Articles Posted in Comprehensive Immigration Reform

The Obama administration’s challenge to the controversial Arizona immigration law goes before a federal judge Thursday. The Justice Department’s lawsuit, seeking to stop the law from going into effect, is one of two challenges scheduled for a hearing Thursday.

The first challenge by a group of more than 100 individuals and civil rights groups will be heard Thursday morning. In the afternoon, the Justice Department’s lawsuit will have a hearing in a Phoenix federal courtroom.

Both cases will be in front of U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, according to court documents. The law, signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer in April, requires police to question people about their status if they have been detained for another reason and if there’s reason to suspect they’re in the United States illegally. It also targets those who hire illegal immigrant laborers or knowingly transport them.

I am writing this Blog entry from my conference of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington DC. In this past few days Immigration lawyers from across the nation gathered here in DC to share ideas and discuss our Immigration laws and policy. On Thursday not so far from our conference, the President (maybe he planned it), discussed Immigration reform for the first time in months.

President Obama stepped back into the political minefield of immigration policy Thursday, arguing for big changes in what he called a “broken” immigration system. But he warned that no such changes are possible without some Republican support.

From months now, Latino activists have been pushing the president to make good on his promise to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. Thursday, in a speech at American University here in DC, Mr. Obama took up the challenge.

The President was passionate about the need to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform asserts while speaking to 24 American service members as they became citizens USA in April. Over the years, many have attempted to confront this challenge, but passions are great and disagreements run deep. Yet surely we can all agree that when 11 million people in our country are living here illegally, outside the system, that’s unacceptable. The American people demand and deserve a solution. And they deserve common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform grounded in the principles of responsibility and accountability.

As he explained, and as his record shows, the government has a responsibility to enforce the law. But as he also explained, the only way to truly fix our broken immigration system is with a comprehensive federal approach.

The President will make clear that this is a top priority and call on Congress to tackle it in a major speech at American University at 10:45AM EDT today.

Take a look at this second grader who asked First Lady Michelle Obama whether the President was going to “take away” people who didn’t have “papers”. Apparently, the child’s mother had expressed some fear in the privacy of their home.

Michelle Obama, who is also the nation’s “First Mom” handled the question beautifully, assuring the little girl that the broken immigration law was a problem Congress would “have to fix”. How do you think the first lady handled this question?

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and fellow Democrats on Thursday unveiled a “framework” for a sweeping overhaul of U.S. immigration laws. In wake of the furor over Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, Democrats said the first step toward reform must be bolstered border security.

The REPAIR Proposal, which still needs to be drafted into a formal bill, addresses seven main areas for immigration reform. These include achieving operational control of the nation’s borders to prevent future illegal immigration, finding and removing individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States, halting unauthorized employment using a biometric employment verification system, and maximizing the nation’s economic prosperity through reforms to the legal immigration system.

Among the document’s many recommendations is the proposal to provide an immediate green card to foreign students graduating from a U.S. educational institution with an advanced degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM), who have an offer of employment in a field relevant to their degree. Further, REPAIR would strive to eliminate the family-based immigration backlog over a period of eight years by increasing the per country family immigration quotas from 7 to 10 percent. The REPAIR Proposal would also implement a two-step process to legalize undocumented individuals living in the United States who do not have criminal convictions and who do not pose a threat to national security.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) strongly urges Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to veto a bill moving rapidly through the state legislature that would make it a crime to be an undocumented immigrant in the state.

In addition to the absurdity of aligning undocumented status with state trespassing, the law also validates racial profiling as a legitimate law enforcement tool which is precisely the reason why individuals and businesses around the country are beginning to seriously question whether Arizona is a safe place to visit, live, or do business.

The bill also creates a private right of action for any person to sue a city, town, or county for not enforcing immigration laws to the full extent of federal law and it establishes civil penalties for the city, town, or county. This subjects local governments to unreasonable and potentially frivolous litigation by private citizens with an anti-immigrant agenda. Even if a municipality is vindicated in court, it will still have to incur the costs of defense.

Immigration reform legislation is “dead” in the Senate this year, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said. Graham, who’s sought to work with some Democrats on the controversial issues, said that healthcare efforts had “poisoned the well” for bipartisan cooperation going forward.

Graham had partnered with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to work on immigration legislation, and the pair had met with President Barack Obama earlier this month on the issue.

But Graham said that winning the support for any legislation was all but impossible in the wake of a divisive healthcare debate that’s wrapped up last week in Congress.

The House voted Sunday night on the Senate bill for health care reform, passing it 219 to 212. President Obama won a historic victory in the struggle for health care reform Sunday as the House of Representatives passed a sweeping bill overhauling the American medical system. What does this mean for Immigration? Big hope for the future, but a lot of work remains to be done.

Tens of thousands of people turned out on Washington’s National Mall on Sunday to support the Obama administration in its next big battle, a renewed effort to overhaul U.S. immigration laws.

Speaking by video to the crowd, President Obama said he would do “everything in my power” to get a bipartisan deal within the year.

President Barack Obama on Thursday assured immigration advocates frustrated by the wait for a promised overhaul of U.S. immigration laws that he remains committed to fixing a system he has said is broken. What remains unclear is whether Congress will send him a bill this year.

Obama also met separately later in the day with Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who gave the president an outline of a bill they are drafting. Obama said afterward in a statement that he “looked forward to reviewing their promising framework.”

Obama said he told the senators and the advocacy groups that “my commitment to comprehensive immigration reform is unwavering, and that I will continue to be their partner in this important effort.”

I am proud to say that fellow San Diegans are fighting to keep the Immigration debate alive. A group of about 100 people rallied in front of the San Diego downtown offices of California’s U.S. senators Thursday night, calling for renewed attention to immigration reform.

The group gathered at St. Joseph Cathedral on Third Avenue near Beech Street and marched about two miles to a pair of office buildings on B Street near Seventh Avenue, where the offices of Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are located.

There they delivered a message calling on the lawmakers to work on legislation to legalize the millions of illegal immigrants in the country. Their speeches focused on the themes of unity, family and hope. They held signs, in both English and Spanish, with messages like “Don’t destroy more families. Help families” and “God does not separate families. The government does.”