	Introduction

For several years, some Members of Congress have favored "comprehensive immigration reform" (CIR), a label that commonly refers to omnibus legislation that includes increased border security and immigration enforcement, expanded employment eligibility verification, revision of nonimmigrant visas and legal permanent immigration, and legalization for some unauthorized aliens residing in the country. Leaders in both chambers have identified immigration as a legislative priority in the 113 th Congress. While the House Committee on the Judiciary has ordered reported several distinct pieces of legislation that aim to reform immigration law thus far in the 113 th Congress, the debate in the Senate has focused on a single CIR bill: the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act ( S. 744 ). On June 27, 2013, the Senate passed S. 744 , as amended, by a yea-nay vote of 68-32. This report summarizes major provisions of S. 744 , as reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee and as modified and passed on the Senate floor. CRS's analysis focuses on eight major policy areas that encompass the U.S. immigration debate: comprehensive reform "triggers" and funding; border security; interior enforcement; employment eligibility verification and worksite enforcement; legalization of unauthorized aliens; immigrant visas; nonimmigrant visas; and humanitarian provisions. The initial $46.3 billion effectively would be an appropriation to the CIR Trust Fund and would be made available immediately for obligation and expenditure for the following purposes:
$30 billion over a 10-year period for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to hire and deploy at least 19,200 additional trained full-time active duty U.S. Border Patrol agents along the Southern Border; $4.5 billion over a five-year period for DHS to carry out the Comprehensive Security Strategy; $2 billion over a 10-year period for DHS to enact recommendations of the Southern Border Security Commission (see "Border Security Strategies and Metrics") and for administrative expenses directly associated with convening and providing summaries of public hearings required by Section 3(c)(2); $8 billion over a five-year period for DHS to procure and deploy fencing, infrastructure, and technology pursuant to the Fencing Strategy, with not less than $7.5 billion being used to deploy, repair, or replace fencing; $750 million over a six-year period for DHS to expand and implement the mandatory employment eligibility verification system in INA Section 274A as amended by Section 3101 of the bill (see "Employment Eligibility Verification"); $900 million over an eight-year period for the Department of State to pay for one-time and startup costs to implement the bill; and $150 million over a two-year period to be transferred to the Departments of Labor, Agriculture, and Justice for their initial costs of implementing the bill. Border Security35

S. 744 includes a number of sections designed to strengthen border security, including mandates for new border security strategies; increased border security personnel, equipment, and infrastructure; DHS waiver authority and access to certain federal lands; provisions related to immigration-related crimes and prosecutions; and efforts to strengthen the entry-exit system. The bill would rewrite INA Section 275 (unlawful entry) to increase civil and misdemeanor penalties for first-time offenses, impose felony penalties when aggravating circumstances exist (e.g., re-entry following a voluntary departure order), and also to eliminate criminal liability for attempted unlawful entry. The U.S. Provisions in S. 744 would amend the INA's interior enforcement provisions in several ways. Subtitle E of Title III would provide additional resources to immigration courts (see " Immigration Courts "). The bill would create additional grounds of inadmissibility and deportability, while also broadening judges' discretion to waive certain such grounds (see " Grounds of Inadmissibility, Deportability, and Relief from Removal "). S. 744 also would encourage alternatives to detention and strengthen DHS detention standards as well as congressional oversight of immigrant detention (see " Immigrant Detention "). Subtitle H of Title III of S. 744 establishes special procedures to protect children who are affected by immigration enforcement (see " Protection of Children during Immigration Enforcement "). S. 744 proposes to establish a general legalization program for unauthorized aliens in the United States (see "Registered Provisional Immigrants (RPIs)"), with special pathways for aliens who entered the country as children (See "DREAM Act") and for agricultural workers (see "Agricultural Worker Legalization"). Adjustment of Status to Lawful Permanent Residence

S. 744 would add a new section (245F) to the INA to provide for the adjustment of status of aliens with blue card status to LPR status. The basic worldwide limits on family- and employment-based preference (i.e., numerically-capped) visas would be unchanged at 480,000 and 140,000, respectively; but the bill would allow the allocation of unused roll-over and recaptured visas from previous years, would eliminate the per-country ceiling for employment-based preferences, and would increase the per-country ceiling for family-based preferences from 7% to 15%, in addition to other changes to these systems (see "Family-Based Immigration" and Employment-based Immigration"). Foreign nationals who have pending LPR petitions or who acquire RPI status would not be eligible for Track One visas. S. 744 would make extensive revisions to nonimmigrant categories for professional specialty workers (see " H-1B Professional Specialty Workers "), intra-company transferees (see "L Visa Intra-Company Transferees"), and other skilled workers (see "Other Skilled and Professional Worker Visas"). Additional nonimmigrant provisions in S. 744 would be designed to promote tourism (see "Tourism Related Provisions") and would make changes to student and other nonimmigrant visas (see " Other Nonimmigrant Visa Changes "). S. 744 would amend the E-3 visa category so that nationals of Ireland would be eligible. S. 744 would increase the number of H-2B workers eligible to be admitted in a year, while also imposing additional requirements on H-2B employers. S. 744 would address this policy goal by creating a new "W" nonimmigrant visa category, which would accommodate ongoing employment in lower-skilled agricultural and non-agricultural positions. Congressional Budget Office Analysis of S. 744

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the changes to immigration resulting from S. 744 as passed by the Senate would result in a net increase of 9.6 million LPRs in the first decade after enactment.
For several years, some Members of Congress have favored "comprehensive immigration reform" (CIR), a label that commonly refers to omnibus legislation that includes increased border security and immigration enforcement, expanded employment eligibility verification, revision of nonimmigrant visas and legal permanent immigration, and legalization for some unauthorized aliens residing in the country. The omnibus legislative approach contrasts with incremental revisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that would address some but not all of these elements, and with sequential reforms that would tackle border security and interior enforcement provisions prior to revising legal immigration or enacting legalization pathways.
Leaders in both chambers have identified immigration as a legislative priority in the 113th Congress. While the House Committee on the Judiciary has ordered reported several distinct pieces of legislation that aim to reform immigration law thus far in the 113th Congress, the debate in the Senate has focused on a single CIR bill: the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744). This report summarizes major provisions of S. 744, which the Senate amended and passed by a yea-nay vote of 68-32 on June 27, 2013.
CRS's analysis of S. 744 focuses on eight major policy areas that encompass the U.S. immigration debate: comprehensive reform "triggers" and funding; border security; interior enforcement; employment eligibility verification and worksite enforcement; legalization of unauthorized aliens; immigrant visas; nonimmigrant visas; and humanitarian provisions.
Among the border and enforcement-related provisions in Senate-passed S. 744 are a number of provisions aimed at strengthening border security, including increased border security personnel, equipment, and infrastructure. The bill would mandate new border security strategies and the development of new border metrics that would be designed to achieve "effective control" of the Southern border. Most notably, S. 744 would authorize $44.5 billion in spending for additional border patrol agents, border fencing, and an electronic exit system to collect machine readable data at air and sea ports of entry.
The legislation would also authorize $750 million for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to implement a mandatory electronic employment verification system to be used by all employers. Furthermore, S. 744 would amend the INA to create additional grounds of inadmissibility and deportability, while broadening judges' discretion to waive some of these grounds. For certain immigration offenses, the bill would increase civil and misdemeanor penalties for first-time offenses and impose felony penalties when aggravating circumstances exist. The bill would amend INA provisions on unlawful reentry to increase criminal penalties. S. 744 would provide additional resources to immigration courts and would encourage alternatives to detention and strengthen detention standards and congressional oversight of immigrant detention. Special provisions would be included to protect children who are affected by immigration enforcement.
In turn, S. 744 would amend the INA to provide pathways for unauthorized aliens to adjust their immigration status to one of the proposed new statuses—"registered provisional immigrant" (RPI) status and "blue card" status—and ultimately legal permanent resident (LPR) status after specified border security and interior enforcement criteria are met. In addition to these legalization provisions, S. 744 would also accelerate the admission of an estimated 4 to 7 million foreign nationals who have pending petitions to become LPRs. S. 744 would substantially revise the categories for the admission of LPRs, eliminating the category for siblings of U.S. citizens, shifting the allocation of the other family-based categories, permitting more categories of LPRs to enter without numerical limits, and increasing the number of employment-based LPRs. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the changes to the legal immigration system would result in an increase of 9.6 million LPRs in the first decade after enactment.
Senate-passed S. 744 would revise and expand nonimmigrant (i.e., temporary immigration) programs for high- and low-skilled workers, as well as for tourists, students, and other nonimmigrants. The bill would increase the cap on professional specialty workers (H-1B workers), while also imposing new requirements on businesses that employ H-1B workers, as well as those that employ intra-company transferees (L visas). Reforms would be made to the existing H-2B visa for lower-skilled non-agricultural workers in temporary or seasonal employment, while the H-2A visa for agricultural workers would be phased out. New nonimmigrant visas (the proposed W visas) would be established for lower-skilled agricultural and non-agricultural workers that would be more flexible for employers, while also expanding certain rights for workers. Additional nonimmigrant visa changes would facilitate temporary immigration by doctors, investors, and aliens from certain countries with U.S. trade agreements; encourage tourism within the United States; and strengthen oversight of foreign students and summer-work study exchanges, among other changes.
An accompanying report, CRS Report R43099, Comprehensive Immigration Reform in the 113th Congress: Short Summary of Major Legislative Proposals, offers an overview of S. 744 as well.