An overwhelming majority of Americans of all political stripes want Congress to fix immigration, and yet, Congress has failed to do so for decades.
Despite fear-mongering political platitudes from the right, significant immigration and border proposals introduced in 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2021, and 2022 all failed, largely due to Republican opposition.
It seems the only thing Republicans want more than a fixed immigration system is a broken immigration system.
After over 30 years of inaction, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the far right now insist that U.S. borders must be fixed before the U.S. meets its security commitments to Ukraine and Israel. It’s a cynical bet on America’s short attention span.
Ten years ago, a “Gang of Eight” U.S. senators, four Republicans and four Democrats, crafted an ambitious and comprehensive proposal to fix our nation’s broken immigration system. It was the first comprehensive immigration reform plan presented in nearly 30 years.
The proposal provided tech/science employers with more access to urgently needed engineers and foreign graduates with advanced degrees, included a merit-based review system to award more green cards based on skills and education, and created a legalization plan for undocumented immigrants already living and working in the country. It also revamped visa rules to assist industries that rely on immigrants to fill back-breaking jobs Americans won’t take.
The highly celebrated, bi-partisan plan went nowhere. After passing the Senate by an overwhelming margin of 68 to 32, it tanked in the House, where far-right conservatives blocked it from even getting a vote.
The late Sen. John McCain, the last real Republican champion of immigration reform, blamed the Gang of Eight’s House failure on the conservative Republican Freedom Caucus. McCain described the far right’s prescription to round up all the “illegals” and deport them as pure “bullsh—t.”
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