Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote on a motion to invoke cloture on a bill that establishes and amends laws related to immigration in the United States.

Highlights:

• Increases the number of full-time border patrol positions by 11,600 by 2012 [Sec. 101].

• Authorizes the construction of 370 miles of border fencing, as well as 500 miles of vehicle barriers along the border between the United States and Mexico [Sec. 106].

• Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to require aliens departing the United States to provide fingerprints, as well as their immigration status, and authorizes the Secretary to use such data in determining admission status of aliens [Sec. 128].

• Authorizes the governor of any state along the southern land border of the United States to order National Guard units to duty for the purpose of securing the border [Sec. 133].

• Extends the deadline for implementing the Western Hemispheric Travel Initiative, which requires a passport or passport card for all travel to Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean, to June 1, 2009 [Sec. 135].

• Provides criminal penalties ranging from five to twenty five years in prison for those who illegally produce or use immigration documents, marry for the purpose of avoiding immigration law, or attempt in any way to defraud immigration law [Sec. 208].

• Provides for the monitoring and criminal prosecution of employers who hire undocumented aliens [Sec. 303-305].

• Establishes the H2C visa, allowing the Secretary of State to authorize up to 200,000 non-immigrants per year who demonstrate an intention to perform certain types labor or services [Sec. 403].

• Establishes a "special immigrant status" for those aliens directly affected by Hurricane Katrina [Sec. 541-545].

• Allows for the adjustment to Permanent Resident status for illegal aliens who have been in the United States for a period exceeding five years, and employed for three of the established five [Sec. 601].

• Establishes a Deferred Mandatory Departure status, granted to undocumented aliens who have presented materials establishing them as having been and employed in the United States since January 7, 2004. [Sec. 601].

• Establishes a pilot program issuing "blue cards" to undocumented agricultural workers that provide for ten months of temporary residence [Sec. 611-614].

• Provides for undocumented minor graduates of high schools or recipients of a General Education Degree to receive conditional permanent resident status, allowing for six years of residency. Allows for the immigrant to receive federal educational financial aid [Sec. 621-632].

• Establishes a grant fund to assist legal residents in achieving citizenship, and establishes the U.S. Citizenship Foundation with the goal of helping people achieving citizenship [Sec. 643].

• Provides that non-citizens should not be denied the opportunity to serve in the armed forces, and that non-citizens who serve will receive citizenship after two years of active-duty service and demonstration of basic citizenship skills [Sec. 751]

• Declares English as the National Language of the United States of America and provides for its sustainability [Sec. 765].

• Instructs the Department of the Interior to open access to the public, with reasonable security regulations, to the Statue of Liberty [Sec. 776].

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text