Not So Comprehensive Immigration Reform for the US

Filed in archive Americas on August 6, 2007

The Immigration Enforcement Bill introduced in the US Senate fails to address comprehensive immigration reform and focuses on enforcement.

More border patrol agents, more fences, mandatory detention, and criminalization of unlawful presence are all part of the package, as would be a requirement that employers verify the employment eligibility of all employees using an employment verification database system that the Department of Homeland Security would be responsible to establish. Existing civil and criminal penalties would increase for employers who knowingly hire or continue to employ foreign nationals unauthorized for such work.

These are still early days and it is not yet clear whether this legislation has any better chance of becoming law than previous efforts.

See Immigration in the Senate, The Corner, August 2, 2007, for more details.