What is the Kennedy/Kyl immigration bill?
It was a bipartisan immigration reform bill that Senators Kennedy and Kyl announced in late May 2007. This was an ambitious effort to reform immigration law, but it ultimately failed to get enough votes.
Is it a new immigration law?
No. It is a bill. A bill is a proposal that may or may not ever become law. To actually become law, it needs to go through several more steps:
- A Senate committee needs to debate it and vote on it.
- The full Senate needs to debate it and vote on it.
- A member of the House of Representatives must introduce a corresponding bill into the House of Representatives.
- A House committee needs to debate it and vote on it.
- The full House of Representatives needs to debate it and vote on it.
- If the two bills are not identical, House and Senate need to reconcile the differences in a conference committee
- Once both House and Senate have passed their respective versions, the President must sign it.
At each stage, changes, know as Amendments, can be made to this bill. The final version is very likely going to look extremely different from the currently proposed version.
What does the Kennedy/Kyl bill include?
It is a near total rewrite of current immigration law. Among other things, it would:
- Abolish family-based and employment-based immigration. Old family-based cases would be grandfathered in. It is not clear what would happen to old employment-based cases.
- Abolish the visa lottery.
- Introduce a merit-based immigration system similar to what Australia and Canada are using.
- Increase the H-1B quota, and abolish the quota for Masters degree holders.
- Provide for increased border security.
- Require all employers to verify employment eligibility electronically.
- Create a temporary guest worker program (Y visa).
- Create a temporary status for currently undocumented workers.
- Theoretically, allow currently undocumented workers to apply for a Green Card.
What do you think about the bill?
It seems to combine the worst of the suggestions from both sides of the debate, while leaving out most of the worthwhile ideas.
What are the good points about Kennedy/Kyl?
There are a few redeeming ideas:
- A merit-based (or point-based) immigration system can be a boon to the United States, as well as to immigrants. However, the way it is currently designed is unworkable, and worse than the current system.
- The severity of the restrictions of the H-1B program has contributed to the problems with it. Kennedy/Kyl would restore some sanity.
- It recognizes that we will not have a choice but to provide some way to legalize the currently undocumented population. The convoluted approach in Kennedy/Kyl is likely unworkable, but the general idea is good.
What are some of the problems with Kennedy/Kyl?
There are a number of overwhelming problems with this bill:
- It would require even US citizens to be cleared for employment by the US government. This is a serious privacy concern, and in the age of warrantless NSA wiretapping also opens the door for government abuses.
- It would overall reduce the immigration quotas, while theoretically making more people eligible. As a result, either the backlog will grow, or the number of "points" required under the merit-based system will only be attainable for Nobel Prize winners.
- Currently undocumented workers will have to jump through so many hoops, and face such a backlog, to get a Green Card that most will not see it in their lifetime.
