Dear Readers:

We hope that all of you have had a happy holiday season and 2010 gets off to a good start.

From an immigration standpoint, 2010 should be an eventful year. Some time in the next few weeks, we are expected Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Chair of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, to introduce a major immigration reform bill. The White House has indicated a number of times recently that it is interested in moving forward with immigration reform right after the health care debate is finished and it is looking like that will happen soon.

Of course, the challenges for an immigration reform bill are significant. First and foremost, we are in the middle of a major recession and that always makes it harder to reform the immigration system. No doubt that many will suggest delaying consideration of the bill even though the provisions in the bill are designed to address problems that are decades in the making and the bill’s provisions are designed to address long term needs in the US economy. The bill will also be handicapped by a deeply polarized Congress where every measure in the Senate is filibustered.

On the plus side, however, is the fact that there are several Republican Senators who are likely to vote for immigration reform (unlike health care) and the Hispanic vote is so important that politicians who decide to use immigration as a wedge issue better be extremely careful that they cannot be ousted by the growing number of ethnic voters likely to take offense. Democrats, who have traditionally taken a more favorable position on immigration reform, also have a number of extra seats in both Houses of Congress since immigration reform was debated two years ago and that will certainly help.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently indicated that the Senate will go first with immigration reform. That’s because the filibuster in the Senate makes it more likely that reform will face a tougher time in that chamber. She doesn’t want vulnerable House members to have to cast a politically risky vote until it is clear it is necessary. But some House Democrats don’t want to wait. Nearly 90 members of the House introduced a bill last week that is the first immigration reform bill to be introduced. That bill, under the lead sponsorship of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is not likely to be the bill that emerges from the House Immigration Subcommittee, but it is an important indicator of where many members of Congress think we should be headed.

I’ve prepared a section by section summary of the CHC immigration bill which goes by the name CIR ASAP. You can find the detailed document at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/20614541/Version-2-of-summary-of-Gutierrez-bill.I’ll be preparing a similar summary of the Schumer bill when it is released.

Finally, we would invite readers interested in becoming Siskind Susser clients to contact us. My email is gsiskind@visalaw.com and my phone number is 901-682-6455. Our firm assists clients locating anywhere in the US and we have attorneys with expertise in most areas of immigration law.

Regards,

Greg Siskind