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Washington, DC – On Thursday evening, July 27, 2013 the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill that would rewrite the country’s immigration system. The bill would allow the nation’s unauthorized immigrants to get temporary legal status after they passed a criminal background check, paid a fine and paid whatever back taxes they had outstanding. If they successfully maintained a clean record and held a job, they could apply for a green card in 10 years and U.S. citizenship three years later.
In an amendment brokered by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the government would spend $30 billion to double the size of the Border Patrol to nearly 40,000 agents. An additional $8 billion would be spent on drones, helicopters, airplanes and surveillance technology to better monitor the nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico.
The bill would expand the federal E-Verify program nationwide, requiring all U.S. business owners to use it to check the immigration status of all new hires within four years. Another amendment by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would require the United States to begin fingerprinting all foreigners departing U.S. airports to better track who’s left the country and who has stayed past the expiration of their visas.
The bill would revamp the legal immigration system to increase the number of temporary work visas for foreigners trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. There would also be an increase in work visas for foreigners who work in the agricultural industry, and a new class of visa would be created to bring in people to work lower-skilled jobs in construction, retail, hospitality and insurance.
Stay tuned for more developments.
Source: USA TODAY
