When the U.S. Senate announced last week that it has come up with a new immigration bill that is touted as the biggest overhaul of the U.S. immigration law in more than 40 years, many members of the Filipino community thought this was the real deal.

Not so fast, though. After the initial euphoria has subsided, it is easy to see now that this new bill is nothing but an incoherent mish-mash that will solve very little.

One does not have to be an immigration lawyer to know that the U.S. immigration system is broken. Legal channels of immigration are few and inadequate for the needs of the United States. One result is a huge backlog in family visas for those seeking to join family members. The wait is routinely seven to 10 years, and in the case of Filipinos who have the longest waiting time on record, the process can be as long as 22 years.

Also, employment-based visas are not enough to fill the demand for workers and professionals. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has perennially lobbied the U.S. Congress to either increase the number of employment visas available each year or to totally scrap the cap on work-related visas.

Last year, the Senate passed a bill that addressed the underlying causes of illegal immigration. It increased family-based and employment-based visas and created a guest worker program providing a path to U.S. citizenship. The bill also dealt with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, giving them a chance to earn citizenship. It addressed border security, adding fencing and vehicle barriers along the Mexican border, plus 1,000 new border patrol officers.

In contrast, the new bill that the Senate is debating would bar workers from coming to the United States until the government has doubled the border patrol from 14,000 agents to 28,000, built more fences, and begun an electronic employer verification system.

The new proposal would allow temporary guest workers, but they have no path to U.S. citizenship. They would have to leave every two years and stay out of the country for a year. They could work here for a maximum of six years. Anyone bringing family would have to have an income 150 percent over the poverty line and have health insurance – effectively shutting out the low-wage workers who the program is supposed to address.

Under the proposal, existing undocumented immigrants who pay fines and back taxes, maintain steady employment, have a clean criminal record, and learn English could apply for a green card after eight years. However, they have to return to their home country to submit their application for a green card at a U.S. consulate. This is pure bureaucratic nonsense.

The proposal would still allow U.S. citizens and legal immigrants to bring their husbands or wives, minor children, and parents (and extra visas would be added over the next eight years to eliminate the current backlog). But adult children as well as brothers and sisters would no longer have an automatic right to immigrate. They have to prove that they have skills, education, and speak English.

This latest proposal is unworkable, and it is a formula for more illegal immigration.