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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.

Groups Sue Federal Government for Not Providing Children in Deportation Proceedings with Legal Defense

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This blog has previously covered Deferred Action Children Act (DACA). That executive order stands out in the immigration debate because it highlights the importance of figuring how to handle the status of minors who were brought to the United States by their parents and have lived as Americans virtually their entire lives. Deportation is a very different proposition for a child than an adult in many cases. For example, a child who has been living in Western Pennsylvania for her entire conscious life with no memories of her birth place is starkly different from a thirty year old man who came to this country of his own volition and who came of age and was educated in his home country. The role of children is front and center once again in the immigration debate, as President Obama has asked Congress in a letter for funding to address the “urgent humanitarian situation” of unaccompanied teens and children crossing the Southwestern border without parents. A class-action lawsuit was filed this week to address the concerns of minors without a legal defense. The suit specifically charges the immigration apparatus of the federal government of violating the US Constitution’s Due Process Clause and the Immigration and Nationality Act’s provisions requiring a full and fair hearing before an immigration judge.

 

Children who are set to be deported, often to some of the most dangerous locations in the Western Hemisphere, such as El Salvador and Honduras, should have the opportunity to defend themselves against deportation. Many of the young plaintiffs in the suit have fled gang violence and personal threats to their lives. This is a cruel state of affairs for individuals who badly need a defense, as their lives are inevitably going to be altered drastically. Lacking a legal defense, they are almost marked for deportation to a possibly unknown land. Many of those children were brought to the United States by their parents in the first place to escape violence and persecution.

 

An advocate for providing minors with a legal defense said that “the unique vulnerabilities require that children have a legal representative in their proceedings.” The dire situation is summed up: “Deportation carries serious consequences for children, whether it is return to a country they fled because of violence and persecution or being separated from their homes and families. Yet children are forced into immigration court without representation – a basic protection most would assume is required whenever someone’s liberty is at stake. Requiring children to fight against deportation without a lawyer is incompatible with American values of due process and justice for all,” said Beth Werlin, deputy legal director for the American Immigration Council.

 

It is the firm opinion of this law firm that minors facing deportation proceedings should have a right to legal defense. There are immigration problems unique to children. We advocate for the better protection and legal defenses of these children and hope that the federal government will treat this concern as the “urgent humanitarian situation” that President Obama called it. The child who has come to the United States to escape violence, persecution, or poverty deserves a legal defense. There are also additional concerns for the unaccompanied minors crossing the Southwestern border being pawns in larger human trafficking operations. Immigration is an important matter that requires comprehensive and sagacious solutions. However, this is an especially pressing aspect of immigration and one that deserves immediate remedies.

President Obama Announces Delay of Deportation Policy Review

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President Barack Obama directed DHS Chief Jeh Johnson to delay completing a review of deportation policies until the end of the summer. The overt purpose of this action is to allow Congress more time to act on comprehensive immigration reform this year. Immigration reform has been contemplated with various levels of intensity and feasibility over the past decade, with some recent crescendos in the past two years. Even with the vociferous advocacy to pass comprehensive immigration reform, legislation has not been passed. The primary contention point of immigration reform is granting a path to citizenship for 11.5 million undocumented immigrants who are illegally residing in the country. The current Senate bill includes that pathway and that “amnesty” process is unpalatable to opponents of reform.

 

Deportation has been a controversial issue during Obama’s presidency. President Obama has deported the most undocumented immigrants out of any president, but he has taken executive actions over the past two years to allay that number. The high rate of deportation, especially during Obama’s first term has attracted vocal disapproval from Latino pushing both political parties for comprehensive reform.

 

Pro-immigration reform groups released an open letter asking the President to delay executive actions and permit the House of Representatives more time to pass legislation. However, another coalition of pro-immigration reform groups responded with outrage at the lack of executive action, stating that 97,000 undocumented immigrants will be deported over the summer.

 

The American Immigration Lawyers Association responded to the announcement by exhorting the House of Representatives to act swiftly through the legislative process before executive action is taken.