On March 18, 2010, US Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) unveiled a proposal for comprehensive immigration reform. The plan entailed four principal tenets: improving border security, creating a system through which temporary workers would be admitted, introducing biometric identification cards, and instituting a process to legalize illegal immigrants currently residing within the US. Undocumented immigrants would have received legal status upon paying back taxes and fines, submitting to background checks, completing an English proficiency examination, and performing community service. Additionally, immigrants earning an advanced science, engineering, technology, or math degree from a US institution would have received permanent residency. Immigration reform, a policy goal of President Barack Obama, failed to pass the 111th Congress.



Learn more about US immigration law from the JURIST news archive.