Immigration Reform Bill introduced in The US Senate

As anticipated, the calls began before 9:00 a.m. last Friday: “Mr. Kocol, I heard that the Senate passed a law…” or “…so what does this mean for me?” Well, I believe I now have a phonecall list that is at least 15 persons long and that is on top of the hundred or so that are already on speed-dial…

In case anyone uninterested in United States immigration law and policy has not heard, a bipartisan (ie. some Democrats and some Republicans have actually decided to work together) group in the US Senate has proposed a bill that would reform our immigration statute to allow certain benefits it does not now allow and impose other limits on options for people who want to come to this country. I am terribly judgmental when it comes to “government” and I have not seen the actual text of this legislative proposal so I cannot comment real intelligently about its future impact.

What I can say is that whenever you hope for some good to come out of Washington, you must expect some bad stuff, too. I expect as we read more in the days to come, the negative aspects of this proposal by the Senate will be debated along with the positive aspects. Until then, my list of people to contact if an “amnesty” passes grows by the day. I expect no “amnesty” (too many problems last time around) but I do expect 2007 to be an interesting year.