Tag Archives: immigration reform

Immigration in SOTU Tonight

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Obama in Dallas - Reunion Arena

“My presidency is entering the fourth quarter. Interesting stuff happens in the fourth quarter.”

President Barack Obama, 12/19/2014

The annual State of the Union is the president’s opportunity to sketch out an agenda for the year, emphasize his priorities, and deliver reprimands and congratulations. The broad topic of immigration is bound to receive some air time in the speech tonight. The past year has been an intensive year in immigration for President Obama, one in which Congress dithered on passing immigration reform and performed various legislative delay tactics on an important issue that seemed prime for change in 2012. After initially waiting for the midterm elections in November, President Obama announced a series of executive orders that to improve our overall immigration system in various ways. The highlights of the speech included work authorization for H-4 visa holders (dependents of H-1B visa holders), Deferred Action for Parent Arrivals (DAPA), expanding the provisional waiver, and a pledge to modernize the nonimmigrant and immigrant visa programs. Opposition to this approach culminated last week when the US House of Representatives voted against funding DAPA and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). The Senate has yet to vote, but it is expected that it will vote against the bill.

 

We are excited to see the president’s speech as it pertains to immigration. We are hopeful that it will continue to build upon his immigration speeches from November, as our immigration system incrementally improves for the better of immigrants, non-immigrants, and United States citizens. We will recap our thoughts on the immigration portion of the State of the Union address later in the week.

Immigration Reform!

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President Barack Obama Announces Executive Action on Immigration Reform

Barack Obama Announces Immigration Reform: Relief for Immigrants

Speaking (full speech) from the White House Thursday night, President Obama announced to the nation his plan to issue an executive order, taking a multi-faceted approach to the bevy of immigration issues facing the nation.

  • Additional resources for law enforcement personnel at border to apprehend better and return quicker.
  • Easier and faster for high skilled graduates to stay and contribute to businesses.
  • Responsibly deal with the millions of undocumented immigrants here already. Deportations of criminals up are 80%, so he will keep focus on criminals and gang members, not children and families. Prioritization is key.

As reported last week, Obama’s order will protect up to 4.5 million people from deportation. This is a minimal measure compared to the proposals and nearly passed laws (DREAM Act) that Congress has considered over the past eight years. Every president since Eisenhower in 1956 has granted relief to immigrants through executive action. The executive order does not change actual laws, but it re-directs executive agencies to shift their priorities. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Deferred Action for Parents (DAP): Following Deferred Action for Children (DACA), DAP will allow for parents of lawful permanent residents and US citizens continuously present since January 1, 2010 to apply for three years of deportation protection, following the successful completion of a background check and payment of back taxes.
  • Enforcement priorities: Suspected terrorists, convicted felons, convicted gang members, people apprehended at the border, people who have convicted of multiple or serious misdemeanors, and those who have failed to leave after a removal order from 1/1/2014 onward.
  • DACA is expanded to eliminate the age cap and include continuous residence since January 1, 2010. It will also be three years of protection.
  • The provisional waiver will be expanded to include children and spouses of lawful permanent residents.
  • Optional Practical Training (OPT) will be elongated for STEM graduates (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics). H4 visa holders will be able to receive work authorization. Entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers will be eligible for national interest waivers.

Congress has debated and postured over immigration reform intensely during the past two years. President Obama challenged the legislative body to pass comprehensive immigration reform. In the interim, these tweaks to the immigration system should repair some broken components and provide relief for millions of deserving immigrants.

The Law Offices of Andrew Wood is pleasantly encouraged by the president’s plan and his focus on immigration reform. Immigration attorneys, advocates, and DREAMers in Pittsburgh and the around the country have been pushing for action for years. Perhaps this is the opportunity for real improvement.

Immigration Action to be Announced!

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Tomorrow, November 20, 2014, could be a momentous day in the history of immigration reform. President Barack Obama is poised to announce an executive order on immigration tomorrow night in prime time. From Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, NV, the president is expected to at least outline action to provide immigration relief to up to five million undocumented immigrants. Immigration reform has been building momentum over the past decade towards the purpose of providing some forms of relief to millions of immigrants who either entered illegally or have stayed past their legal status because they have built meaningful lives in and contributed to the United States. DACA provided limited relief to some children who were brought to the United States without status. Perhaps tomorrow will bring an updated DACA but for adults. The president is also expected to address other immigration issues, such as the low H1B visa cap, the fact that dependents count against the employment caps, and measures to attract and retain more high-tech workers.

 

There are multiple dimensions and issues at play for the president. The prospects of comprehensive immigration reform have ebbed and flowed over the past seven years. There have been times of great Democratic and Republican support; there have been periods of harsh opposition. The DREAM Act has not yet materialized, even though it seems like the least controversial measure to pass. Comprehensive immigration reform seemed like a slam dunk following the November 2012 elections, but consistent opposition have foiled that probability through legislative actions. Seeing that the legislative options have not produced any positive results for hopeful immigrants, the president has decided to resort to executive action. Considering the Republican composition of both houses of Congress and the inability of Congress over the past two and seven years to pass immigration reform, the executive order seems like the next best option.

 

The specter of executive action has roused indignant opposition – both at the nature of the reforms being ordered and the very idea of using the executive order. Even though President Obama has used the executive order infrequently throughout his presidency compared to other presidents, opponents are accusing him of kingship, royalty, dictatorship, and the like for usurping what they see as Congress’ job. Immigration is affirmed as a federal matter and every president since Eisenhower dating back sixty years has issued an executive action on immigration. Political opposition is fierce and when an immigration executive order was considered during the summer, congressional Democrats in close elections begged Obama to hold off, fearing backlash would oust them from Congress. It turns out that Obama delayed action for nearly three months on their behalves, and they were rejected out of office anyway.

 

Comprehensive immigration reform has dominated national headlines for seven years because it addresses one of the most important issues in the United States. There are perhaps 12 million undocumented migrants. Resources can be spent on enforcement and border security, but many intelligent and comprehensive solutions are required to this multi-faceted problem. That is in addition to the variety of legal immigration problems that need solving. While it is unlikely green cards will be available for undocumented migrants, one hope is a pathway to US citizenship for qualifying undocumented immigrants. The possibility announced last week was deferred deportation and work authorization for up to five million undocumented immigrants, with family ties and enough years of residence, as covered in the previous blog post. That is a relatively vanilla action compared to pathways to citizenship naturalization and lawful permanent residence.

 

Whatever happens tomorrow, we can be sure that there will be strident opposition and threats to undermine it. Regardless, prime time

Immigration Reform

tomorrow night could be an important night for millions of people whose lives hang in the balance of uncertainty. The Immigration Attorney and staff at the Law Offices of Andrew Wood commends President Obama for taking action, and awaits the President’s announcement with hopes that millions of hard working individuals will benefit from the upcoming change.

Executive Order – Millions of Immigrants Could Stay and Work

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Work Authorization for 5 Million Unauthorized Immigrants

 

Although President Obama is currently globetrotting around Asia, his immigration policy as it pertains to people in the United States is grabbing national headlines. Obama promised an executive order (history of executive actions) on immigration in September. This was in response to two developments. The first was the inability of the House of Representatives and Senate to agree on comprehensive or piecemeal immigration reform, even though the prospects of immigration reform were imminent after the 2012 general election. Immigration reform is a broad term that includes border security, pathways to residency and citizenship for undocumented migrants, and changing aspects of our immigration system, be it employment- or family-based.

 

After two years of legislative inertia and grandstanding, it is painfully obvious that immigration reform will not occur through Congress. A stalemate was also achieved in 2007, when President Bush and Senator McCain supported plans resembling the DREAM Act were halted by virulent opposition. The president did not issue an executive order prior to the election, as cowering Democrats supplicated him not to, fearing that their party association would tarnish their election chances.

 

Many of those electorically-driven Democrats have been voted out of office in favor of a more Republican Senate and House that is vocally opposed to Obama’s forthcoming actions on immigration. While promising to do whatever lawful actions possible to improve the immigration system, the president will be unveiling a plan for protecting up to five million unauthorized immigrations from deportation and provide them with work permits. The protected will be parents of children who are American citizens or legal residents. The foundation of American immigration policy is family togetherness, so this comports with that goal. The parents will be able to obtain legal work documentation, not have to worry about living “in the shadows” with deportation threats, and separated from their families. According to media reports, the White House is debating whether that plane should be for people living in the United States for at least five years or at least ten. They are also hatching plans to extend protections to undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children, in the vein of a DREAM Act. An additional aspects of the order will expand opportunities for legal immigration possessing highly sought after tech skills, increase border security, and further mobilize a controversial enforcement program called Secure Communities. The 12,000 agents part of the immigration enforcement apparatus will receive clearer guidance as to who is a high priority and who is a low priority for deportation. Convicted criminals, foreigners who pose national security threats, and recent border-crossers will be the high priority threats.

 

The extra dimensions at play in this upcoming order are their connection to budget negotiations and the nomination of Obama’s Attorney General nominee, Loretta E. Lynch. Hopefully, the executive order will not be jettisoned for the sake of other political considerations. Immigration reform has been debated, resisted, weakened, delayed, imminent, and gridlocked over the past seven years. The president has promised an executive order, and it seems one is coming next week. The Law Offices of Andrew Wood is optimistic that this executive order will be beneficial and applauds this way overdue but critical action in alleviating the fears and burdens of millions of unauthorized immigrants. If the president follows through, this would be an excellent measure in providing relief to deserving millions.Immigration Reform Now!

November 2014 – Where Is Immigration Reform?

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And what of Immigration Reform?

November 2012 seemed to represent a sea of change in the immigration reform stalemate, tilting the balance in favor of comprehensive changes. Recalcitrant opposition at various points following the 2012 election seemed to have blunted any positive impact and in the last two years, all attempts to make comprehensive changes have fallen short somewhere in the legislative process. Many areas demand pressing reform: undocumented migrants (11-12 million), low caps on H1B visas, absurdly long processing times. Even piecemeal attempts have come up empty. An executive order possibility was shelved in September, possibly waiting until after the November 2014 midterm elections to make an appearance.

The executive order possibility was tabled for the sake of scared Democratic congresspersons who feared a presidential action on immigration injuring their chances at re-election. Democrats lost control of the Senate after holding it for eight years and ceded even more seats in the House, giving Republicans an even larger majority. With the Senate and House firmly in Republican control and the White House Democrat for the next years, the signs are inauspicious for immigration reform.

An executive order is promised, but whether that will be able to effect comprehensive change is questionable. President Obama’s June 2012 executive order – DACA (read more about DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals –  here) – has been the most significant piece of immigration action recently, but it is only a nibble where a larger bite is required to attack the overall plate of problems.

President Bush and Senator McCain were maligned for supporting DREAM Act-esque immigration reform in 2007. Despite the widespread acceptance of the need to solve the myriad of immigration problems throughout the political spectrum, implacable and vociferous opposition seems poised to delay action even more. Considering the adeptness and fortitude that reformers have shown in their efforts to keep specks of immigration reform alive when prospects seem bleak, it is unwise to count on the door being shut on meaningful immigration reform. However, the optimism of November 2012 has definitely been eclipsed.