This week, the Senate considered the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744). The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the measure on May 21.
Sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), the bill would make substantial changes to the nation’s immigration laws. According to the committee report, the bill would create a path to citizenship, reform the United States visa system, enhance border security, and require employers to use the employment verification system, E-Verify.
Under the measure, the number of family members immigrating to the U.S. would be capped annually after 2015 at 480,000. This number would not include immigrant visas allocated to immediate family members (spouses and minor children).
The legislation contains several provisions to detect and prevent human trafficking (see Subtitle F of the bill – Prevention of Trafficking in Persons and Abuses Involving Workers Recruited Abroad).
The cap on visas for highly skilled workers would be raised to 115,000 in the first fiscal year after enactment. The cap would fluctuate, based upon economic conditions, but could not exceed 180,000 per fiscal year.
The Senate approved, by unanimous consent, an amendment by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) to apply the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-395) retroactively to all individuals adopted by a citizen of the United States in an international adoption, to repeal the pre-adoption parental visitation requirement for automatic citizenship, and to address automatic citizenship for children born outside of the U.S. who have a U.S. citizen parent.
The Senate is scheduled to continue consideration of S. 744 next week.