Immigrants Reform and Worker's Rights

I came across this article that I retrieved from the New York Times.http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/opinion/immigration-reform-and-workers-rights.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
To be honest I didn't quite understand the full definition of immigration reform.
I did know that at some point most of us were immigrants coming from different countries to reside in this country. So what does the term reform mean? It's mainly meant to change for the better due to results of abuses, and fixing the situation. There are other definitions for reform but this one nailed it according to this article.

After further reading it has seemed to me that the author has made some several valid points as to stating the fact that Congress, as well as the President whom has made some promises on immigration reform, yet it's all just talk. The author also stated several cases, to which I agree on a couple such as; stopping the abuse to the employees, whom are being threatened to be deported if they do not keep silence. These workers are not only being abused, but they are working hard and hardly getting paid. Where's the humanity in that?

Overhauling immigrants should be ensured worker's rights, before getting recruited. If everyone follows the golden rule of "Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you," then we could all benefit from these in the long run.

I think the author should have also stated the definition of reform that way some people like me, has a better understanding on the issue that was written. Also the author should have included specific genre of immigrants. Not just the race, but whether they were men, female, and even a child. Overall, I agree with some of the points that were made by the author.