New US immigration bill gets Senate nod

The US Senate has passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill which provides for regularising citizenship of more than 11 million illegal immigrants while at the same time retaining harsh H1B visa provisions that would restrict entry of Indian professionals.

The new legislation, which received support from both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, would, however, provide US citizenship to over 240,000 Indians now living in the US without proper documents.

The Senate passed the bill with support of 68 legislators while 32 voted against it.

"Today with a strong bipartisan vote, the United States Senate delivered for the American people, bringing us a critical step closer to fixing our broken immigration system once and for all," President Obama said in a statement.

"If enacted, the Senate bill would establish the most aggressive border security plan in our history," he said.

"It would offer a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million individuals who are in this country illegally - a pathway that includes passing a background check, learning English, paying taxes and a penalty, and then going to the back of the line behind everyone who's playing by the rules and trying to come here legally," Obama said.

The bill provides for crackdown on employers who knowingly hire and take advantage of undocumented workers by dramatically increasing the penalties they face, including significant jail time for repeat offenders.

"It would modernise the legal immigration system so that it once again reflects our values as a nation and addresses the urgent needs of our time. It would provide a big boost to our recovery, by shrinking our deficits and growing our economy," Obama said.

He, however, said the immigration bill, like any other legislation,  would need the support of a majority of the legislators.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid said that the bill acknowledges the contributions of generations of immigrants who founded this country and built it into the superpower it is today.

Senator Ben Cardin called the passage of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernisation Act (S. 744) an important step in the effort to return balance and fairness to the US immigration system, and essential to economic growth and security of the country.

"The support this bill has generated here in the Senate will be impossible to ignore. I believe the support this bill will receive today in the Senate will propel it to pass the House and be placed for signature on the president's desk by the end of the year," said Senator Charles Schumer, one of the key member of the bipartisan group of eight Senators behind the legislation.

"The bill will provide legal channels to connect workers with the jobs our economy needs. It will make it much harder for people without work authorisation to find jobs by implementing a mandatory employment verification system. It will also crack down on employers who knowingly hire and take advantage of undocumented workers by dramatically increasing the penalties they face, including significant jail time for repeat offenders," said Senator Tom Carper, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The bill now moves to the House of Representatives before it can be sent to US President Barack Obama to sign it into law.

Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner had yesterday cast doubt on the passage of the bill in the House of Representatives when he said any immigration legislation must win the support of a majority of his conference to move forward.

Vice President Joe Biden who presided over the meeting, defended the legislation. "According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, modernising our immigration system and bringing these hard working immigrants out of the shadows and into our economy will improve our nation's balance sheet by nearly a trillion dollars over the next 20 years," he said.