Senator Ted Kennedy's Legacy on Immigration Reform

Senator Ted Kennedy was a friend to immigrants and immigration advocates. Tirelessly championing for immigration reform, he has an impressive record for fighting for the rights of undocumented workers, refugees, and all other immigrants. Here is an interview with him about immigration reform and some highlights of his career:

• The 1965 overhaul was first proposed by his brother, President John F. Kennedy, and it was the first piece of legislation that Kennedy managed on the floor of the Senate.
• In 1965, his party’s leaders gave him the job of pushing a bill to eliminate the quota system that had made it virtually impossible for anyone from anywhere but western Europe to immigrate to the USA. After winning that legislative battle, Kennedy “remained the Senate’s most impassioned advocate for widening opportunities for America’s newcomers.”
• Kennedy held hearings on the plight of refugees during the Vietnam war, which revealed that the U.S. government had no coherent policy for refugees.
• Kennedy helped bring a close to the exploitive Bracero program, which supplied the U.S. cheap and temporary labor during World War II in the form of Mexican farm laborers who did not have proper protections or rights
• He was the architect of the Refuge Act of 1980, a piece of legislation that, since its passage, has fostered a new life for hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylees, sheltering them from persecution in their home countries.
• He helped shape the 1986 bill that granted amnesty to an estimated 2.7 million people living undocumented in the USA and established penalties against employers who hired undocumented immigrants.
• He helped shape the 1990 bill that revised the legal immigration system to allow for more immigrants and more high-skilled workers.
• "He fashioned the modern-day legal system of immigration. He created humane refugee and asylum policies. And he has set the stage for a 21st century solution to the problem of illegal immigration," said Frank Sharry, an immigrant rights advocate who worked with Kennedy on legislation.
• Senator Kennedy also helped author the AgJobs bill of 2003, which gave undocumented farmers residency so they could continue working in the U.S.
• By creating an unlikely partnership with John McCain, Kennedy set the tone for a bipartisan approach to immigration reform, resulting in passage of immigration reform in the Senate in 2006. While that legislation ultimately failed, he came back with renewed vigor in 2007 to start the process again.
• Senator Kennedy was the chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, & Border Security. Senator Kennedy, always the supreme negotiator, sat down with Members from both sides of the aisle, Secretary Chertoff, and Secretary Gutierrez to hammer out a deal. That deal, S. 1348, met with lukewarm support from many immigration advocates and was pilloried by those on the far right, who turned the Senate’s efforts to find a way out of our immigration mess into a personal vendetta against immigrants.
• Senator Kennedy persisted, tirelessly working to “bring the twelve million out of the shadows.” This was his mantra and his assessment that our last, best chance to reform immigration could be at this moment. Twice in 2007, the Senator gave very moving speeches.
• In the last two years, he was worked tirelessly to expand resettlement opportunities for Iraqi refugees, particularly those who worked for the United States and had to flee the country to escape threats against their lives.
  
• The history of his involvement with leaders like Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez can be seen at the website of the United Farmworkers.