On Tuesday last week, Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert called for more hearings at the Congress as regards the
immigration reform bill. The hearings, which would take place from July to August, means further delays on the formation of a House and Senate conference committee, which would blend and reconcile the various versions of immigration reform bill passed by the different chambers. Meanwhile, Angela Kelley of the National Immigration Forum voiced out her concern on the limited period left for the Congress to make the final draft of the immigration bill.
Ms. Kelly commented that any delay in the approval of the bill would backfire on the Republicans considering that majority of the American citizens are in favor of a comprehensive immigration reform. It must be noted that the broad immigration reform is aimed at resolving the growing number of illegal immigrants in the US totaling to around 11.5 million, most of them are from
Latin America. The new immigration bill also includes the reinforcement of security in the US-Mexico borders and a guest worker program for foreigners who seek employment opportunities in the US. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has called for President George W. Bush to intervene in order to resolve the disputes over the new bill.
