July 12, 2013

The Gang of Eight’s comprehensive immigration reform bill is now moving from the Senate to the House where it faces several obstacles before it will even be debated. While the Senate version of S. 744 is far from perfect, it is an important first step in the direction of reforming our broken immigration system.

En route to the House, the bill has already been stalled by internal debates from within the House’s majority-Republican members on how much political capital they could potentially gain or lose from allowing the bill to go to a vote. Following what has become Republican tradition in recent decades, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has indicated that he will not allow the bill to go for a vote unless a majority of his caucus supports it. Furthermore, he announced that House members might even pursue a complete overhaul of the bill.

The debate within the Republican Party is not the only thing holding the bill back. There are several problematic provisions within S. 744 that must be addressed before the bill goes to the House floor for a vote. One such amendment is the Corker-Hoeven amendment, which essentially militarizes our border with Mexico by increasing border agents, border fencing, the use of drones in border communities and provides an additional $46 billion to private contractors.

Additionally, the Graham amendment basically advocates for racial profiling by targeting immigrants from countries or regions that have been deemed to pose national security threats. The amendment requires the Department of Homeland Security to conduct additional security checks for immigrants, ignoring state and local laws and policies that ban racial profiling. The language fails to include any type of prohibition on profiling based on national origin or religion, which tacitly allows for discrimination against millions of immigrants. America is made stronger by its rich diversity, and the present immigration debate should actualize this tenet.

This month, MPAC is releasing the second edition of its policy paper on comprehensive immigration reform based on four core values: human dignity, the rule of law, fiscal responsibility and economic growth. We hope that our lawmakers keep these values in mind when debating the bill and working to fix our current broken system.

Now is the time to call your elected officials to push for progress that reflects our best values and provides a path to citizenship for those who seek it.