The Senate passed the Immigration Reform bill 68-32 on Thursday. An amendment to increase border security made the bill more palatable to Republicans with 14 voting in favor.
The plan put together by the so-called "Gang of 8" will implement a mandatory, national employment verification system, allow for more legal immigration of low and high-skilled workers, beef up border security and eventually give green cards to most of the nation's 11 million unauthorized immigrants.
The action quickly drew praise from the American Farm Bureau, National Milk Producers Federation, National Farmers Union, Agriculture Workforce Coalition and others.
The focus now turns to the House where it faces a much bigger challenge.
Source: brownfieldagnews.com