U.S. Senate passes landmark immigration bill

The U.S. Senate voted 68 to 32 on Thursday to pass a landmark comprehensive immigration bill.

The broad immigration reform bill includes a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

According to the BBC, after the bill was passed, President Barack Obama, who has made immigration a top priority for his second term, said the vote brought the US 'a critical step closer to fixing the country's broken immigration system once and for all'.

Members of the bipartisan group that negotiated the original bill, known as the Gang of Eight, thanked the broad coalition that had backed immigration reform efforts, the report said.

One member of the group, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, said the voices of young undocumented immigrants had made a difference.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the bill's border security measures had exceeded every expectation he had'.