-passed bill. 

Alan Bersin, the assistant secretary of international affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, said he is unsure whether immigrant smugglers, who are known as "coyotes," are encouraging people to cross the border before reform is passed. He said that smugglers are not above such tactics. 

"It seems to me that it is supremely important that people who are crossing, or trying to cross ... they have to realize they will have no right to take advantage of any immigration reform law that gets passed," Bersin said at a news conference.

Edgar Ramirez, the DHS attache at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, said migrants should not believe the false promises of the "coyotes."

"If some person they know, some 'coyote,' makes them a promise that if they go, they'll be eligible for a U.S. immigration reform, that's a false promise," Ramirez said.

Some lawmakers in the U.S. have feared that immigration reform could prompt an influx of migrants to cross the border, thinking they will qualify for the new law. 

However, Bersin said his office hasn't seen a surge in illegal crossing attempts in the months since the Senate passed the reform bill. 

He said crossing the border has become increasingly risky due to heightened border security. He said it is also "practically impossible to cross without a coyote," whose fees have become prohibitively expensive for illegal crossers. 

Smugglers' fees have risen to between $3,000 and $10,000 for migrants from Central America, who make up 70 percent of those trying to cross the border from Mexico, which far surpasses the number of Mexicans trying to cross. 

DHS authorities have also found that more unaccompanied children who are trying to cross the border.