In the forthcoming weeks, Sen. Reid and the Democrats andSen. Rubio and the Republicans will begin to shape their immigration legislationlanguage. It is an open secret that the legalizationof the approximately 12 million undocumented will entirely drive the politicsof the legislation, but there is a real opportunity for Congress to fix otherimmigration policy failures, such as immigration forshortage occupations. Let’s hopethat Congress takes this opportunity and doesn’t merely cling to symbols.
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) this week introduced the wordy, Immigration Reform ThatWorks For America’s Future Act. ThisAct is the first bill in the Senate, which is symbolic and encouraging. That having been said, it is only a “placeholder,”meaning that there is no substantive language attached to the bill at this time. Politicians like Sen. Rubio (R-FL) arebeginning to turn their policy statements into textual law that should be votedon by Congress in the next few months.