The Senate has rejected the first major challenge to the bipartisan immigration deal reached last week. On Tuesday, senators voted down an amendment that would have eliminated a controversial guest worker program. The program would grant temporary residence to up to 600,000 foreign workers but bar them from the U.S. at the end of their permits. Critics say the plan would decrease wages and create a new underclass of workers. Meanwhile in Mexico, workers’ rights advocates criticized the new legislation.

Human rights activist Edgar Cortez: “The conditions that caused migration are still there. Migration will continue to exist. More persons will consider that option, and for them, the conditions will be worse, a more restrictive policy by the U.S. that could possibly result in more human rights violations, more risks and costs.”