Comment Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Ranking Member, Judiciary Committee,
On The Committee’s Progress
On Comprehensive Immigration Reform Legislation
March 16, 2006

“The Committee made progress Thursday on the key question of how to handle the 11 million undocumented immigrants presently living and working in the United States.  We appear to be headed toward consensus by adopting portions of the McCain-Kennedy Secure America Act, with a clarification by Chairman Specter that the Committee does not intend to move undocumented aliens to the front of the line of immigrants seeking legal status.

“If the Committee continues to work in good faith through the recess, I believe that we can produce a comprehensive bipartisan immigration bill and recommend it to the full Senate.  Reforming our nation’s broken immigration system is a daunting task, and it should not be done in a piecemeal fashion.  A bipartisan and comprehensive bill that is the product of thoughtful debate in the Judiciary Committee offers the best opportunity for reform this year.”

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