The Senate has passed 48 amendments to the immigration bill. Here’s what they do.

 

The sponsors’ amendment (14-4)

This was offered at the start of markup by the bill’s sponsors with the idea of clarifying and tweaking a few things throughout the bill. This is a good summary. Most of it is technical stuff (one part “added a definition of the Northern Border”) but there are some real changes.

Notably, funding for the start-up costs of the State and Homeland Security Departments in implementing the bill is increased from $100 million to $1 billion, a requirement that the Secretary of Labor be consulted when determining the cap on agricultural guest workers is added, and biology is added to the list of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields for the purposes of determining visa eligibility.

All the Democrats on the committee voted for the bill, as did Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and John Cornyn (R-Tex.). Graham and Flake are in the “Gang of Eight.” Ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) all voted no.

Crossing fees banned (voice vote)

An amendment from committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) banned the imposition of any border crossing fees for pedestrians and passenger vehicles entering by land at the Canadian or Mexican borders.

Informing the Judiciary Committee (voice vote)

An amendment from Grassley added requirements throughout the bill requiring that various reports or notifications be submitted to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, in some cases in place of submitting them to the Homeland Security committees in each house.

Annual audits (voice vote)

Another Grassley amendment requires annual audits of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Trust Fund, which funds a number of border security and other measures throughout the bill.

Aid to victims (voice vote)

An amendment from Sessions gives the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration Ombudsman (a position created in the bill) the authority to assist individuals and families who have been victims of crime committed by immigrants or temporary residents, or crime committed near the border.

Better data on human trafficking (voice vote)

An amendment from Cornyn, along with Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), would classify human trafficking as a part 1 violent crime for the purpose of federal assistance to state and local law enforcement, which would require state and local agencies to collect detailed information on it, just as they do with, say, murder. This was backed by the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda.

Private land owner representation (voice vote)

An amendment from Flake would add three private landowners to the Department of Homeland Security Border Oversight Task Force, 2 from the Southern border and one from the Northern border. That brings the Task Force’s overall size from 26 to 29.

Annual GAO review (voice vote)

Another Flake amendment would require an annual assessment of the “status and progress of the Southern Border Security Strategy” by the Government Accountability Office.

Protection for children (voice vote)

An amendment from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) requires that children in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection get health care, adequate nutrition, clothing and bedding, and hygienic products, and are allowed supervised phone calls with family members. This amendment was backed by pro-immigrant group America’s Voice, as well as the ACLU and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda.

Stonegarden reform (voice vote)

Another Feinstein amendment requires that grants under Operation Stonegarden, a DHS grant program meant to help border security but which critics argue has been used as a subsidy for activities having little to do with that purpose, be allocated from a competitive process.

Get the Coast Guard involved (voice vote)

Another Feinstein amendment instructs the Coast Guard to “acquire and deploy watercraft to provide support for border-related maritime anti-crime activities.”

Ombudsman details (voice vote)

An amendment from Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) fleshes out a bit more the Immigration Ombudsman position created by the bill. The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda backed this amendment.

Boosting the trust fund’s funding (14-4)

An amendment from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), one of the Gang of Eight, would increase the initial allocation to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Trust Fund, which funds implementation of the bill (including its border security provisions), from $6.5 billion to $8.3 billion. That money would be paid back through fees and fines, which would, after the initial allocation is paid back, start going into the trust fund. Four Republicans — Lee, Sessions, Cornyn, and Grassley — voted against.

Securing the whole border (voice vote)

Another Grassley amendment strikes all references to “high risk” sections of the border. The bill as written would allow the path-to-citizenship section of the bill take effect when 90 percent of crossers at the high-risk sections of the Mexican border are being captured. This amendment changes that to requiring that 90 percent of crossers on all of the Mexican border be captured before the path-to-citizenship section takes effect. This amendment was opposed by pro-immigrant group America’s Voice as well as the ACLU.

Grant accountability (voice vote)

Another Grassley amendment requires regular audits of the grants issued from programs in the bill, by the relevant inspectors general. It requires preapproval of conference expenditures exceeding $20,000 and restricts grants to nonprofits that hold money offshore.

Public defender funding (voice vote)

This Feinstein amendment clarifies that the federal government will reimburse state and local governments for the cost of public defenders and clerical support in immigration-related cases, not just prosecution and detention costs. The ACLU opposedthis, arguing that more reimbursement creates perverse incentives, but the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda backed it.

No reimbursement for illegal prosecutions (voice vote)

This Blumenthal amendment bans federal reimbursements for state and local immigration-related prosecution and pretrial detention “if the jurisdictions engaged in unlawful conduct in connection with immigration-related apprehensions.” This amendment was backed by the ACLU and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda.

Family unity in detention (10-8)

This Hirono amendment would require border agents to ask if apprehended individuals are traveling with spouses or children, or whether or not they are parents or spouses. The intent is to try to ensure that families are not separated during the interrogation process, which may, Hirono argues, “make migrants more vulnerable by returning them to dangerous places without their family members.”

Critics argued this placed an undue burden on border agents, with Cornyn noting that some areas on the border lack the necessary resources to keep families together in some cases. Every Republican on the committee voted no, and every Democrat voted yes. This amendment was backed by pro-immigrant group America’s Voice and theNational Hispanic Leadership Agenda.

Expanded reimbursement (10-8)

This Feinstein and Cornyn amendment expands the kind of incarcerations of undocumented immigrants for which state and local governments can be reimbursed, including by adding reimbursement for incarcerating people only charged but not yet convicted with a crime, and for incarcerating people whose immigration status can’t be verified. Leahy expressed concern that this would make it easier to game the system.

Ten senators – Feinstein, Cornyn, Graham, Hatch, Sessions, Lee, Cruz, Flake, Schumer, and Franken – voted yes, and eight – Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Blumenthal, Grassley, Leahy, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Hirono, and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) — voted no. The ACLU opposed it, arguing it would provide an incentive for racial profiling, as did the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda.

Better border crossing infrastructure (voice vote)

Another Feinstein amendment establishes a grant program to improve the infrastructure at existing and future border crossings.

Consulting with local governments (voice vote)

This Leahy and Cornyn amendment would require DHS to consult with the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture, as well as state and local governments, in determining where on the Mexican border to place fencing, and adds flexibility for DHS to not build fencing when they determine that is not the best technology for the area in question. It also clarifies that no fencing will be placed on the Canadian border.

Adding federal judges (voice vote)

This Feinstein, Cornyn, Cruz, and Flake amendment would add eight new permanent district judges in California, Arizona and Texas to help deal with an increase immigration caseloads. This amendment was backed by the ACLU but the amendment to the amendment by Grassley that passed was opposed by it.

 

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