The Enduring Need for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Two years after the Senate passage of S. 744, the lives of millions of new Americans remain on hold while they wait for Congress to pass durable and permanent immigration legislation.

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Idea of the Day

Idea of the Day

On June 27, 2013, the Senate took a historic and bipartisan step toward an immigration system that works for all. By an overwhelming margin of 68 to 32 votes, the Senate passed S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. That bill took a comprehensive approach to modernizing the U.S. immigration system, providing a tough but fair pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants living in the country, updating the legal visa system for the 21st century, and making the largest and most expensive investments in border security to date. But the House of Representatives refused to consider it—or any other form of immigration reform—and S. 744 died a slow, painful death in the 113th Congress. In the 114th Congress, the only pieces of immigration legislation debated so far have been enforcement-only bills, a far cry from the holistic solutions offered by S. 744.

For more on this idea, please see:

2 Years Later, Immigrants Are Still Waiting on Immigration Reform by Philip E. Wolgin

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