As the Senate heads back into session Monday, it is poised to take up a sweeping immigration bill that would offer earned citizenship to many of the 11 million immigrants who entered the United States illegally before 2012.
Supporters of the bill crafted by the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” senators guided it to passage in the Senate Judiciary Committee last month while fending off amendments that would have broken apart their coalition of labor and business groups, Catholics and evangelical Christians, and law enforcement and civil rights’ groups.
Now, proponents of the bill face an even tougher challenge: how to lure more Republicans to support the legislation without alienating Democrats and losing the support of key immigrant rights’ groups.
“It’s a balancing act,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration expert and professor of law at Cornell University Law School. “The Gang of Eight has done a great job so far of walking that tightrope. Now we’ll see whether they can continue to do so on the Senate floor.”
The Senate is expected to begin debating the bill by June 10. Supporters hope to pass it before the Fourth of July recess.
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