The US Senate easily passed an immigration bill last night that would give millions of illegal immigrants, including tens of thousands of Irish people, a chance to become American citizens.
The Senate voted 62-36 for the bipartisan bill that couples border security and enforcement with a guest worker programme that would put most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants on a path to US citizenship.
It is the most sweeping immigration bill in two decades, but Senate legislation has to be merged with a vastly different House bill that calls for tough border security and enforcement measures.
The House of Representatives bill, approved last year, would criminalise illegal immigrants and offers no path to legal status or earned citizenship.