Above, VOXXI takes a look at some of the landmark events that led to the Senate approving — with a 68-32 vote — the immigration reform bill. Read more: http://voxx.us/14AwTZW

1. A TIMELINE OF
IMMIGRATION
REFORM
A chronicle of the events that lead to the Senate’s approval of the
Immigration Reform Bill. For more information, go to
http://voxx.us/14AwTZW

2. June 15, 2012
President Barack Obama
announced that undocumented
youth who came to the United
States as children would be
protected from deportation and
granted work permits under a new
program called Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
Some of the requirements to
qualify for the program include
being between the ages of 15 and
30, entered the U.S. before the
age of 16, resided in the U.S. for
five years and either be currently
in school or have a high school
diploma or GED.
The announcement of the
deferred action program is viewed
as a turning point in the fight for
immigration reform.
(Photo: Carlos A. Quiroz)

3. November 6, 2012
Latinos came out to vote in
record numbers and helped re-
elect President Barack Obama. Of
the 11.2 million Latinos who
voted, 71 percent voted for
Obama and 27 percent voted for
Mitt Romney.
Leading up to the election, many
Latinos were turned off by the
GOP’s harsh immigration rhetoric.
Republican leaders recognized
that and took action to change
their tone on immigration.
Almost immediately after the
2012 election, key Republicans
began making calls for
immigration reform as a way to
make gains with Latino voters.
Today, many Republicans back an
immigration reform bill with a
path to citizenship.
(Photo: Scott Olson)

4. January 29, 2013
Speaking in Las Vegas, President
Barack Obama said “now is the
time” for immigration reform and
unveiled his “common-sense”
immigration reform proposal. It is
broken down into four key parts.
Part I: Strengthen border
security and enhance
infrastructure and technology
along the U.S.-Mexico border
Part II: Streamline legal
immigration for foreign
entrepreneurs, students and
families
Part III: Create a path to
citizenship for undocumented
immigrants
Part IV: Crack down on employers
who knowingly hire unauthorized
workers
(Photo: John Gurzinski)

5. April 17, 2013
A bipartisan group of eight
senators — known as the Gang of
Eight — introduced an
immigration reform bill in the
Senate.
The bill, originally 844 pages
long, offers a path to legal status
and eventual citizenship for
undocumented immigrants who
came to the U.S. before Dec.
31, 2011.
It provides additional funding to
ramp up security at the U.S.-
Mexico border and mandates all
employers to use E-Verify. It
increases the number of high-
skilled visas (H-1B) and creates a
new visa (W visa) for low-skilled
workers. Unlike past immigration
bills, it allows some deported
immigrants to come back.
(Photo: Alex Wong)

6. May 16, 2013
A bipartisan group of House
members announced they
reached an "agreement in
principle" on a comprehensive
immigration reform legislation.
The group said it plans to formally
introduce the bill’s language at the
beginning of June.
The House immigration bill is
said to be more conservative than
the Senate bill, mostly because
Republicans control the House.
But one similarity both
proposals are likely to share is a
path to citizenship for
undocumented immigrants. It is
also expected that like the Senate
bill, the House bill will include
tough border security measures.
(Photo: Tom Williams)

7. May 21, 2013
After three weeks of markup of
the Gang of Eight’s immigration
reform bill, the Senate Judiciary
Committee approved the bill with
a bipartisan 13-5 vote, sending it
to the Senate floor for debate.
Of the 301 amendments that
were filed, 212 were considered
and 141 were approved.
Among the approved
amendments is one that increases
the number of visas for high-
skilled workers and several others
aimed at strengthening the bill’s
borders security provisions.
The immigration bill survived
markup with very little changes. Its
core provisions, including the path
to citizenship for undocumented
immigrants, remained intact.
(Photo: J. Scott Applewhite)

8. June 11, 2013
The Senate voted 82 to 15 in
favor of a motion to officially allow
debate to move forward on the
Gang of Eight’s immigration
reform bill. The vote set the stage
for weeks of debate, and it
allowed senators to introduce
amendments to the bill.
Just as debate began, the bill’s
authors said they welcomed
recommendations to improve the
legislation. However, they made it
clear they would not accept any
major changes that threatened the
bill’s core principles.
They stood their ground by
rejecting several tough border
security amendments that
threatened the path to citizenship
for undocumented immigrants.
(Photo: C-SPAN)

9. June 19, 2013
The House Judiciary Committee
held it’s first markup of
immigration legislation and
approved on a 20-15 party-line
vote an enforcement-centered bill
titled the SAFE Act — which stands
for Strengthen and Fortify
Enforcement Act.
The bill would permit states to
enact and enforce their own
immigration laws, as well as allow
local police officers to assist in the
enforcement of federal
immigration law. It also includes
an amendment that would make
an unlawful presence in the U.S. a
federal crime.
At the start of the markup,
about 20 protestors who oppose
the SAFE Act began chanting and
briefly disrupted proceedings.
(Photo: RI4A)

10. June 26, 2013
The Senate voted 69-29 to
approve a border security
amendment to the Gang of Eight’s
immigration bill that would
dedicate billions of dollars to
securing the U.S. border with
Mexico.
The amendment, filed by two
Republican senators, would add
nearly 20,000 more Border Patrol
agents, fund the completion of the
700 miles of double-layered
fencing and blanket the U.S.-
Mexico border with new
surveillance technology to track
unauthorized border-crossers.
Members of the Gang of Eight
said the amendment was
necessary to garner more
Republican votes for the bill.
(Photo: Matt York)

11. June 27, 2013
The Senate approved the Gang
of Eight’s sweeping immigration
reform bill by a vote of 68 to 32.
The historic vote places the bill
one step closer to becoming the
first overhaul of the nation’s
immigration system since 1986.
The bill was approved with the
help of all Democrats serving in
the Senate, and 14 Republicans.
Now, it goes to the House,
where Speaker John Boehner (R-
Ohio) has said he will not bring it
to the floor if it doesn’t have
support from a majority of
Republicans. (Photo: Benjamin J.
Myers)

12. WWW.VOXXI.COM
FOR MORE GO TO HTTP://VOXX.US/14AWTZW