Immigration debate coming to a head

In the wake of the immigrant rights protests that convulsed the nation -- and the South -- over the last two months, the U.S. Senate is now taking up the issue. The Center for Community Change in D.C. offers an overview of what's at stake:

America's immigration system can be fixed in a morally responsible way that does not compromise the values we all cherish. It is time for common sense solutions.

A few months ago, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would require the government to round up and deport millions of men, women and children. It would have also made it a crime to provide assistance to undocumented immigrants and would deny them basic civil rights and workplace protections. Legislation like this is bad for immigrants and is bad for all Americans.

This week, Senators have been debating a bill that would not require the deportation of all undocumented immigrants - just millions of them. Like the House bill, the Senate legislation would split millions of families apart. The Senate legislation would overturn Supreme Court decisions that prohibit the indefinite detention of immigrants, would facilitate the deportation of immigrants - even asylum seekers - without judicial due process, and treat minor offenses differently for immigrants than for non-immigrants.

As an alternative, the Center is asking people to write their Congressional representative and only support legislation with these features:

1) Respects our values of fairness, hard work and family

2) Provides a clear path to earned citizenship for undocumented people now living in the United States

3) Fixes America's broken immigration system to make it safe, legal, and orderly

4) Unites families which have been torn apart by decades of bad immigration decisions

5) Ensures strong workplace and civil rights protections, including due process for everyone

6) Includes the DREAM Act, which would enable thousands of undocumented immigrant youth to pursue avenues of higher education and the American dream