Many developed countries have to deal with the problem of illegal immigration. This problem has many causes, but the main cause is economic in nature. 

The United States as the most powerful nation has the highest number of undocumented immigrants, with estimates ranging from 12 million to 20 million. Every year the number increases by approximately 500,000. 

Millions of people are lured by the possibility of earning several times more than they would in their native countries, in spite of the hardships and dangers that they would encounter getting into the United States. Suffice it to say that since 2000, almost 2,000 people have died, mostly from hunger and thirst, attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexican border.  

Some undocumented immigrants entered the country legally, but have either let their visas expire or violated established rules.  

To speak about the impending immigration reform bill, we need to look back at relatively recent history. When immigration reform was carried out under President Ronald Reagan – who did not initiate the reform, but did support it – there were approximately five million illegal immigrants in the United States. Of these, 2.7 million were granted temporary legal status, with the possibility of obtaining permanent status within 18 months. These green card holders were then eligible for citizenship in five years. 

It is not customary to refer to these measures, or the reforms that President Obama soon promises to announce, as "amnesty," even though that is what President Reagan called them. Nevertheless, Black's Law Dictionary gives Reagan's immigration reform bill of 1986 as an example of "amnesty." And it truly was amnesty for people who had crossed the border illegally or who did not have valid visas and were working in the United States without permission, who had not left the country for five years, had never been convicted of a felony, or had been convicted of less than three misdemeanors.  

Significant changes have been made to immigration law since 1986 – including the law passed on August 22, 1996, which we are not going to look at here – and even more bills were introduced for consideration and never passed in Congress. 

To be honest, we do not know how much President Obama's proposals will differ from those proposed and rejected in immigration reform bills from 2005 to 2007. However, we can make certain educated guesses. Let's take the most recent bill that was rejected, known as the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. It was written by a group of senators from both parties led by senators McCain (R-AZ), Kennedy (D-MA) and Kyl (R-AZ). This bill would have granted legal status to approximately 12 million immigrants without papers living permanently in the United States at the time of the bill's passage and given them the chance to become naturalized citizens in the future.  

Let's look at certain provisions in this 2007 bill that will most probably form the basis of President Obama's bill.

Changes in immigration policy 

A new visa known as the Z visa would give its holders the chance to live legally in the country for the rest of their lives, have a Social Security Number, and work. Holders of this visa would have the right to receive green cards after eight years. In order to receive this visa, applicants would have to pay a fine of $2,000 [sic] and taxes on any income earned during the period of illegal residence. Applicants would have to apply for this visa in their country of origin.

This bill proposed exchanging guarantees from employers for a point-based system that would allow immigration officers to take into consideration a combination of factors like education, work experience, family ties, and knowledge of English. Guarantees from employers would not be required, but invitations from them would count for additional points. England, Australia, Canada, and a number of other countries already use a similar system for selecting qualified workers.

Guest workers 

The Y visa would give guest workers the chance to remain in the country for two years. The program would be in effect for five years and would cover 200,000 people.

Measures that would help make immigration reform happen 

The Act would have strengthened border security. Specifically, it would have increased the number of border patrol agents to 20,000 and provided for the construction of an additional 600 km of fencing.  

The Act also envisaged the creation of a system to verify a person's right to work. This data would have been provided by employers, regardless of the size of the company, in relation to the total number of immigrants working for them.  

It is notable that the Act envisaged the implementation of these measures before the introduction of its immigration portion.  

The Immigration Reform & Control Act of 1986 included similar measures, but their implementation was frozen for a number of reasons. The main barrier to passing these measures was and remains the position of employers, who want a cheap work force. There have even been cases where high-level officials have employed undocumented immigrants.  

In spite of the Act's clear merits, it was not passed and faced strong criticism from both the left and the right. Conservatives believed (correctly, in part) that giving undocumented immigrants the chance to become U.S. citizens would serve as a reward for violators of immigration law, while law-abiding immigrants would be forced to wait years for their turn to enter the country. The waiting period for siblings of U.S. citizens is 12 years.  

Liberals were critical of the provision restricting family reunification, believing that it is unacceptable to place such restrictions on U.S. citizens. Unions, human rights advocates, and some other associations attacked the guest worker program, which, in their opinion, would create a lower class of workers with no benefits. Additionally, the need to return home for one year before applying for a new visa would force these workers to become undocumented. 

I believe that it is impossible to create an ideal reform bill that would reflect the interests of all immigrants (legal and illegal), and liberal and conservative politicians trying to attract the most voters.  

The interests of various groups of undocumented immigrants also do not coincide with level of education, professional qualifications, or knowledge of English.  

With legal status, undocumented immigrants from the former Soviet Union could look for more prestigious and better paying jobs. Many of them could have their diplomas evaluated or attend college here. The majority of immigrants in this group entered the United States legally, while most undocumented immigrants, especially those from Latin American countries, entered the country by illegally crossing the border.  

President Obama has promised to address illegal immigration in May and then create working groups made up of Democrats and Republicans to prepare a bill by the fall, fulfilling a campaign promise to voters. Moreover, he has already put the number of undocumented immigrants who may be granted legal status on a path to becoming citizens at 12 million, leading to the conclusion that the president intends to grant amnesty to all illegal immigrants (of course, there could end up being more than 12 million of them). 

Let's hope that Congress will finally put an end to the deadlock and pass this reform bill.