Skip to main content

IMMIGRATION REFORM – COMING THIS FALL? REASONS FOR OPTIMISM

Image
By Becca

President Obama has always insisted that immigration reform is a top priority for the president’s first term. The president’s position on was recently reiterated by White House spokesman Nick Shapiro who said that “the president has consistently said that he wants to start the discussion later this year because our immigration system is broken … but the economy comes first.” The big “but” is what generally concerns all those who are pushing for reform. However, another spokesperson for the president informed the press that the president intends to try to take comprehensive immigration reform to the floor later this year, probably in the fall. Cause for hope. Additional reasons for hope include the following:

First, the president considers himself to be a great “multi-tasker.” (See the president’s rebuffing of candidate McCain who proposed that the debates cease so they could focus on the economic crisis). This goes to the fact that the president can work both on the economy and the broken immigration system currently in place at the same time, meaning that the “big but” should not be an obstacle that the multi-tasking president cannot overcome.

Second, the president supported former president Bush’s reform. As a senator, Obama supported immigration legislation that would have increased funding and improved border security technology, improved enforcement of existing laws, and provided a legal path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Third, and finally, there appears to be support for reform on the Hill. Senator Schumer, from New York, explained yesterday that Congress was willing to work with Obama on comprehensive immigration reform. The Senator stated that “[w]e must solve the immigration issue, and we can, even in these difficult economic times. I believe there is a real chance of passing comprehensive reform this year, and the Senate panel on immigration will begin a series of meetings and hearings later this month with an eye towards meeting that goal.”

With immigration reform possibly on the horizon, I have two pieces of advice for those immigrants who could potentially benefit from the reform. First, behave yourself. If your record is clean, your path to legalization will no doubt be easier. Second, save your money. There will no doubt be fines to pay and filing fees as well, just as with 245(i) back in 2001. Save now.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Are An Immigrant (even a US Citizen), Here Are 9 Things You Should Know

By
Are you a Naturalized U.S. Citizen, Lawful Permanent Resident, Visa Holder, or an Undocumented Immigrant? We recommend you take the following steps to protect yourself in our current version of America. The last couple of weeks have reminded immigrants, even naturalized U.S. citizens, that they were not born in the United States. Our office has received countless phone calls, emails, and social media messages from people worrying about what their family’s future in the United States holds. Most people want to know what they can do now to protect themselves from what promises to be a wave of anti-immigration activity by the federal government. Trump's Executive Order on Interior Enforcement has some provisions that should make most Americans shiver.  We recommend the following actions for each of the following groups: Naturalized U.S. citizens. In particular if you have a foreign accent, and you are traveling within 100 miles of any US Border (including the oceans
231 comments
Read more

Seven Reasons Why the Georgia Legislature Should Repeal HB-87

By
Recently the Alabama Attorney General called on the Alabama State Legislature to repeal parts of Alabama's horrid anti-immigration law ( HB 56), because of the "unintended" consequences of the bill (frankly, what happened was not unintended). Because of the similarity between the two laws, Georgia's Speaker of the House, David Ralston was asked whether Georgia Legislature would repeal part or all of HB 87, Georgia own anti-immigration law. HB 87 has caused almost a half a billion dollars in damage to the Georgia economy (along with untold suffering in Georgia's immigrant communities) without any noted or reported positive effect. Speaker Ralston plainly stated that the Georgia Legislature would NOT do anything to repeal HB 87 . While it understandable why a politician would not admit that a pet bill he shepherded and pushed through the state legislature was simply bad law, it is also clear that Speaker Ralston is facing a challenge on his RIGHT in th
1 comment
Read more

Why is USCIS Taking So Long to Renew DACA Work Permits?

By
If the calls to our office are any indicator, there are thousands of DACA recipients whose work permit applications were filed at least three months prior to expiration, who are still waiting for their renewed work permits.  Without renewed permits, these individuals lose the right to work legally, the right to drive, and may once again accrue unlawful presence. The DHS published a notice in October 2014 advising DACA recipients that they could file their request for extension up to 150 days (5 months) prior to expiration.  As with all things government, very few of the DACA recipients, who tend not to frequent government websites, knew about the memo and many did not file so far before expiration perhaps thinking that extending a work permit was a like extending a drivers license, its is done in a few minutes.  As an experienced immigration lawyer will tell you, the USCIS does nothing quickly, and certainly does not worry that a person may lose their job or their driver's licens
16 comments
Read more