Immigration advocates have been pushing to reform our broken U.S. immigration system for decades, and yet, another year has gone by without passing a sweeping comprehensive bill. However, despite this and other setbacks suffered over the year, there were a number of smaller immigration reform victories that occurred in 2013. Here's a few.

The Bad

Immigration Reform Was Stalled in Congress

The biggest immigration reform setback of 2013 is the fact that comprehensive legislation did not pass through both houses of congress and there's no plan of action to address the 11 million undocumented immigrants who currently reside in our country. Although the Senate passed a bipartisan bill over the summer that included a pathway to citizenship, Republican leadership in the House has adamantly opposed it while House Speaker John Boehner refused to bring the bill to a vote.

Experts remain divided over the hope that congress will act in 2014, during an election year.

Immigrants Are Still Being Held in Detention Prisons

As advocates strive for reform, the thousands of undocumented immigrants continually thrust into the detention system is an issue that remains under the radar.

In the past five years, Homeland Security officials have jailed record numbers of immigrants due to a congressional directive known as the "bed mandate" that requires at least 34,000 immigrants be detained daily, reports the Washington Post. This quota, which is mandated by the Congressional Appropriations committee each year, effectively force immigration and local police to find people that are deportable in order to make sure beds are filled.

Department of Homeland Security officials deny that they are needlessly jailing immigrants to meet the quota, but critics note that the majority of ICE detainees are non-violent offenders.

Instead of addressing the systematic flaws in the detention system, the system is being privatized by corporations looking to secure government contracts to increase their profits in the billion-dollar industry. Meanwhile, county jails benefit by funneling money earned from detaining immigrants into their shrinking budgets. As a result, 50 percent of the 34,000 detention beds are operated by private prison companies such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group.

Because the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has yet to codify standards for detention, there are basically no rules to how people are held. As a result, tens of thousands of people are being uprooted from their families, communities, and livelihoods and swept up into detention facilities while they wait indefinitely in subhuman conditions for their cases to be decided.

The Good

While it's apparent that there is still a long way to go in the fight for immigration reform, there were a number of wins that occurred in 2013 that should be noted.

New Policy Grants Leniency to Detained Undocumented Parents

The Obama Administration has set a record for detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants, which has torn thousands of families apart. However, in August, the Obama administration announced a new policy that will help avoid the deportation of undocumented parents who have minor children.

The policy directive instructs ICE agents to give special consideration to an illegal immigrant who is a parent or legal guardian of a child, reports the Washington Times. Immigration agents already have the authority to not pursue certain low-priority immigration offenders, including those who are parents of minors. However, the new policy would grant parents picked up by ICE officials more leniency.

In a nine-page memo, the ICE stated that agents should use "prosecutorial discretion" to try to avoid detaining parents. If parents are detained, however, agents should make sure they have the ability to visit with their children or participate in family court proceedings.

States Grant Driver's Licenses, State Tuition to Undocument Residents

In 2013, eight more states passed laws that allow undocumented immigrants to apply for driver's licenses and restricted local authorities from holding undocumented immigrants longer than necessary. There laws are being enforced in 11 states in total, including California, New Mexico, Utah and Connecticut. Studies show that giving driver's licenses to unlicensed drivers, helps to improve public safety since drivers are mandated to pass a driving test. In addition, Colorado, Minnesota, and Oregon also passed laws this year that permit in-state tuition for undocumented students, reports Think Progress.

Courts Block Local and State Anti-immigrant Laws 

The Ninth Circuit of Appeals upheld a district court's preliminary injunction on a key provision of the Arizona's controversial anti-immigrant law that would have made it illegal to give undocumented immigrants rides or shelter. The opinion called the statute "incomprehensible to a person of ordinary intelligence and is therefore void for vagueness."

Key provisions of Alabama's strict anti-immigrant bill HB 56, which critics say encourages racial profiling, have been permanently blocked. The worst of the law, which barred school enrollment, business and daily interaction with undocumented immigrants, was banned.

Plus, an appeals court struck down a Texas town's ordinance that prohibited landlords from renting to undocumented residents. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia also ruled that anti-immigration city ordinances in Hazleton infringed on federal immigration policies, while the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued decisions against an anti-immigration South Carolina law that would have criminalized undocumented immigrants seeking "shelter."

CA Limited Deportations for Non-violent Immigrants

The TRUST Act limits local law enforcement from screening and detaining undocumented immigrants for nonviolent offences. The new law in California will help ease the fears of the 2.45 million undocumented immigrants who live in the state from reporting crime due to the fear of being deported.

More House Republicans in Favor of a Pathway to Citizenship

In November, House Republicans Reps. Jeff Denham, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and David Valadao signed onto a comprehensive immigration bill introduced by House Democrats. They also added pressure on Speaker Boehner to allow the bill to come to a vote on the House floor.

Americans Have Become More Tolerant of Immigration

As America's demography continues to become more diverse, new studies show that the country on a whole has become more tolerant of immigration and the economic and cultural enrichment that immigrants contribute.

According to a new survey conducted by the College Board/National Journal, 63 percent of the adults agreed that "immigrants coming to this country today ... mostly take jobs Americans don't want." Among those 63 percent are African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic and college-educated Caucasian adults. However, 19 percent thought otherwise and said immigrants "mostly take jobs away from American citizens." That minuscule percentage mostly consists of whites without a college education and whites over 50 years old.

Similarly, a Fox News poll revealed that 78 percent of Americans support "allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the country and eventually qualify for U.S. citizenship as long as they meet certain requirements like paying back taxes, learning English, and passing a background check."