Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act facts for kids

The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act was a special plan for changing immigration rules. People also called it the McCain-Kennedy Bill. It was introduced in the United States Senate on May 12, 2005.

Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy created this bill. It was one of the first big plans since the early 2000s to include three main parts:

• Helping people who were already in the country without permission to become legal.
• Creating programs for guest workers, who are people allowed to work in the country for a set time.
• Making borders stronger to control who comes in.

Understanding the Immigration Bill

This section explains more about what the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act was trying to do. It was an important step in the discussion about how people move to and live in the United States.

Why Was This Bill Important?

During 2005 and 2006, there was a big discussion in the United States about immigration. This bill became a very important part of that talk. Many people talked about it when they wanted to show if they supported or opposed certain ideas for changing immigration laws.

The bill was special because it tried to combine three different ideas into one plan. These ideas were:

• Allowing some people to become legal residents.
• Setting up programs for temporary workers.
• Improving border security.

What Happened to the Bill?

Even though it was very important, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act was never voted on in the Senate. This means it did not become a law on its own.

However, its ideas were used in later plans. Two other bills, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 and the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, were based on the original McCain-Kennedy bill. These later bills also tried to find a way to combine different ideas about immigration reform.

Learn More

• Immigration
• Immigration to the United States