(Washington, DC) – The United States Senate is set to take an important step toward establishing landmark protections for unauthorized immigrants. The plan could grant eventual legal status to millions of people and reduce their vulnerability to human rights abuses.

A summary of the proposed Senate Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act was made public on April 16, 2013, outlining significant changes to the complex array of immigration laws in the United States. The bill is set to be considered by the full Senate starting on April 17.

“The Senate proposal could prove a watershed moment in the history of US immigration by bringing millions of people out of the shadows,” said Alison Parker, US program director at Human Rights Watch. “But the proposal still threatens the rights of migrants to family unity and due process.”

Unfortunately, the Senate proposal would fund a major expansion of criminal prosecutions for crossing the country’s southern border. Even more illegal crossers may end up serving prison time, even though existing laws already allow deportation for illegal crossers. These prosecutions fail to target genuine threats to public safety or national security and impose tremendous human and financial costs, as Human Rights Watch will detail in an upcoming report. Prosecutions should not be expanded without careful consideration of whether they meet their purported goals.

“Prosecutions of migrant crossers are unnecessary and wasteful when deportation is already permitted,” Parker said. “The US government should not misdirect its energies and resources to prosecute and imprison people seeking to reunite with family, flee violence, or seek work.”

While the proposal would establish a method by which unauthorized immigrants could regularize their status, it denies people with felony convictions or three misdemeanors even the possibility of legal status. The proposal is unclear whether disqualification would allow for exceptions depending, for example, on whether the felony was nonviolent, the conviction occurred long ago, or the immigrant has since demonstrated rehabilitation or maintains strong nuclear family relationships in the US.

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