When is a Law really a Law?
I’ve been practicing immigration law for over 11 years now and one thing has remained constant: new immigration laws are being introduced in Congress almost on a daily basis. However, only a small portion of these proposed laws are considered “newsworthy” enough to be reported in the media and only a small portion of even the reported proposed laws ever become actual laws. Nonetheless, I have a steady stream of people coming into my office to ask me about whether a particular proposal will help them, or their loved ones, with their immigration problem. The answer to that question will always depend on whether the “law” they are asking me about is really a law that they can rely upon.
All immigration laws start life as Bills – proposed laws that are drafted by one or more members of Congress and introduced into either the House of Representatives (“House”) or the Senate (“Congress” is made up of both the House and the Senate). At this point, the Bill is not yet a law. Instead, it is just a proposal that needs to be “discussed” in Congress and voted upon.
Once a Bill is introduced, it will be referred to one or more congressional committees for further discussion and possible amendment. Congressional committees are made up of individual members of Congress. House Committees are made up of individual members of the House and are appointed by the House; Senate Committees are made up of individual members of the Senate and are appointed by the Senate. Once the committee is done with the Bill, the committee can, but does not have to, send the Bill to the floor for a vote. Most Bills introduced in Congress are never voted upon because they never make it out of committee.
Once a Bill makes it out of committee, it is sent to the floor for a vote. Even then, there is no guarantee that the Bill will actually be voted upon. Many Bills “die” waiting for a vote. Once a Bill is sent to the floor for a vote, it must be voted upon before the end of that congressional session (each session runs roughly from January to November). If the session ends before there is a vote, that Bill “dies” and must be reintroduced at the next session. There is no guarantee that the Bill will be reintroduced; the decision is entirely up to the author of the Bill.
Once a Bill is approved by a floor vote, it must then be sent to the other house of Congress so they can also vote on the Bill. For example, a Bill that is introduced and approved by the House will go to the Senate for a vote. A Bill that is introduced and approved by the Senate will go to the House for a vote. This is another point at which a Bill can be changed. If, for example, the House approves a Bill and sends it to the Senate, the Senate can, instead of voting on the House Bill, instead vote on its own Bill which is slightly (or sometimes drastically) different from the House Bill. If two different Bills are passed, they must be “combined” into a single Bill. This process will produce a third version of the Bill, different from the earlier versions approved by either the House or the Senate.
Once Congress (both the House and the Senate) has approved a Bill, it is presented to the President for signature. If the President signs the Bill, then, and only then, does the Bill become Law.
As you can see, the transformation of a Bill into Law is a very complicated process and the Bill can go through a number of changes before this process is completed. Because of this, the Bill you hear about in the news may never make it into law at all – or if it does, it may be very, very different from the Bill you read about in the paper.
So if you read about a really bad immigration Bill being introduced in Congress, don’t get too worried just yet; and if you read about a really good immigration Bill being introduced, don’t get too excited just yet, they both have a long way to go.
