Articles Posted in Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Last month, the State of Alabama passed a law that was by far the strictest immigration bill passed in the United States since Arizona passed its bill. Under the new law, police must determine a person’s residency if they suspect they may be undocumented, schools must check students and parents’ immigration status and landlords cannot rent homes to undocumented immigrants.

In particular, Alabamians—including countless U.S. citizens and non-citizens who have permission from the federal government to remain in the United States—are subject to unlawful interrogations, searches, seizures, and arrests, which will result in racial profiling. This is because HB 56 mandates law enforcement officers to investigate the immigration status of any individual they stop, detain, or arrest when they have “reasonable suspicion” that the individual lacks immigration status. Individuals who may be perceived as “foreign” by state or local law enforcement agents will be in constant jeopardy of harassment and unlawfully prolonged detention and arrest by state law enforcement officers operating under HB 56’s new immigration enforcement mandates. And all Alabamians will be required to carry state-approved identity documentation in order to prevent lengthy investigations as to their status. These provisions violate the Fourth Amendment.

In addition to the potential illegal stops, public schools are also impacted by this bill. In particular, every public elementary and secondary school in this state, at the time of enrollment in kindergarten or any grade in such school, shall determine whether the student enrolling in public school was born outside the jurisdiction of the United States or is the child of an alien not lawfully present in the United States and qualifies for assignment to an English as Second Language class or other remedial program.

A California State Bar panel is considering whether an illegal immigrant who passed the exam to practice law should be admitted despite his status.

The case of Mexican-born Sergio Garcia could be the first reviewed by the panel since California began asking applicants about their immigration status in 2008, the Daily Journal reported Wednesday.

Garcia attended college in Chico and passed the Bar exam in July 2009. Since then, he has been waiting to see if he can be admitted even though he is an illegal immigrant. He now works as a paralegal.

The issue of immigration is one of the most complex and politically difficult issues because there is so much passion on all sides. It literally goes to the very heart of what it means to be an American. I wanted to share this great post from AILA leadership site:

Discussions about immigration reform often focus on the issue of “undocumented” or “illegal” aliens. But fixing our broken immigration system is about more than the determining the fate of the estimated ten million people currently living and working and studying in the United States without papers. In the words of President Clinton, “It’s the Economy, Stupid.” Immigration reform would allow us to create a legal framework for who we want to have remain in our country, who we want to exclude, and to do so in a way that reflects our values and our interests. The bottom line, however, is that reform would benefit the bottom line. Reform would raise wages, decrease unemployment, and increase tax revenues. Who wouldn’t want that?

Currently, our immigration system hurts our nation’s economy. We want to invite investment in our economy, attract bright and talented people in our businesses, and to create a fair and level playing field for our workers. Our immigration system falls short of each of these goals.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), together with six other Democratic Senators, introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2011. The bill, which would overhaul the country’s immigration system, proposes a mandatory employment verification system, a federal commission on immigration, and an earned path to citizenship for those undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

The Senate bill stands in contrast to recent House bills that focus on narrow aspects of immigration reform, such as expansion of E-Verify and tougher immigration enforcement laws. Immigration Reform Bill Introduced in the Senate.

While we remain skeptic that any major reform will happen any time soon, the only positive side is that there is still some support and interest by certain members of Congress to pass reform.

Today Senate and House champions of refugees introduced the “Refugee Protection Act of 2011. More than thirty years ago, Congress passed the Refugee Act, a landmark law intended to codify the United States’ obligations under the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention. Over the years, the country has fallen short of fulfilling those obligations. Advocates Congress to act swiftly and in a bipartisan manner to pass this bill which is so vital to refugees and asylees–and to our nation’s identity.

Among other fixes, the Refugee Protection Act would eliminate the requirement that asylum seekers file their claims within one year of arriving in the United States. The rule, which has only a few, narrow exceptions, has led to untold numbers of worthy refugees being denied asylum as well as administrative waste.

The new Refugee Protection Act of 2011 includes provisions that would:

In a 5-3 vote, the court concluded that federal immigration law doesn’t prevent the state from revoking the business licenses of companies that violate state law. The Arizona law also requires employers to use the federal government’s web-based E-Verify system to determine whether potential employees are eligible to work within the United States. The court upheld this provision, saying it is “entirely consistent” with federal law.

Roberts, backed by his four conservative colleagues, said “Arizona went the extra mile in ensuring that its law tracks (the federal law’s) provisions in all material aspects.”

In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted E-Verify is a voluntary program, and said criticism that the federal government is not doing enough to enforce the law is irrelevant.

In a recent Article by David Leopold, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Asscoaition, published in the May issue of Bloomberg Law Journal exploring three concepts — prosecutorial discretion, deferred action, and parole — that are being discussed in public debates but are frequently misunderstood.

According to David Leopold, Only President Obama knows for sure whether he will act on any of the options described in his article—be it on an individual basis or on behalf of a larger category of individuals. One thing we can be sure of is that, if he does implement a major executive action, he will be promptly accused for transgressing the limits of his legal powers. Such allegations would be baseless.

The executive branch has well‐established authority as well as the duty to exercise prosecutorial discretion at all times in the enforcement of our immigration laws. Whether it is deferred action, parole, or something else, these concepts are grounded in statute, regulations and sound principles of law enforcement. Those who assail the President will no doubt have lots of arguments to draw upon. But the President’s lack of executive branch power is not one of them.

Today, during a speech from El Paso, Texas, President Obama laid out his vision for improving the United States immigration system.

While the speech focused on a wide range of immigration reform issues, President Obama highlighted several topics that are of critical importance to the economy and to the business community. As the economy continues to recover, the President made clear that immigration reform is vital to this cause. He recognized that “in a global marketplace, we need all the talent we can get – not just to benefit those individuals, but because their contributions will benefit all Americans.” This emphasis was echoed by the President’s top advisors: “We can’t out-educate, out-innovate and out-build our competitors without an immigration system that works for our economy.”

The White House also released a Blueprint for Building a 21st Century Immigration System, which documents the Administration’s immigration policy goals.

Here we go again. When Obama’s Democratic Party controlled the House and Senate, Congress failed to pass an immigration bill that would have provided a path to Residency and later Citizenship for some illegal immigrants who entered America as children. The DREAM Act died in the Senate in December due to a Republican filibuster.

With Republicans now controlling the House and holding a stronger minority in the Senate, the chances for any comprehensive immigration reform are considered non-existent.

Obama travels to Texas on Tuesday to make the case that his administration has worked hard to secure the border and the time has come for Congress to deal with the 10.8 million people already in the U.S. illegally.

We all agree he needs to do more for Immigration. Obama and his aides met for an hour in the White House Roosevelt Room with a dozen people, including actresses Eva Longoria and America Ferrera and several hosts of Hispanic news programs.

Attendees said the president reminded the group of his push to create a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people who live in America but don’t have legal status, the majority of whom are Latino. He said that Democrats in Congress would continue to call for passage of the Dream Act, a provision that would make it easier for the children of illegal immigrants to gain legal status by serving in the U.S. military or graduating from college.

Obama did not promise to reduce the number of deportations of people who are in United States illegally, they said. Those deportations have increased under his administration.