But what
was important about that moment in June of 2013 was not the speech; it
was the vote. The package was comprehensive. It included not just the
DREAM Act but border security, assistance for employers to determine
the immigration bona fides of those applying for work. These are
reforms--an approval for people here on temporary protected status from
El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, and Haiti to become
permanent residents and then convert that into a path to citizenship. That comprehensive immigration reform bill, in my view, represents the
Senate working at its best: a bipartisan working group, coming through
committee, coming to the floor with amendments. It passed this body
with 68 votes in favor. It was evidence of the naivete of a young Senator at the time that I
assumed, of course, something was going to happen because it passed
here with 68 votes.
Keywords matched
immigration border security temporary protected status