A Republican proposed amendment to the Senate immigration bill that would require the southern border of the United States be completely secured before other aspects of the bill could be moved on to was voted down on Thursday, according to Reuters.
The amendment was proposed by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and was defeated by a vote of 57 to 43. By not reaching the 60 vote threshold the vote is an indicator that supporters of the bill have some work to do if they hope to avoid Republican stalling tactics and make it a law by mid-summer as President Barack Obama has hoped, according to the Huffington Post.
The bill, as currently constructed, allows illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. to become "registered provisional immigrants" six months after the bill become a law, provided they meet the criteria and that the Department of Homeland Security has a plan to secure the border.
Grassley's amendment would have made it so "registered provisional immigrant" status could not be given out to any immigrants until Homeland Security could have the border under "effective control," meaning that the entire border is under surveillance and more than 90 percent of people attempting to cross illegally have been caught, for six months, according to the Huffington Post.
"My amendment ensures the border is secured before one person gets legal status," Grassley said. "It's a common sense approach. Border security first, like promised, legalize next."
One of the bill's authors, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., admits that completely securing the border could take years and that Grassley's amendment would effectively eliminate any of the good that it does for people who are already in the U.S.
"This clearly would undo the entire theme and structure of the immigration bill that has such bipartisan support," Schumer said. "And we may never get to real immigration reform that is needed, so desperately needed by the country."
Republicans who are adamant on stronger border security provisions to be added to the bill were disheartened by the defeat of Grassley's amendment.
"This is not a very good start for those of us who would actually like to come up with a solution," Sen. Jon Cornyn, R-Texas, said.
Republicans take issue with the lack of consequence if the Department of Homeland Security is unable to meet the border security provision of the bill which mandates that 100 percent of the border be under surveillance and 90 percent of attempted illegal border crossings are turned back. Immigrants will still be able to go on with the process of becoming citizens even if the border is not secure, the majority of Republican backed amendments to the bill will focus on fixing this, according to USA Today.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said that he would absolutely not support the bill unless an amendment that prevented illegal immigrants from receiving green cards prior to the border being secured is passed, according to USA Today.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., presented an amendment that will require 350 miles of "reinforced, double-layered fencing" be built before immigrants receive temporary status and an additional 350 miles of fencing before they can get green cards. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., introduced an amendment requiring every foreign visitor to the U.S. to be fingerprinted when departing the country in order to cut down on the illegal immigrants who have overstayed visas, according to USA Today.
