| Immigration Bill Pulled from Senate Floor |
| Written by Andrew Kian Clayton | |
| Friday, 08 June 2007 | |
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Washington DC – Yesterday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pulled the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill from the floor of the Senate after two motions to invoke cloture were defeated. Despite the defeat of this bill, Senators on both sides of the aisle expressed a desire to bring the measure back to the floor in the near future. Had the bill succeeded in the Senate, it would have fundamentally altered U.S. immigration policy. Senator Reid expressed dismay at the result, adding that “we bent over backwards” to accommodate Republicans who disliked the bill. The failure of this bill means that current immigration law will apply for the time being. With regard to family reunification provisions, the proposed date for clearing the backlog of family-based visa applicants (May 1, 2005) will no longer apply. The current backlog of five to ten years will remain in place until the reintroduction and passage of the bill. Another provision of current law that will be sustained is the availability of an unlimited number of green cards for parents of U.S. citizens. The bill would have introduced a cap on this figure. Senator Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) proposed amendment (#1199) would have raised this cap from 40,000 to 90,000. For the time being, there will be no limit on the number of green cards awarded to parents of U.S. citizens.
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