Prospects for the US Senate’s passage of the landmark Immigration Bill have brightened with the chamber clearing a major hurdle by voting strongly for strengthening border protection as a prelude for approving the overall measure.
A final vote on the Bill which seeks to provide a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants and expand the H-1B work visa programme is expected later this week.
Grave doubts, however, remain whether the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will go along even if the Senate were to pass the measure, given the strong opposition among conservative Republicans who regard the bill as an ‘amnesty’ for those living in the country illegally.
The Monday vote in the Senate (67-27) was on an amendment moved by Republican Senators Bob Corker and John Hoeven, who hammered out a $38 billion package to bolster security along the US-Mexico border that has served as the main gateway for the illegal immigrants.
“The Bill has been improved dramatically tonight by this vote, there’s no question,” Corker said. “My sense is we're going to pass an immigration bill out of the United States Senate which will be no doubt historic and I think something that's very, very important to this nation.”
Ahead of the vote, Obama said at a White House meeting with business executives called to discuss the immigration reform. “Now is the time to do it. I hope that we can get the strongest possible vote out of the Senate so that we can then move to the House and get this done before the summer break (beginning early August).”
“We have a system in which we bring outstanding young people from all across the world to educate them here, and unfortunately, too often, we send them right back so that they can start companies or help to grow companies somewhere else instead of here,” said Obama, adding: “We have a situation in which millions of individuals are in the shadow economy, oftentimes exploited at lower wages, and that hurts those companies that are following the rules, because they end up being at a disadvantage to some of these less scrupulous companies.”
“If we get this done -- when we get this done -- I think every business leader here feels confident that they'll be in a stronger position to continue to innovate, to continue to invest, to continue to create jobs, and ensure that this continues to be the land of opportunity for generations to come,” he said.