The Senate’s immigration bill takes us a small step closer to a less punitive and more open immigration policy. It legalizes most of the unlawful immigrants here and provides pathways for legal immigration in the future. It’s not a perfect bill – there are flaws such as the $46 billion border surge that just about militarizes the border with technology and fencing (the passing of the  Hoeven-Corker amendment), and mandatory E-Verify for all employers – the result of the political tug-of-war surrounding immigration reform and the “poison pill” that had to be added to attract sufficient Republican votes to pass the bill.

The good news is that it’s a huge “win” on many fronts – to name a few:

1. Path to citizenship for vast majority of the 11 million!!!
2. While in RPI status, immigrants can work, travel and live without fear of deportation
3. Reunification of many families separated by deportation
4. DREAMers will be considered the same as permanent residents during their RPI period for purposes of qualifying for naturalization, with a 5 year path to citizenship
5. DACA recipients will have RPI status expedited
6. Farm workers will get a ‘blue card’ and will be on a 5 year path to citizenship.  A single application may be submitted for a family.
7. Expedited path for those already here in a temporary status
8. Families that have spent years, even decades waiting for their turn in line will finally be reunited
9. Adds spouses and children under 21 of permanent residents to the immediate relative category
10. Immigrants on the path to citizenship can pay fees in installments
11. New temporary worker programs that protects immigrant workers and American labor force
12. The H-1B cap is increased and will float between 115,000 and 180,000 depending on market conditions. The base cap is 115,000.
13. Spouses of H-1B holders will now be able to work
14. The H-1C visa for nurses working in a health professional shortage area returns but is now just 300 for the entire country. Portability is now available allowing H-1C nurses to move more easily between H-1C employers.
15. Future work-visa holders will be able to self-petition for green cards rather than relying on employers to decide whether they can call America home for good
16. Per country limits for employment-based cases are eliminated
17. EB-1 category will not be counted against quota

The House has announced that it will not take up or vote on the the Senate Bill.  “For any legislation — including the conference report — to pass the House it’s going to have to be a bill that has the support of the majority of our members,” Boehner told reporters last Thursday.  Here is a video of the House Speaker.  As Latino Decisions writes in a new analysis, “The Republican Party is at a crucial crossroads.  If House Republicans stall or block immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship to millions of undocumented immigrants, it will be almost impossible for the party to recover on many fronts and to compete nationally for Latino votes.  We shall see how all this progresses and will continue to keep you well informed.

After considering some 200 amendments to the Gang of 8’s immigration bill entitled the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (a/k/a CIR, or Comprehensive Immigration Reform), it survived the Senate Judiciary Committee overhaul and has been introduced onto the floor of the Senate for further debate taking place this month.  It is the goal of the Senate to complete their work on the Bill by the July 4^th recess. On the weekend talk show circuit, Lindsay Graham (S-SC) told conservatives who are trying to block the measure that they will doom the party.  Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., went a step further and predicted “there will never be a road to the White House for the Republican Party if immigration overhaul fails to pass.”

The big question is – will the House of Representatives cooperate and pass a bill?  The theory on this is that the purpose of the legislative process right now is for the House to get a bill passed. It could be a good or bad bill; it just has to be an intact bill because once something makes it through the House, it will go to conference with the Senate and the Committee will compare the two bills and draft a compromise bill that both chambers can accept

The Temperature on Immigration Reform in the House of Representatives:

While many House conservatives agree immigration reform is a critical priority for Congress, they part with President Obama, Senate Democrats, and some in their own party who believe allowing eventual citizenship to those in the country illegally is part of the solution. They vow that they won’t support any bill that adds to the deficit and they want to see a tougher approach to border security and to the benefits issue.

Not only has the federal government consistently increased spending on border enforcement, it has also met the border-security benchmarks laid down in the three immigration-reform bills introduced in the Senate since 2006. Read more on border security here

The GOP insists that newly legalized workers now working in the shadows have no access to government-sponsored health care during their 15-year pathway to citizenship.  Democrats say that since these newly legalized immigrants would be paying taxes (millions already do pay taxes), they should be eligible for benefits.

In the end, both chambers of Congress must eventually pass the identical legislation for the bill to make its way to the President’s desk to become law.  The question is…Will House Republican leadership pass a bill or fail?

White House Official stated to the Daily Caller, “If a Gang of Eight-style bill is signed into law by the President, it will probably be one of the top five legislative accomplishments in the last twenty years.”

For a Summary of S 744 refer here.  Refer here for more on the progress of S. 744 in the Senate, the text of bill, the summary and the proposed amendments.

The House Judiciary Committee markup of the bill starts this week, and will start with SAFE Act (H.R. 2278), a bill to improve the interior enforcement of our immigration laws and strengthen national security and will then take up the AG Act (H.R. 1773), a bill to provide American farmers with a workable temporary agricultural guest worker program that will help provide access to a reliable workforce.  Read more here