Articles Posted in Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Recent hearings in the House of Representatives are showing us that the focus is not on solving the issues to pass immigration reform but focused on past problems that have been debated about before. In one House hearing before the Homeland Security committee, Secretary Jeh Johnson laid out his vision for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Among the questions the Secretary took from committee members were inquiries about deportation priorities and immigrants who overstay their visas. At the same time, the House Judiciary committee held a hearing about the president’s constitutional duties and the use of executive power in his administration. The real question is why are our House members focused on enforcing current immigration policies when the dialogue should be on immigration reform?

It is clear that many Representatives are concerned about border security more than anything. In fact, at the House hearing with Sec. Johnson, he fielded questions about whether the administration was deporting immigrants who fit the department’s stated priorities, including putting resources toward finding immigrants who overstay their visas. “If in the category of visa overstays there are those people [who are national security threats], then we need to go after those people,” Johnson said. Some House members claimed the administration wasn’t deporting enough immigrants, while Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) expressed concern that too many immigrants are being removed because of minor driving offenses and not violent crimes. These comments show how the focus is still on the current policies being implemented and less on how the changes to our policies will affect these concerns.

With the debate over the President’s constitutional authority to unilaterally implement immigration policy going on, House members assert that his broad authority is still limited. Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC) asserted that while the president has prosecutorial discretion, “he does not have the authority to exempt a specified class of up to 1.76 million individuals.” Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) explained that DACA is decided on a case-by-case basis as every individual application is examined before DACA is granted.

Like many other immigrants, Mery Martinez has no legal status in the United States, no health insurance and no money. Sadly, Ms. Martinez does have leukemia, and has been struggling to find treatment for the disease, first in New York and more recently in Philadelphia. A hospital emergency room rejected her on New Year’s Day because she had not yet qualified for the state assistance that could have paid for the medical attention she needed.

With rising anxiety, and a rash that she attributed to her illness, Ms. Martinez walked into a clinic last week run by Puentes de Salud, a nonprofit group of doctors, nurses and medical students that provides primary care to Philadelphia’s undocumented, uninsured and impoverished Latino immigrants.

In a consulting room provided by the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school, Ms. Martinez, 38, who is from Honduras, was examined, given a flu shot and advised on how to navigate the health system by Spanish-speaking volunteer doctors and nurses who run the clinic two evenings a week.

Puentes de Salud, which in English means “bridges of health,” was founded to provide low-cost but quality health care and social services to the growing Latino population in South Philadelphia and began treating patients in 2006. A co-founder, Dr. Steve Larson, said the organization distinguished itself from other community-health groups by addressing the underlying causes of illness, like poor nutrition, illiteracy or urban violence.

“It’s not about me writing prescriptions,” said Dr. Larson, 53, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania who said he began to develop his approach to community medicine while working in rural Nicaragua in the early 1990s. “This is an underground health system.”
While Puentes operates openly in partnership with community organizations, hospitals, universities and governmental institutions, many of the patients — like Ms. Martinez — live in fear of immigration officials.

The new federal health care law does not provide assistance to illegal immigrants, who are generally ineligible for Medicaid, cannot get federal subsidies for private insurance and cannot use the new insurance exchanges to buy unsubsidized insurance with their own money.

Under the federal Affordable Care Act, such immigrants are exempt from the requirement to have insurance. They remain eligible for certain types of emergency care under Medicaid if they have low incomes and meet other criteria, and they may receive care from free and charitable clinics in some places.

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Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man whose dream of equality and human rights changed the course of history. His legacy will be remembered this week by people of all colors and creeds who still believe in the American dream and who continue to fight for equality, civil rights and the basic human dignity they deserve.

In remembering the fight Dr. King made for equal rights among all persons of any race, the similarities of his struggle and the immigration fight are easy to see. Rev. Harvey Clemons, Jr. of the Pleasant Hills Baptist Church is quoted saying, “Immigration is about human dignity and the nobility of parents of different tribes and nations facing the risk of coming to a foreign land, a land of opportunity, to work for a better tomorrow for their children…Dr. King invoked the truth, the truth being that all humans ought to be treated with a certain dignity. It would be natural for us to look to him as an example for fighting for a just cause.”

Similarly, Rev. Al Sharpton, also an outspoken advocate in the fight to end racial profiling, noted that defending civil rights should be an “everybody issue”: “We need to stop comparing disparities and start finding solutions. It is imperative for the African American community to stand together with the Latino community and for the Latino community to stand with the Asian community. You cannot have human rights for some—we need it for all. We must stand together with all our brothers and sisters against this national outrage.”

A new report from the American Immigration Council explains the journeys of three places—Detroit, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; and rural communities in Iowa—to implement strategies for future economic success that depend in part upon immigration. Despite tepid federal efforts at reform, such places are embarking on exciting ventures, such as Global Detroit and the St. Louis Mosaic Project, to attract immigrants to their communities, support new and existing immigrant entrepreneurs, and create synergy between immigrants and native-born citizens. This trend recognizes the growing significance of immigration as an economic factor, but it is also a major rethinking of how individuals and communities accept and welcome newcomers and encourage their successful integration.

Immigrant businesses large and small help to revitalize neighborhoods, add a boost to the local economy, and create more jobs for the local population. Yet, while many cities recognize the need to attract and grow their human capital, their efforts are often at odds with an inefficient federal immigration system. City and regional leaders recognize their recruitment and development efforts cannot fully succeed if the federal immigration system is outmoded and ineffective. In the absence of immigration reform, their efforts, no matter how visionary, may be impeded.

At the national level, policymakers should enact comprehensive immigration reform that modernizes the U.S. immigration system, creating the necessary legal pathways that work for entrepreneurs, innovators, students, families, businesses, employers, and all types of workers. Immigration reform, in addition to recognizing that immigrant entrepreneurs and innovators come through all immigration pathways—family, employment, refugee, and others—should also ensure better recognition of foreign-earned credentials in licensed professions so that skilled immigrants’ talent isn’t wasted in the places in which they already reside.

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With some of Speaker of the House John Boehner’s recent statements regarding immigration reform, we are reminded of what many have worked hard to try and accomplish within the immigration system. There are many goals and hopes that people have for 2014. Some of these goals and hopes include:

– A decrease in deportations of people who overstay or are not here legally and have spouses and children in the U.S. so they may not be torn apart from their families.

– Passing immigration reform so there is a process in place to help those who have no status in the U.S. get on the road to eventually achieving their dreams of becoming U.S. citizens.

After years of waiting, the California Supreme Court finally made a decision that allows undocumented immigrants to be admitted to the State Bar. Sergio Garcia passed the California State Bar Exam on his first try in 2009, but when his application to be admitted to the bar was denied, it was the beginning of a long battle that has ultimately ended in his favor.

The California’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that no state law or public policy should stop Garcia or others like him from obtaining a law license in the state. Immigration officials would be unlikely to pursue sanctions against an undocumented immigrant who had been living in the United States for years, had been educated in this country and whose sole unlawful conduct was his presence in this country, the court said in a unanimous ruling written by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.

“Under these circumstances, we conclude that the fact that an undocumented immigrant’s presence in this country violates federal statutes is not itself a sufficient or persuasive basis for denying undocumented immigrants, as a class, admission to the State Bar,” the court ruled.

Sergio Garcia’s case is unique because, while it is admitted that he is an undocumented alien in the U.S., he has an approved immigrant visa petition filed by his father back in 1995. Unfortunately, after 19 years of waiting so far, a green card is still unavailable to him. The California Supreme Court’s ruling said, “Because the current backlog of persons of Mexican origin who are seeking immigrant visas is so large, as of the date of this opinion — more than 19 years after Garcia’s visa petition was filed — a visa number still has not become available for Garcia,”
The matter ended up in the California state court system, and Garcia earned the support of California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who wrote in a 2012 brief: “Admitting Garcia to the bar would be consistent with state and federal policy that encourages immigrants, both documented and undocumented, to contribute to society.”

The state bar argued that Garcia had met all of California’s requirements for a law license.

“With today’s ruling, the California Supreme Court reaffirms the Committee of Bar Examiners’ finding as not a political decision but rather one grounded in the law,” California State Bar President Luis J. Rodriguez said in a written statement Thursday.

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As we celebrate the Holidays and gather with our families we must think of the good things in our life.

As we look around the world today – at the conflicts, the destruction of the environment, the human and animal suffering – it almost seems absurd to say that our wish is for a more peaceful, healthier and happier world. Yet this is the world we all yearn for. And I find that with the image of such a world in my mind and in my heart, it is easier to take action, every day, to move things in the right direction.

So let’s wish for a world where all people are treated with dignity, respect and equality – no matter who you are or who you love.