Articles Posted in Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Three Key Points On The Bipartisan Immigration Reform Bill’s Plan To End Chain Migration as we know it today. Family immigration as we know will end and new rules for sponsorship are being considered. The impact of this reform remains to be seen.

1. The Bipartisan Immigration Bill Reforms The Immigration System To Better Balance The Importance Of Family Connections With U.S. Economic Needs.

2. The Bill Will End Chain Migration, Which Allows Legal Immigrants To Bring Extended Family Members To The U.S., And Focus Future Family Immigration On The Nuclear Family And Parents. There will still be more family-based than merit-based visas, and the existing decades-long backlog of family-based applications will be eliminated within eight years.

3. Green Cards For Extended Family Will Be Rebalanced To The New Merit-Based System To Select Future Immigrants Based On The Skills And Attributes They Will Bring To The United States.

The Bipartisan Immigration Reform Bill Will Focus Future Family Migration On The Nuclear Family And Parents
In Place Of The Current System Where Nearly Two-Thirds Of Green Cards Are Awarded To Relatives Of U.S. Citizens, The Bill Reforms Our Immigration System To Better Balance The Importance Of Family Connections With The Economic Needs Of Our Country.

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As we have been updating our readers with the Immigration reform debate, negotiations between the White House and key senators in both parties will resume on June 4th, as the reformation of America’s immigration process looks evermore likely to shift to a point system similar to that of Canada, Australia, New Zeland and England.

Traditionally, a point system is geared to attracting people who have attributes valued by the receiving country, and that are judged to make the immigrants more likely to succeed economically as well as other factors. These include education, occupation, work experience, language proficiency and age.

In brief, a point system that awards visas on the basis of such factors could mark a radical change from the current system that awards the vast majority of the 1 million legal-permanent-residence visas (i.e. green cards) on the basis of the alien’s family ties to relatives already residing in the US or employment based preference system.

Last night, the Senate wrapped up its first week of debate on the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Reform Act (S. 1348), the negotiated comprehensive immigration reform bill.

The debate, however, is far from over. Before the Senate resumes consideration of S. 1348, Congress will adjourn and many legislators will return to their home states and districts for the Memorial Day recess (May 26-June 3). This recess could have a critical impact on the outcome of CIR legislation.

The Senate will resume debate during the week of June 4, when we expect to see a number of extremely important amendments brought to the floor for consideration. These amendments could make or break the Senate bill. A vote on final passage is expected to occur sometime toward the end of the week, around June 7-8.

Our daily update continues, the following topics were discussed today at the Senate:
• A Coleman amendment to allow local government officials to inquire about immigration status was narrowly defeated, 48-49.

• A Dorgan amendment to sunset the new worker program also was defeated, 48-49.

• A Sanders amendment to dramatically increase H-1B fees was passed, 59-35.

• A Vitter amendment to prevent legalization for the undocumented was defeated, 29-66.

In general, this “bargain” bill is unacceptable and unworkable in its current form. However, while the process is still very much in flux, AILA are working closely with our allies to improve the bargain as much as possible during Senate floor debate over the next few weeks. We will keep you posted about amendment information as it becomes available.

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We continue to update our readers with the recent developments from the Senate. The summary is courtesy of the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association.

Today, the Senate passed Senator Feinstein’s amendment on unaccompanied alien children and Senator Bingaman’s amendment to halve the number of Y visas. Two troubling amendments proposed by Senators Cornyn and Coleman are slated for consideration on Thursday. Details of all the day’s proceedings are included below.

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As promised, we continue to uodate you with the daily developments in US Immigration Law and the upcoming reform. I wish to thank AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) which I am a member of, for the continued updates and strong advocacy efforts.

Today, the Senate began formal debate and consideration of amendments to S. 1348. In a 31-64 vote, the Senate defeated the Dorgan/Boxer amendment that would have eliminated the Y visa new worker program. However, other amendments to curtail the program are likely to follow, beginning with possible consideration of the Bingaman amendment on Wednesday morning. Senator Bingaman’s (D-NM) amendment would cut the number of Y visas from 400,000 down to 200,000 annually.

Theses are exciting and historic times in Immigration law. In order to keep you apprised of the important legislative proceedings during the CIR debate in Congress, each evening I will try to post the Congressional News and a daily summary of events.

I will also inform about upcoming votes on amendments. Below you will find today’s CIR Daily Update. Please email me with any questions, I know we are all trying to guess what will happen.

CIR Daily Update 5/21/07: Senate Votes to Proceed with Floor Debate
The Senate voted today to begin formal consideration of comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Immediately following this vote, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) agreed to extend debate by one week and indicated that the Senate will resume debate after the Memorial Day recess. Consideration of amendments to the placeholder bill S. 1348 is expected to begin tomorrow with a substitute amendment that would replace the current contents of the bill with the “Grand Bargain” legislation negotiated last week.

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