Andorra Bruno
Coordinator Specialist in Immigration Policy
Michael John Garcia
Legislative Attorney
William A. Kandel
Analyst in Immigration Policy
Margaret Mikyung Lee
Legislative Attorney
Marc R. Rosenblum
Specialist in Immigration Policy
Alison Siskin
Specialist in Immigration Policy
Ruth Ellen Wasem
Specialist in Immigration Policy
Immigration reform is squarely on the legislative agenda of the 113th Congress. The Senate has passed the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744), a comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes provisions on border security, interior enforcement, employment eligibility verification and worksite enforcement, legalization of unauthorized aliens, immigrant visas, nonimmigrant visas, and humanitarian admissions. For its part, the House has taken a different approach to immigration reform. Rather than considering a single comprehensive bill, the House has acted on a set of immigration bills that address border security, interior enforcement, employment eligibility verification and worksite enforcement, and nonimmigrant and immigrant visas. House committees have reported or ordered to be reported the following immigration bills: Border Security Results Act of 2013 (H.R. 1417); Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement (SAFE) Act (H.R. 2278); Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 1772); Agricultural Guestworker (AG) Act (H.R. 1773); and Supplying Knowledge-based Immigrants and Lifting Levels of STEM Visas (SKILLS Visa) Act (H.R. 2131). Other House bills are reportedly under development.
In addition to their work on immigration reform legislation, the House and Senate have acted on other immigration-related bills in the 113th Congress. Among these measures, the 113th Congress has passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (P.L. 113-4), which includes provisions on noncitizen victims of domestic abuse or certain other crimes and on victims of human trafficking. Another enacted measure (P.L. 113-42) extends a special immigrant visa program for certain Iraqi nationals who have worked for or on behalf of the United States.
This report discusses these and other immigration-related issues that have received legislative action or are of significant congressional interest in the 113th Congress. While the report covers S. 744, as passed by the Senate, a more complete treatment of that bill can be found in CRS Report R43097, Comprehensive Immigration Reform in the 113th Congress: Major Provisions in Senate- Passed S. 744, by Marc R. Rosenblum and Ruth Ellen Wasem. For the most part, DHS appropriations are not covered in this report and are addressed in CRS Report R43147, Department of Homeland Security: FY2014 Appropriations, coordinated by William L. Painter.
Date of Report: November 20, 2013
Number of Pages: 39
Order Number: R43320
Price: $29.95
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