The comprehensive immigration measure that has been circulating the media airwaves recently overcame its first obstacle to becoming a legislative reality. The immigration “grand bargain,” as referred to by the unlikely coalition headed by Senators Edward Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts and Jon Kyl, a Republican from Arizona, became open to debate on the floors of the Senate by a 69-23 procedural vote late yesterday, May 21, 2007.

Although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) set the original deadline to be Memorial Day, many senators balked at the prospect of discussing such an important piece of bipartisan compromise in a hasty fashion. Instead, the extension will move the deadline to June. The debate will definitely not be indefinite, as cloture has been invoked. 38 Democrats, 30 Republicans and 1 independent voted to begin consideration of the bill, as 4 Democrats, 18 Republicans and 1 independent opposed its discussion. According to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, “This [bill] is not going to go anywhere unless we have a full and thorough debate of at least two weeks.”

The impact of this bill, if passed, is fundamentally momentous as it would affect a great portion of the country’s 12 million unlawful immigrants. The hugely contentious measure has elicited immense debate from all sides, as Senators who spoke during the four hours of speeches that preceded the vote to extend the discussion agreed that the U.S. is in need of more effective control of its borders but disagreed on everything else.

The reform as it stands calls for tighter, tougher border security, offers some sort of legal status to most of the 12 million undocumented immigrants, and also increases penalties for employers that employ the unlawful workers. So far, Republican sentiments run towards making the bill even more stringent while Democrats are looking to reorder priorities in terms of creating a meritocracy in immigration. In other words, the Democrats are proposing a merit-based system that places an immigrant’s employability over family associations. This is a direction of thought that could imply great things for workers who are seeking employment-based immigration .

Some critics of the current bill contend that the temporary worker program created by the compromise plan, which offers a 400,000 cap on guest worker visas, proposes too large a number. As such, Democrat Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico’s amendment to shrink the number to 200,000 will be one of the first issues debated. However, because many employers are lobbying for an effective rise in the numbers of visas as to meet labor demands, the number also has the potential to increase to as much as 600,000.

Others such as Senator Reid fear that the bill as is right now creates “a permanent underclass of people who are here to work in low-wage low-skill jobs, but do not have a chance to put down roots or benefit from the opportunities of American citizenship.” Senator Bingaman further noted that the bill “puts us on a par with Kuwait or other countries who just depend on foreign workers and have a second-class group of workers doing inferior jobs but not having any real rights or privileges.”

Another important provision under intense debate is the clause mandating heads of households seeking green cards and a path to citizenship to return to their home countries before gaining legal status. Other members of the family may legally obtain visas to work and live in the U.S. indefinitely.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina has strong words for those who try to block the bill without a comprehensive alternative. “Doing nothing is a national security nightmare for this country,” he said. “If your goal is to stop this bill and you don’t have an alternative that will secure our borders and deal with illegal immigration, you are not helping the country.” Clearly, the need for immigration reform is pressing.

Politically speaking, the issue carries an immense amount of significance for many actors involved. For President Bush, the bill is a reflection of the immigration reform push from his last term and could define a major part of his legacy. For Democrats, it could count as one of their first major accomplishments after taking control of Congress.

The Senate is currently set to debate the deal this week and also to return to discussion after the weeklong holiday break for Memorial Day.

The House of Representatives, which is where last year’s immigration overhaul was killed, will be debating the issue relatively soon. According to White House spokesman Tony Fratto, President Bush is hoping to sign the bill by summer’s end.

Given the gravity of the issue, this current measure offers the best hope to reform the nation’s immigration policies before next year’s congressional and presidential campaigns starts in earnest. The outlook for the bill’s actual passage, however, remains uncertain despite its debate in the Senate. House Conservatives, who killed the bill last year, are already unveiling stricter security measures which according to Representative Dan Lungren, a Californian Republican, offers “an alternative to several of the large holes in the so-called Senate compromise.”

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