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On Tuesday, May 14, the Senate Judiciary Committee completed another round of markups to Title IV of the comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bill, S. 744. Besides additional enforcement provisions, the Senate tackled amendments to the proposed immigration law, particularly the various nonimmigrant work visa categories. The following is a short summary, the details of which can be found here with individual amendment text here. A number of Senator Hatch's proposed amendments to the H and L … [Read more...]
Immigration and Firm News
May 10, 2013 by ·
Below are highlights from today's opening Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on S. 744, the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act." Overall, the Committee considered 32 amendments to Title I concerning border security. The Committee adopted 21 amendments, of which 20 were adopted by a bipartisan vote. The debate and voting can be viewed on C-Span. The Committee will meet again at 10 o'clock next Tuesday. After first approving by 14-4 the Sponsors' amended … [Read more...]
May 8, 2013 by ·
A list of the Senate Judiciary Committee's proposed amendments to the massive comprehensive immigration reform bill, S. 744, "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act," run the gamut from efforts to eliminate major core benefits such as eligibility for the legalization program known as Registered Provisional Immigrant (RPI) status, to efforts to expand benefits, such as to LGBT families, to minor tweaks, as well as special interest provisions. Over 300 amendments … [Read more...]
May 7, 2013 by ·
US Senate Judiciary Committee members have filed their amendments to S. 744, the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act." The amendments are being uploaded online now at http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/legislation/immigration/amendments.cfm. This is an interesting process where Chairman Senator Leahy has requested that all amendments be filed by 5pm today EST. Having them online available for the public is in stark contrast to the 2006-2007 reform efforts … [Read more...]
May 6, 2013 by ·
Lornet Turnbull has an article in today's Seattle Times entitled Foreign workers' spouses often stuck in limbo, in which she recounts the experiences of several H-4 visa holders who are the spouses of H-1B temporary professional workers. Ms. Turnbull captures the angst mixed status couples face in deciding whether to come to the US at all, and whether to stay and/or pursue permanent residence. Although H-1B visa holding spouses can work for specific employers in specific jobs, the dependent … [Read more...]
May 1, 2013 by ·
On April 16, 2013 the US Senate introduced S. 744, the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act" (BSEOIMA), an 844 page comprehensive immigration reform bill. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) produced a detailed summary of the bill, as amended by the sponsors on May 1, 2013, which can be found here. The core features of the bill include: Increased enforcement and funding for enforcement; Reforms to the temporary and permanent legal … [Read more...]
November 12, 2012 by ·
It took Governor Mitt Romney's loss to President Obama in the presidential election for some key GOP members to finally admit the party made fundamental mistakes in its position on immigration. Now GOP representatives are engaged in a post-election reassessment of their stance on immigration. Governor Romney's pronouncement that undocumented immigrants should just "self-deport," and his position that he would not accept any further Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) cases after his … [Read more...]
December 9, 2011 by ·
USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced in October 2011 a new "Entrepreneurs in Residence" program to promote job growth by improving existing employment based immigration categories that expand opportunities for job creation. However, we haven't heard any more about this program until today when USCIS posted a job announcement for the tactical team entrepreneurs in residence. Except for a minor attempt to deal with per country caps, and a flawed Start-Up Visa Act that has gone nowhere … [Read more...]
January 13, 2011 by ·
In a few earlier posts, I discussed how the permanent immigration quota system works, or doesn't work because of its impact on illegal immigration. In my recent post, Why Don't They Just Come Legally? - Myths Part II, I mention that two of the causes of illegal immigration are due to there being no lines for legal visas to get into in the first place because there are no categories for certain employment and family categories. And, in cases where there are applicable categories, the lines can … [Read more...]
January 6, 2011 by ·
As Congress and several states take up proposals to repeal the 14th Amendment citizenship provisions because of fears of an "alien invasion", anti-immigrant activists continue to incorrectly charge that individuals from abroad want to invade our country by breaking the law. Myth: Most of the people here illegally just don't want to follow the law. The frequent refrain, or more likely, a quip, is "why don't they just come legally or get in line?" Reality: Most people would come legally if they … [Read more...]
