This legislative proposal is comprised of eight different titles, including border enforcement, interior enforcement, unlawful employment of aliens, nonimmigrant and visa reform, backlog reduction, a conditional nonimmigrant provision, and provisions to further reduce immigration litigation. According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the bill contains many positive provisions, but does not deal satisfactorily with the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States, and further seeks to further limit judicial review and due process for noncitizens. If passed, this law would make unlawful presence in the United States a criminal offense. It would impose additional obligations and penalties upon employers for hiring undocumented workers. On the plus side, this law would create an H-2C nonimmigrant visa category for lesser skilled workers. The employment based permanent visa quota would double from 140,000 to 290,000. Additional numbers would be available for family based immigrants. Aliens who have been employed in the U.S. prior to January 4, 2004, could potentially qualify for conditional nonimmigrant work authorization and status.

Presumably, if the Senate can agree on a bill, it would have to be reconciled with HR 4437, which was enacted by the House of Representatives at the end of 2005 [see Article below]. At least the Senate bill contains many positive immigration provisions, which were notably absent in HR 4437. The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to begin marking up this bill on Thursday, March 2.