Skip to content
Project 2025
Donate to support
diverse voices
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
Cargo containers piled on each other.

The Facts on U.S.–Canada Tariffs Nearly One Year Into Trump’s Plan

U.S. Capitol building

Congress Bill Spotlight: SERVE Act, To Undo Trump Renamings

Politicians Need Yoga to Enhance Their Leadership Skills

Politicians Need Yoga to Enhance Their Leadership Skills

For 80 Years, the President’s Party Has Almost Always Lost House Seats in Midterm Elections, a Pattern That Makes the 2026 Congressional Outlook Clear

For 80 Years, the President’s Party Has Almost Always Lost House Seats in Midterm Elections, a Pattern That Makes the 2026 Congressional Outlook Clear

Just the Facts: Congress at a Crossroads on Immigration—Legal Status, Secure Borders, and What Comes Next

News

Just the Facts: Congress at a Crossroads on Immigration—Legal Status, Secure Borders, and What Comes Next

America’s immigration debate is at a crossroads. Explore the latest congressional bills and discover how decades of dysfunction shaped today’s crisis.

Metin Ozer on Unsplash
David L. Nevins
By David L. NevinsSep 11, 2025
David L. Nevins
David L. Nevins serves as publisher of The Fulcrum. Additionally, Nevins serves as co-founder and Board Chairman of the Bridge Alliance. Nevins brings business acumen, vision and a tireless this-must-and-can-be-done zeal to the burgeoning movement to bridge divides to transform the political process. As a business leader, Nevins excels at building bridges between people and organizations from the right, left and center for civilized conversation and then action. He co-founded the Bridge Alliance because, as he says, “No matter how well managed and how well funded anyone organization is, significant political reform will not happen without an alliance to further collaborative interactions. Together we can and will raise the collective impact of all.” He is a member of the Aspen Institute Society of Fellows, with a focus on the Aspen Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership, he established and continues to work with The Nevins Democracy Leaders program at Penn State University. Nevins graduated with honors in economics from Penn State in 1969 and received an M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971.
See More Writings by author

The Fulcrum strives to approach news stories with an open mind and skepticism, striving to present our readers with a broad spectrum of viewpoints through diligent research and critical thinking. As best we can, remove personal bias from our reporting and seek a variety of perspectives in both our news gathering and selection of opinion pieces.For too long, our national discourse has been mired in partisan vitriol and performative outrage—drowning out the collaborative thinking, deliberative dialogue, and pragmatic problem-solving that democracy requires to thrive. This column offers a clear-eyed look at where we stand: the legislative landscape, the historical context, and the civic crossroads we now face. If we are to move forward as a nation, we must replace division with deliberation and rhetoric with results.

It's time for Congress to confront the issue of immigration not with slogans and soundbites, but with the seriousness it demands.

America’s immigration debate is at a breaking point, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Decades of dysfunction have left us with a system that fails both undocumented workers seeking legal status and communities demanding secure borders.

The time for partisan posturing is over. What we need now is a fair and enforceable path to citizenship, paired with smart, humane border security and a national conversation rooted in facts, not fear.

Decades of dysfunction demand a new approach. Here’s what current legislation, historical precedent, and policy shifts reveal about America’s immigration future.

Congress Bills In Process

The Dignity Act (2025)

  • Sponsor: Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL)
  • Status: Introduced, facing an uphill battle in Congress
  • Key Provisions:
    • Establishes a seven-year “Dignity Program” allowing undocumented immigrants to earn legal status if they pay restitution, pass background checks, and work legally.
    • After completing the program, participants may enter a “Redemption Program” to apply for permanent residency (green card).
    • Includes border security measures and mandatory E-Verify for employers.
    • Amnesty-like Element: Offers a path to legal status without immediate deportation, but not a six-month green card application window.

Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929

  • Sponsor: Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA)
  • Status: Pending, introduced July 2025
  • Key Provisions:
    • Updates the “Registry” date to allow immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for at least seven years to apply for a green card.
    • Applies to Dreamers, TPS holders, essential workers, and others without criminal records.
    • Amnesty-like Element: Grants legal status based on long-term residence, but no fixed six-month application window.

Failed: Bipartisan Border Security and Aid Package (2024)

  • Status: Collapsed in Senate vote, February 2024
  • Key Provisions:
    • Tied immigration reform to emergency aid for Ukraine and Israel.
    • Included expanded deportation powers and detention capacity.
    • No direct amnesty, but was mischaracterized by opponents as allowing “5,000 illegal immigrants per day.”
    • Why It Failed: Political pressure, especially from former President Trump, led Republicans to withdraw support.

Additional 2025 Legislative and Policy Developments

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA)

  • Signed into law on July 4, 2025, this sweeping enforcement-first legislation dramatically reshapes immigration policy.
  • Key Provisions:
    • $45 billion allocated for immigration detention facilities through 2029.
    • $46 billion for border wall expansion along the U.S.–Mexico border.
    • Repeals the Flores Settlement Agreement, allowing indefinite detention of families and children.
    • Introduces new application fees and benefit restrictions for immigrants seeking legal status.
  • Impact: Critics warn of humanitarian consequences and erosion of due process.

TPS Revocation for Hondurans and Nicaraguans

  • Effective September 2025, the Biden administration has ended Temporary Protected Status for over 70,000 individuals, raising urgent questions about deportation policy and humanitarian protections.

USCIS Marriage-Based Green Card Reforms

  • Updated forms and scrutiny procedures rolled out in spring 2025.
  • Stricter fraud detection protocols now apply to marriage-based green card applications.

Extra H-2B Visas for Temporary Workers

  • In response to labor shortages, Congress approved additional H-2B visas, reflecting bipartisan concern over workforce gaps.

Historical Perspective:

Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986

  • Status: Passed
  • Key Provisions:
    • Granted amnesty to undocumented immigrants who had lived in the U.S. since before 1982.
    • Required proof of residence and good moral character.
    • Provided temporary legal status, followed by green card eligibility after 18 months.
  • Amnesty Element: This remains the closest historical precedent to a broad legalization program, combining enforcement with earned legal status.

Gang of Eight Framework (2013)

  • Status: Passed Senate, stalled in House
  • Key Provisions:
    • Created a 13-year pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, contingent on border security benchmarks.
    • Expanded employment-based and family-based visa programs, including provisions for agricultural workers and DREAMers.
    • Mandated E-Verify for employers and enhanced visa tracking systems.
    • Invested billions in border security infrastructure and personnel.
  • Legacy Element: Though it failed to become law, the Gang of Eight’s bipartisan blueprint remains a touchstone for comprehensive reform—balancing legalization, enforcement, and modernization of the visa system.

Latest news

American flag
Democracy

From the Ashes, What Would A ‘Re-Founding’ of American Democracy Look Like?

NRF Moves to Defend Utah’s Fair Map Against Gerrymandering Lawsuit
Governance & Legislation

NRF Moves to Defend Utah’s Fair Map Against Gerrymandering Lawsuit

Maxwell Is the Prosecutable Person
Justice

Maxwell Is the Prosecutable Person

Read More

A Constitutional Provision We Ignored for 150 Years

Voter registration in Wisconsin

Michael Newman

A Constitutional Provision We Ignored for 150 Years

Imagine there was a way to discourage states from passing photo voter ID laws, restricting early voting, purging voter registration rolls, or otherwise suppressing voter turnout. What if any state that did so risked losing seats in the House of Representatives?

Surprisingly, this is not merely an idle fantasy of voting rights activists, but an actual plan envisioned in Section 2 of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 – but never enforced.

Keep ReadingShow less
People wearing vests with "ICE" and "Police" on the back.

The latest shutdown deal kept government open while exposing Congress’s reliance on procedural oversight rather than structural limits on ICE.

Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

A Shutdown Averted, and a Narrow Window Into Congress’s ICE Dilemma

Congress’s latest shutdown scare ended the way these episodes usually do: with a stopgap deal, a sigh of relief, and little sense that the underlying conflict had been resolved. But buried inside the agreement was a revealing maneuver. While most of the federal government received longer-term funding, the Department of Homeland Security, and especially Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was given only a short-term extension. That asymmetry was deliberate. It preserved leverage over one of the most controversial federal agencies without triggering a prolonged shutdown, while also exposing the narrow terrain on which Congress is still willing to confront executive power. As with so many recent budget deals, the decision emerged less from open debate than from late-stage negotiations compressed into the final hours before the deadline.

How the Deal Was Framed

Democrats used the funding deadline to force a conversation about ICE’s enforcement practices, but they were careful about how that conversation was structured. Rather than reopening the far more combustible debate over immigration levels, deportation priorities, or statutory authority, they framed the dispute as one about law-enforcement standards, specifically transparency, accountability, and oversight.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pier C Park waterfront walkway and in the background the One World Trade Center on the left and the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad and Ferry Terminal Clock Tower on the right

View of the Pier C Park waterfront walkway and in the background the One World Trade Center on the left and the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad and Ferry Terminal Clock Tower on the right

Getty Images, Philippe Debled

The City Where Traffic Fatalities Vanished

A U.S. city of 60,000 people would typically see around six to eight traffic fatalities every year. But Hoboken, New Jersey? They haven’t had a single fatal crash for nine years — since January 17, 2017, to be exact.

Campaigns for seatbelts, lower speed limits and sober driving have brought national death tolls from car crashes down from a peak in the first half of the 20th century. However, many still assume some traffic deaths as an unavoidable cost of car culture.

Keep ReadingShow less
Congress Has Forgotten Its Oath — and the Nation Is Paying the Price

US Capitol

Congress Has Forgotten Its Oath — and the Nation Is Paying the Price

What has happened to the U.S. Congress? Once the anchor of American democracy, it now delivers chaos and a record of inaction that leaves millions of Americans vulnerable. A branch designed to defend the Constitution has instead drifted into paralysis — and the nation is paying the price. It must break its silence and reassert its constitutional role.

The Constitution created three coequal branches — legislative, executive, and judicial — each designed to balance and restrain the others. The Framers placed Congress first in Article I (U.S. Constitution) because they believed the people’s representatives should hold the greatest responsibility: to write laws, control spending, conduct oversight, and ensure that no president or agency escapes accountability. Congress was meant to be the branch closest to the people — the one that listens, deliberates, and acts on behalf of the nation.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026