Originally published in Politic365 on May 21, 2013.

The Senate Judiciary Committee continued the markup process of the immigration reform bill Monday, considering among other things domestic violence victims, financial aid for DREAMers, whether the Boston bombingheld any weight over student visa provisions, biometric security at airports, and whether to add more high tech visas to the bill.

Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono, a Democrat, proposed a measure that would provide DREAMers “granted registered provisional immigrant or blue card status” federal financial aid assistance. Also when it came to students, Republican senators took aim at student visas in the name of the Boston bombing and a more complete investigation; it was ultimately not approved.

In particular Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who co-sponsored the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, was perturbed, and his spokesman issued a statement:

“Congress should be provided with a thorough investigation of the bombing before we make any changes to our asylum provisions or our student visa system because the lessons we will learn from an investigation will allow us to identify and correct the flaws in the current system that exposed us to this attack.”

Originally published in Politic365 on May 8, 2013.

Senators piled on more than 300 amendments to the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013Tuesday after a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. Ranging from LGBT rights for immigrants to biometric data to employment for foreign tech workers, the bombardment of amendments threatens to unravel the carefully crafted bipartisan legislation that the Gang of 8 put together.

The tech industry, predictably, has been benefitting from the proposed changes. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch proposed a measure that would allow tech companies to hire overseas workers before having to offer Americans the jobs. Hatch is also advocating for tech in another way, by arguing for biometric as opposed to biographic data, to be used in tracking foreigners leaving the country. He’s proposed an amendment requiring the Department of Homeland Security to use biometric data to track departing foreigners int he U.S., which could cost between $3.1 and $6.4 billion.

Sponsorship for foreign-born same-sex partners is an amendment introduced by, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, prompting Republican Senator Marco Rubio to say such an amendment could “sink” the immigration bill entirely.

Originally published in Politic365 on Apri 25, 2013.

Although an immigration reform proposal has been introduced into the U.S. Senate, deportations of immigrants who may be eligible for the 13 year-long pathway to citizenship promised by the bill continue to be removed from the country. What’s more, with President Barack Obama’s record-setting deportations, it would seem that large numbers of potentially eligible immigrants will not be able to benefit from a law, were it to be passed.

The administration has, thus far, ignored calls from pro-immigrant activists to halt deportations while the immigration reform bill is under consideration.

“Every day that Congress fails to pass immigration reform legislation, 1,100 families are torn apart,” Kica Matos, Director of Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice for the Center for Community Change and a spokesperson for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), a coalition of the largest immigrant rights organizations, told Politic365.