Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill Passes Senate

Jeanne Morin
Jefferson Government Relations

On May 25, 2006, the US Senate passed S. 2611 – the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. The bill, which attracted broad support from the hotel industry and the business community generally, strengthens enforcement while also providing a path to citizenship for most of the 11 million undocumented workers currently in the US. Next, the bill must be reconciled with a House-passed enforcement-only bill that would require employers to perform background checks on all of their workers to verify their eligibility to work in the US.

IAHI and IHG are working together to assure that, if a package is enacted this year, it will contain a sensible immigration policy that maintains a secure border and provides a legal immigration process to meet the need for essential workers.

Toward that end, IHG president of the Americas, Stevan Porter joined six other business leaders in a meeting on July 25th with US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez. “We explained the immense difficulties employers like IHG have with finding workers, as well as the shortcomings of our current immigration system and the employment verification process.” Porter reported. “Secretary Gutierrez listened carefully to our concerns and affirmed President Bush’s commitment to passing comprehensive legislation this year.”

Two amendments important to the hotel industry were included in the Senate-passed immigration package. The first would extend the deadline for implementing a Western Hemisphere Travel initiative requirement that all travelers entering the US from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean or Central and South America after December 31, 2007, carry a passport or other secure national identification document. The provision has since been included in two “must-pass” fiscal year 2007 appropriations bills approved by the Senate as well.

The second provision would extend a provision that expires on September 30, 2006, to exempt returning seasonal workers from the H-2B visa annual cap. In addition to being included in the Senate-passed immigration bill, it was added to the Senate Defense Authorization bill. The provision’s sponsor, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), has vowed to continue to push for enactment before the current exemption expires.

As for the larger immigration reform package, if the House and Senate fail to agree on a compromise that the President signs into law before the end of the year, a new Congress will have to start the legislative process again next year.