The United States government’s decision to downgrade Uzbekistan in a human trafficking ranking based on its use of forced and child labor sends a powerful message of support to the millions of Uzbeks forced to pick the country’s cotton crop. Moving Uzbekistan to the lowest category is one of the strongest efforts in years to hold Uzbekistan accountable for its atrocious record on forced labor

The women, about a dozen in all, had just finished breakfast at the Tijuana shelter when I arrived. Like many people in Mexican towns on the US border, they had been deported from the United States for not having proper documentation. When I asked them if they had kids living in the United States, most raised their hands and started crying. All these mothers, missing their children, unable to legally return to their families in the United States. I passed around tissues. These days, I always carry tissues with me.

Much of the Senate proposal is commendable, but reform to protect families will fall short if it doesn’t address the existing system’s inability to recognize the human capacity for change, or to distinguish between those who truly represent a danger to our communities and those who could instead strengthen them.

The proposed Senate immigration reform bill (S.744) would make significant changes to the complex array of laws that govern immigration in the US. Some of these changes would address longstanding and serious problems in the immigration system, but some aspects of the bill continue to threaten the rights of immigrants to family unity and due process.