Bi-partisan Vote by Senate Judiciary Committee Moves Immigration Reform Forward

By a bipartisan vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to move comprehensive immigration reform to the full Senate, a big step forward toward our goal of fixing the broken immigration system. The bill includes CWA's number one priority: a path to citizenship for 11 million immigrant workers and a path for DREAMers, those now young adults who came to the U.S. as children.

Other key provisions include:

• Creation of a new bureau of immigration and labor market research that will study job markets and make recommendations on shortages.


• A guarantee that labor recruiters will be regulated by the Department of Labor.


• Limits on the number of H-1B visas, as opposed to the broad expansion of the visa program that tech companies wanted.

Senate action is expected after the Memorial Day recess, and there likely will be additional amendments and CWA and our allies will monitor and address. The bill also must pass the House of Representatives, expected to be a tough battle.

CWA, along with other unions, faith and community leaders, civil rights activists, immigrant organizations and others, will continue to work for comprehensive reform of our broken immigration system.