This coming week, the Committee of Eight will again meet to continue deliberations on comprehensive immigration reform. The Committee has held together the proposed bill in the face of attempts to severly cripple the bill or kill it all together through the introduction of proposed ammendments. Instead, the Committee has embraced ammendments that will help streamline and strengthen the bill to increase the chances of bipartisan support needed to enact the new legislation.
Most telling of the increasing support of immigration reform was the defeat of an ammendment by Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, to severely curb the flow of future immigration into the United States. Even republicans voted against the ammendment.
Each session that ends with progress to a consensus and without drama, takes us one step closer to Comprehensive Immigration Reform becoming a reality. The few anti-immigrant conservatives left continue to scream out their positions, but less and less people are listening making them more of a nuisance than an obstacle.
There are still many negotiations to come and compromises to achieve but it is clear we are closer than ever to overhauling the nation’s immigration system for the better.
