As negotiations on comprehensive immigration reform among key stakeholders enters its last phase, a top American Senator believes that the Senate would be able to vote on a Bill in this regard by this summer.

“By this summer, I hope that all members of the Senate will be able to vote for or against comprehensive immigration reform and that each member will take into consideration the significant process that the Senate Judiciary Committee will have completed,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said in a letter to the Republican Senator Marco Rubio yesterday.

The Republican Senator from Florida is among the eight key Senators — called the gang of eight — who are holding the negotiations.

Some members of this group said over the weekend that they have almost reached an agreement and a draft of the Bill would be available by May.

Leahy’s letter to Rubio was in response to his letter concerning the Committee’s timeline for proceeding to legislation.

The former US Ambassador to Mexico Antonio Garza said to continue to attract and retain those who want to better their lives by coming to the US and contributing to economy, the US must adopt a sensible immigration policy.

“Our main economic competitors are structuring policies to lure immigrant talent. Without immigration reform, we risk seeing those who would come to the US to work hard and get ahead, innovate and invent, and start and grow companies go elsewhere. Our great country can’t afford such an outcome,” he said.

Garza said several recent studies underscore just how significant immigration has been in helping drive US economic success. For instance, that 18 per cent of the companies on the Fortune 500 list (the annual ranking of top American companies by revenue) were founded by immigrants.

These 90 companies span all sectors of the economy, generate more than $1.7 trillion in annual revenues and employ more than 3.6 million people worldwide. They include such recognisable names as Goldman Sachs, AT&T, Google, DuPont and US Steel, he noted.