ImmigrationImmigration bill more acceptable to Senate Republicans

Published 23 May 2013

The immigration bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee is picking up Republican support. Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) removed a major obstacle to the bill’s passing the Senate by withdrawing his own amendment to it, an amendment which would have given the American spouse in a gay relationship the right to sponsor the non-American partner for legal status in the United States. The bill also added provisions conditioning the beginning of the path-to-citizenship process on proven bolstering of border security. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) told reporters he will not block the measure from reaching the senate floor.

President Barack Obama was quick to praise the Senate Judiciary Committee for passing the immigration reform bill, saying the bill was consistent with the goals he outlined for reforming the U.S. immigration system.

“I encourage the full Senate to bring this bipartisan bill to the floor at the earliest possible opportunity and remain hopeful that the amendment process will lead to further improvements,” Obama said in a statement.

Yahoo News reports that the panel approved the bill by a 13-5 vote, with three Republicans joining the twelve Democrats on the committee.

The bill will establish a 13-year timeline for the eleven million illegal residents to become U.S. citizens. This period will also see the strengthening of security along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Provisions were added to the bill conditioning the beginning of the path-to-citizenship process on proven bolstering of border security. These provisions were added in order to attract more conservative support, in both the House and the Senate, for the bill.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) removed a major obstacle to the bill’s passing the Senate by withdrawing his own amendment to it, an amendment which would have given the American spouse in a gay relationship the right to sponsor the non-American partner for legal status in the United States.

Both Republicans and Democrats said that Leahy’s amendment would kill the bill because few, if any, Republicans would support it of the amendment was part of it.

Gay rights advocates did not take the news well. “Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for not defending LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) families against the scapegoating of their Republican colleagues,” Rachel Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, a gay rights group, told Yahoo News.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) told reporters he will not block the measure from reaching the senate floor. He did not say whether he would support the bill.

Frank Sharry, the executive director of the pro-immigration reform group America’s Voice, said the bill is not “battle tested,” but that it is picking up Republican support.

“It’s remarkable. You have a dysfunctional Congress, where both parties have been at war with each other, working together on a bipartisan basis on a controversial issue and making tremendous progress,” Sharry told Yahoo News.

Republicans opponents of the bill are not giving up the fight.  Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sponsored several amendments to prevent the pathway to citizenship for immigrants, and permanently to deny immigrants federal benefits which are aimed at low-income citizens.

The bill, Cruz told reporters, “will serve only to encourage yet more illegal immigration. It will not solve the problem.”