June 28, 2013

The United States Senate yesterday passed a major overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws with broad bipartisan support. The vote was 68-to-32, with 14 Republicans joining the entire Democratic caucus voting in favor.

The legislation provides a 13-year path to citizenship for the nation’s estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants. It also includes tough border security provisions that must be realized before the immigrants can gain legal status. These provisions require the addition of 20,000 more border agents; 700 miles (1,125 kilometers) of fence along the boundary with Mexico; and the deployment of $3.2 billion in technology upgrades along the border.

United States Border Patrol members ride all-terrain vehicles near El Paso, Texas, along the border with Mexico, looking for signs of illegal immigration and other crimes. Juarez, Mexico, rises in the background. (© Jim Young, Reuters/Landov)

Political experts suggest that the legislation will meet with major opposition in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. House Speaker John Boehner has stated that whatever immigration measure his chamber takes up would have to be supported by a majority of his Republican conference. The so-called Tea Party members of the House have voiced their opposition to any road to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants.

Additional World Book articles:

• Immigration and Customs Service, United States
• Immigration and Naturalization Service
• Immigration: The Latest Wave (a special report)
• Immigration Politics (a special report)
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)

December 18, 2012

Representative Tim Scott, a conservative Republican, was chosen yesterday by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to replace outgoing Senator Jim DeMint. “It is a historic day in South Carolina,” noted Governor Haley during her announcement at the South Carolina state house in Columbia. “He earned this seat for what I know he is going to do to make South Carolina and our country proud.”

Scott will be the first African American from the South to serve in the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction and its aftermath. When Scott takes office in January, he will be the only African American currently in the Senate and the first to serve in that body since Roland Burris, a Democrat from Illinois. Burris served in 2009 and 2010, filling the seat left vacant by the election of then-Senator Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008.

Tim Scott has become the first African American member of the United States Senate from South Carolina since the late 1800's. The Senate and the House of Representatives meet in the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C. (Robert H. Glaze, Artstreet)

Scott, who has enjoyed the support of the Tea Party movement, represents a South Carolina Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Before being elected to the House, he served for 13 years on the Charleston County Council and for 2 years in the South Carolina House.

Senator Jim DeMint is leaving the Senate to head the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative think tank.

Additional World Book articles:

• Blanche Bruce
• Hiram Rhodes Revels
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a Special Report)