While opponents of comprehensive immigration reform in the United States are planning to step up their efforts to prevent a bill from making it through Congress, the reality is that such reform now appears to be inevitable, at least according to some proponents of the issue.
“Politicians know that if they stand in the way of citizenship we will steamroller them,” promises the director of the US’ largest labor union the AFL-CIO, Ana Avendano. “That’s a fun evolution.”
The comprehensive bill that has been worked on by the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” senators could be unveiled within the next couple of days and is likely to include the creation of a path to US citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the country, as well as plans to increase border security and the amount of visas that are available for both low-skilled and high-skilled workers. In order to build up support for the much anticipated bill, thousands of people who support immigration reform came to Capitol Hill yesterday to try and make sure that the same fate that befell the 2007 effort for immigration reform, which came apart at the last minute, does not happen again.
The “Gang of Eight” senators have been attempting to come up with a deal that will win over enough Republicans to be able to pass in the upper chamber, and are intending to have the bill presented before the end of the week.