Immigration Rule Change Keeps Families Together

The Press Democrat reports that a new federal immigration rule aimed at keeping “mixed status” families together took effect on March 4^th. The policy, initiated by President Barack Obama last year, allows certain undocumented immigrants who are immediate relatives of U.S. citizens to apply for a provisional waiver without having to leave the country. The waiver prevents a 10-year ban for unlawful presence in the country. Previously, undocumented immigrants who were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens had to leave the country and request a waiver a specific U.S. consular office in the immigrant’s country of origin, sometimes, waiting up to seven months for the process to finish. The new rule means that immediate relatives won’t have to leave their loved ones alone while applying for the waiver.  

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20130304/COMMUNITY/130309874/0/APF?Title=Immigration-rule-change-keeps-families-together

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Reps. Mike Thompson, Ros-Lehtinen Introduce Legislation Supporting Military Personnel, Veterans and their Families

Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-5) and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-27) recently introduced H.R.932, the Support and Defend Our Military Personnel and their Families Act. The bi-partisan legislation cosponsored by 4 other members of Congress allows active duty soldiers and veterans who serve honorably to expedite the citizenship of their family members and helps to protect them from deportation.

“The legislation will help fix our broken immigration system that unnecessarily burdens active-duty service members, veterans who honorably served our nation, and military families,” said Thompson. “The brave men and women of our armed forces are willing to fight and die for our nation—the last thing they should have to worry about on the battlefield is their family’s immigration status.”

The Congressional Research Service reports that more than 45,000 non-citizens are serving in the United States Armed Forces. In addition, many U.S. citizens serving in the military have family members who are not U.S. citizens. The Support and Defend Our Military Personnel and their Families Act addresses these immigration concerns of America’s military personnel, our veterans, and their family members back home by:

·         Helping Veterans Who Have Served Honorably Become U.S. Citizens: The legislation allows soldiers who serve honorable during certain contingency operations to become U.S. citizens expeditiously

·         Reuniting Lawful Permanent Resident Serving in Active-Duty with Family Members: The bill exempts immigrant petitions filed for the spouses and children of military personnel from numerical caps that limit the number of immigration petitions that can be granted each year

·         Preserving Family Unity of Military Personnel: The bill permits immediate family members of military personnel to apply for lawful immigration status, subject to all necessary criminal and security background checks; and codifies existing guidelines for placing active-duty soldiers or veterans into removal proceedings

http://mikethompson.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=273441

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Senators in Immigration Talks Mull Federal IDs for All Workers

The Wall Street Journal reports that key senators are exploring an immigration bill that would force every U.S. worker, citizen or not, to carry a high-tech identity card that could use fingerprints and other personal markers to prove a person’s legal eligibility to work. The idea has privacy advocates and others concerned that the law would create a national identity card that, in time, could track Americans at airports, hospitals, and through other facets of their lives. The lawmakers haven’t committed to the “biometric” ID card and are wary of any element that might split the fragile coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and outside organizations working towards an agreement on immigration reform.  

However, at least five of the eight senators writing the bill have supported biometric ID cards in the past. At least three of them—Senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Charles Schumer—have said they support requiring the cards under the new law but are open to other options. The goal of the “biometric” ID card is to ensure that employers can learn the legal status of all new hires quickly and also to dissuade illegal immigrations from entering the country or seeking jobs. A system now in place, called E-Verify, matches prospective hires to a database of Social Security numbers and other data, but can it can be foiled* at times when illegal immigrants give stolen names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers.

Like the senators, President Barack Obama is calling for improved worker-verification system, but he doesn’t specifically call for a biometric card for all workers. Some business support move to biometric cards as an expanded E-Verify system could widen identity theft and create excess paperwork for some businesses. It isn’t clear how much a biometric card would cost businesses and taxpayers; however, a 2012 study by the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, law school concluded that a national system would cost the government $22.6 billion to create and $2.1 billion each year to operate.  

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323864304578316434045924350.html

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House Immigration Subcommittee Examines E-Verify Program

C-SPAN reports that the House Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee held a hearing on E-Verify, an Internet based system that tracks the legal status of potential employees. E-Verify compares the social security numbers of new employees against records maintained by the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

http://www.c-span.org/Events/C-SPAN-Event/10737438394/ 

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Immigration Reform to Provide Net Benefit to U.S. Economy

Reuters reports that the United States economy could get a lift if President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of senators succeed in what could be the biggest overhaul of the nation’s immigration system since the 1980s. By helping more immigrants enter the country legally and allowing many illegal immigrants to remain, the United States could help offset a slowing birth rate and put itself in a stronger. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave his support the immigration reform effort, as well as House Speaker John Boehner and Karl Rove.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/29/us-usa-economyimmigration-idUSBRE90S06R20130129

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House Group Accelerates Work on Immigration Bill

The Los Angeles Times reports that a bipartisan group of House members is racing to complete an immigration bill in the next few weeks. Two congressional aides spoke about the bill only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations. The draft bill includes a path to legal status, new border security measures and tighter restrictions on employers. The group has been meeting regularly since the November elections.  The effort has moved forward with the blessing of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). Boehner has not made promises to the members that he would back the bill, only that he would not stand in the way of it being introduced.  Like the Senate proposal, the draft of the House bill allows most of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country to apply for probationary legal status and contains border security and enforcement milestones that immigrants must meet before they can become lawful permanent residents.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/29/news/la-pn-house-group-immigration-bill-20130129

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Immigration Poll: Majority of Voters Support Pathway to Citizenship

The Huffington Post reports that a majority of voters support immigration reform that would give a pathway to citizenship to undocumented immigrants. As the White House and Congress work on bipartisan immigration reform, the issue of citizenship is likely to become a major issue. Reform advocates hope that polling, such as that conducted by the Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies could help the effort. The two firms found that more than half of the 1,003 people they surveyed supported a pathway to citizenship. Requiring undocumented immigrants to pay taxes was a high priority to the 89 percent of people while only 33 percent said it was a top goal to give legal status to undocumented immigrants already living in the country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/immigration-poll-citizenship_n_2504930.html

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Immigration by the Numbers in 2012: Down, But Still High

NCSL News reports that the number of immigration-related bills introduced and passed at the state level in 2012 dropped in comparison with the last five years, but the number still remains high overall. There are a couple of explanations for the drop, including the May 2012 Supreme Court Arizona v. United States ruling in which only the lawful stop provision was upheld, and the fact that four state legislatures did not meet in 2012, including Montana, North Dakota, Nevada and Texas.

In 2012, state legislatures in 46 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico introduced 983 bills and resolutions related to immigration. This marks a 39 percent drop from 2011, during which 1, 606 bills were introduced. Of all the bills and resolutions enacted, nearly a quarter were budget related, appropriating funds for federal programs such as English language acquisition, naturalization and refugee resettlement. Law enforcement accounted for 17 percent of the total, employment, identification and public benefits accounted for 9 percent, and education and healthcare accounted for 8 percent. Human trafficking laws made up 6 percent of the total.

http://www.ncsl.org/press-room/immigration-laws-by-the-numbers-in-2012.aspx

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President Signs Rare “Private Bill” Granting Green Card to Medical School Hopeful

Faith Karimi of CNN reports that President Obama signed into law a rare private bill granting  Nigerian immigrant permanent residency in the United States. Victor Chukwueke, who lives in Michigan on an expired visa, came to the United States 11 years ago to undergo treatment for massive face tumors. He graduated from a university in the state, and plans to attend an Ohio medical school that requires him to have a green card. The United States Congress passed a private bill, S.285, this month granting him permanent residency. Private bills, which only apply to one person and mostly focus on immigration, are rarely approved. Chukwueke’s bill is the only one to pass in Congress in two years.

http://www.lexisnexis.com/community/immigration-law/blogs/outside/archive/2012/12/29/president-signs-rare-private-bill-granting-green-card-to-medical-school-hopeful.aspx

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