As legislators debate what to do with the proposed immigration bill in light of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects revealed to be immigrants, agricultural and farm workers along with gay rights groups are pushing their own agendas when it comes to passing immigration reform.
Gay rights groups, activists and lobbyists have been pushing for the bill to be readjusted in order to include bi-national same sex couples and allow gay Americans to sponsor their partners for green cards. However, Democrats are treading carefully on that subject, as it could lose the Republican support in Congress that the bill needs in order to pass.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a member of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" that crafted the bill, said last week at the bill's unveiling that the panel was committed to voting against any changes to the bill that could cause it to fail.
"Opponents will be proposing amendments that, if passed, could collapse this very fragile coalition that we've been able to achieve," Sen. McCain said, as noted by Fox News.
Democrats have largely been supportive of gay rights, including the right for same-sex couples to wed, but they could be hesitant to support adding in any language that could cause a wave of Republicans to oppose the bill at the last minute.
"Any amendment which might sink the immigration bill, I would worry about," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said.
Some Democrats such as Sen. Al. Franken, D-Minn., have put their support behind adjusting the bill to allow gay citizens to sponsor their partners for citizenship, but the main theme that has been constant during the crafting of the bill has been one of compromise-meaning that not every group is going to be satisfied with the bill.
"No one will get everything they want from it, including the president. That's the nature of compromise. But the bill is largely consistent with the principles he has laid out repeatedly," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said last week.
Meanwhile, another group with a vested interest in the immigration bill-the farming and agricultural sector-took their case to Congress this week.
United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez and farmer representatives testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday to promote the farmworker section of the bill.
Rodriguez commended Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for putting together a farmworker proposal "that will strengthen our nation's agricultural industry."
The proposal calls for three-year visas that can be used by dairy farmers that need workers all year round, and provides a flexible wage agreement that addresses the needs of farmers and ranchers in all fields around the country.
For years, farmers have complained that the current H-2A visa system is too difficult to navigate, forcing them to contract workers that are undocumented.
Regarding the new proposal, Rodriguez said it "would give professional farmworkers presently in the United States" temporary legal status as well as the change to earn permanent legal residence through continued work in agriculture, as Yahoo! News reports.
While Sen. Feinstein said that there was enough unanimity to pass the farmworker section of the bill unamended, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa--who recently made headlines by calling for legislators to progress slowly on the immigration reform bill after the identities of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects showed them to be Chechen immigrants-said he was worried that the bill makes legalization too easy.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a vocal opponent of the immigration bill, added that the felt farmers were saying that they were "entitled" to having a certain number of workers.
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