Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007

The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, or, in its full name, the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1348) was a bill discussed in the 110th United States Congress that would have provided legal status and a path to legal citizenship for the approximately 12-20 million (by some counts) illegal aliens currently residing in the United States, and provided them with what critics referred to as "amnesty". It also had provisions for increasing border security, increasing monitoring of immigrants, and allowing more guest workers into the country, among others. The bill was introduced in the United States Senate on May 9, 2007, but was never voted on, though a series of votes on amendments and cloture took place. The last vote on cloture, on June 28, failed 46-53, effectively ending the bill's chances.

Legislative history

The bill was a compromise based largely on three previous failed immigration bills:

* the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (S. 1033), a bill proposed in May 2005 by Senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain, sometimes referred to as the "McCain-Kennedy Bill"
* the Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act of 2005 (S. 1438), a bill proposed in July 2005 by Senators John Cornyn and Jon Kyl, sometimes referred to as the "Cornyn-Kyl Bill"
* the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S. 2611), sponsored by Senator Arlen Specter, which was passed in the Senate in May 2006 but never passed in the House

The bill's sole sponsor in the Senate was Majority Leader Harry Reid, though it was crafted in large part as a result of efforts by Senators Kennedy, McCain and Kyl, along with Senator Lindsey Graham, and input from President George W. Bush, who strongly supported the bill. For that reason it was referred to in the press by various combinations of these five men's names, most commonly "Kennedy-Kyl". A larger group of senators was involved in creating the bill, sometimes referred to as the 'Gang of 12'. This group included, in addition to the aforementioned senators, Senators Dianne Feinstein, Mel Martinez, Ken Salazar and Arlen Specter.
At the same time, the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007 was being considered in the United States House of Representatives, although to considerably less public attention.
On June 7, three Senate votes on cloture (a move to end discussion) for the bill failed, the first losing 33-63, the second losing 34-61 and the third losing 45-50. This had been thought by some observers to signal the end of the bill's chances, since on that day, after the first failing vote, Harry Reid had told reporters that, if another vote on cloture failed, "the bill's over with. The bill's gone."
However, at the urging of President Bush, the bill was brought back for discussion in the Senate on June 25. On June 26, a motion to proceed passed the Senate, by a margin of 64-35 (under Senate rules it needed 60 votes). A number of amendments to the bill were considered and rejected. Throughout this process there was heavy pressure from talk radio broadcasters and listeners, bloggers, and citizens opposed to the bill; no equivalent popular passion existed on the supporting side. So many opponents contacted senators that both the Senate's Internet server and phone system crashed at different times. On June 28, the bill failed to get the 60 votes necessary to end debate. The final cloture vote lost 46-53. This effectively ended its chances, and President Bush said he was disappointed at Congress's failure to act on the issue.

Changes to immigration policy

The bill would have created a new class of visa, the "Z visa", that would be given to everyone who was living illegally in the United States on Jan. 1, 2007; this visa would give its holder the legal right to remain in the United States for the rest of their life, and access to a Social Security number. After eight years, the holder of a Z visa would be eligible for a United States Permanent Resident Card (a "green card") if they wanted to have one; they would first have to pay a $2000 fine, and back taxes for some of the period in which they worked. By the normal rules of green cards, five years after that the immigrant could begin the process of becoming a U.S. citizen.
The bill would have required such an immigrant to be in their home country when they apply for their green card.
The bill would have also ended so-called "chain migration", in which an immigrant who becomes a U.S. citizen can ease the process by which their relatives from outside the country can get green cards. Under the bill, only the spouse and children of a new citizen would be made eligible for green cards.

Guest worker program

Another new category of visa, the "Y visa", would have been created, that would let temporary guest workers stay in the country for two years, after which they would have to return home. The original bill set this program at 400,000 people a year. However, its scope was greatly reduced by two amendments passed by the Senate: the first, sponsored by Senator Jeff Bingaman, reduced the number of entrants to 200,000 a year; the second, sponsored by Senator Byron Dorgan, set the program to only run for five years.

Increased enforcement

The bill would have increased enforcement of the United States-Mexico border, including increasing the number of border patrol agents to 20,000 and adding another 370 miles of fencing, among others.
The bill would have also created a new program, the "Employment Eligibility Verification System", that would be a central database meant to hold immigrant-status information on all workers living in the United States. Eventually all employers, regardless of size of the company, would have been required to assemble this information and keep the system updated on all their employees.
Under the terms of the bill, no further part of the bill would have gone forward until these measures had been implemented.
A group of conservative Republican senators, led by Jim DeMint, claimed that a majority of the enforcement provisions in the bill were already required under previous law, including the 2005 REAL ID Act and the 2006 Secure Fence Act.

DREAM Act provisions

The bill contained within it the entirety of the DREAM Act, a bill that has been introduced unsuccessfully several times in the House and Senate, that would provide a fast-track to citizenship for illegal-immigrant minors who either go to college or serve in the U.S. military; it would also qualify such minors for in-state tuition rates if they attend a public university of their home state as any other legal resident or US citizen.

Criticism

The bill received criticism from both the right and the left. Conservatives called the new proposed visa types in this bill amnesty, while liberals criticized the point system and provisions limiting family reunification to nuclear families as unfair. Labor unions, human rights, and some Hispanic organizations attacked the guest workers program, claiming that it would create a group of underclass workers with no benefits. Another criticism of the guest workers program was that because each guest worker is required to return home for a year before renewing their visa, these workers would instead overstay their visa, becoming illegal immigrants. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) claimed to find 20 "loopholes" in the immigration bill, including amnesty for child rapists and potential terrorists.


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