Snap Fact #114

Integrate Act signed by the President on Dec. 9, 2010. The original bill took a long time to work its way through Congress. Representative Fortenberry and others worked hard to get it passed. It finally won passage in the house on July 20th by a voice vote and was passed on to the Senate for action. Two weeks later the Senate also passed the bill but there were changes from the House version. It was not until December 1st that the House agreed to the Senate's changes and again passed the bill by a voice vote. The President quickly signed the bill into law.

This bill grants no special considerations to the children but rather places them on the same path to citizenship enjoyed by all other internationally adopted children. Using Humanitarian Parole to unite children with their adoptive families was a true act of bipartisan humanitarianism fashioned during the Obama administration, even with both sides of the resistive Congress using this seemingly simple and well-intentioned Act as a political tool.