Jeanfromfillmore
12-23-2009, 02:42 PM
Immigration Bill Offers New Protections for Illegal Aliens
by Mickey McCarter Wednesday, 23 December 2009
MPI analysts examine how CIR ASAP protects those applying to become legal US residents
Analysts at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Tuesday presented a comparison of the comprehensive immigration reform bill introduced by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) with previous immigration bills considered by the US Senate in 2006 and 2007.
Doris Meissner, MPI senior fellow and director of its US Immigration Policy Program, emphasized that the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security And Prosperity (CIR ASAP) Act of 2009 (HR 4321) faces its biggest challenges from questions of its impact on the economy and enforcement.
"It's the first concrete step by this congress toward immigration reform legislation. There has been a lot of table setting, both on the part of the administration and those in the Congress," Meissner told reporters on a conference call, yet it remains difficult to determine an outlook for the bill, which currently has 91 co-sponsors.
Although the US recession appears to be ending, jobs and employment have not yet recovered, Meissner observed, so the job market will continue to be under stress for the next year.
"Under those circumstances, even though there is a very good argument that this is a good time to fix our immigration system--because immigration can be an important factor in recovery--in the real world, it's hard to see the politics for that when American native-born workers are under such stress and will continue to be so for a while," Meissner commented.
Meanwhile, the United States has made significant investments in border security, doubling the amount of money dedicated to keeping illegal immigrants from entering the country from $6 billion to $12 billion from the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003 until now.
Obama administration demonstrates a strong commitment to using its administrative authority to enhance immigration enforcement, Meissner remarked. For example, it has continued pressure on key stakeholders like employers.
The CIR ASAP bill has six parts. The first deals with border enforcement issues.
Earlier bills considered by the Senate focused on building infrastructure and hiring personnel and adding capabilities for the enforcement agencies, Meissner explained. The 2007 Senate bill would have used these enforcement methods as a trigger with conditions to be met before going ahead with some other provisions of the bill, particularly any amnesty offered to illegal immigrants in the United States.
CIR ASAP, on the other hand, would focus on reporting, oversight and standards in enforcement programs, she continued. It rolls back some provisions of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, signed into law by President Bill Clinton to toughen immigration enforcement. For example, it would abolish the 287(g) program, named for a provision of the 1996 immigration law, by prohibiting states and municipalities from enforcing immigration law.
The bill would further strengthen US ports of entry by adding more personnel and focusing on the facilitation of legitimate trade and travel into the United States. It would add 5,000 Customs inspectors at ports of entry, as well as ,200 agriculture inspectors and 350 support personnel.
Donald Kerwin, MPI vice president for programs, noted that the detention provisions of the new bill stress protections for illegal immigrants under detention.
The 2006 and 2007 bills would have expanded detention beds but the CIR ASAP bill would strengthen governance for detainees and protect against unlawful detention, Kerwin said.
It would provide special treatment for vulnerable persons and establish standards for medical care, telephone access, protection from sexual abuse, detainee transfers, and other matters.
CIR ASAP would establish an Immigration Detention Commission to report to Congress on compliance with those standards at DHS. It would further forbid immigration arrests at churches, schools, hospitals, and other places.
Other provisions
MPI Senior Policy Analyst Marc Rosenblum said the CIR ASAP bill has strong electronic verification requirements--much like the Senate immigration bills did. The bill would require employer participation in an electronic verification system like E-Verify. But it would attempt to resolve erroneous non-confirmations and reduce vulnerability to identity fraud.
CIR ASAP would permit a range of documents to be used to prove employment eligibility and it would set strong rules to prevent discrimination and employer misuse, Rosenblum described.
The bill would set up due process protections to prevent erroneous non-confirmations and would allow DHS to stay a non-confirmation and to conduct administrative reviews to resolve errors. The bill would attempt to improve E-Verify through a worker pilot program that would allow workers to opt into a verification process controlled by a personal identification number to guard against identity theft and employer misuse.
Meissner pointed out that CIR ASAP would attempt recapture unused visas from the past and apply them to reducing the visa backlog. Recapturing unused visas from 1992-2008, as the bill proposes, could yield more than 100,000 visas, Meissner estimated.
The bill would further exempt the children of lawful permanent residents from quota caps to permit more immigrant families to stay together, she said.
It also would expand the diversity visa lottery, currently issued to citizens of under-represented nations, Meissner pointed out. With the establishment of the Prevent Unauthorized Migration (PUM) Visa, the United States would offer 100,000 visas annually for the first three years of the program to people who come from countries representing at least 5 percent of the total unauthorized migration population within the United States for the past five years through a lottery system.
Kerwin described the legalization process under CIR ASAP as occurring in two stages: a conditional non-immigrant status and lawful permanent residence. An applicant for legal status would not have to leave the country to apply for either status.
To qualify for conditional status, an immigrant must be present in the United States on the date of the legislation and continuously thereafter. An applicant must file an attestation that they are contributing to United States through employment, school, volunteerism, or other means. The bill would provide exemptions for the elderly, disabled, or very young.
Applicants must submit to biometric identification and pass criminal background checks. They must pay fees and a $500 fine. They then receive a document that would verify their eligibility for work and would prevent any detention.
The path to lawful permanent residence would occur over a five-year period, where applicants demonstrate contributions to United States, gain no convictions for criminal offenses, demonstrate English language skills and civil knowledge, pass medical exams, pay income taxes, and meet other requirements.
Interestingly, the bill would not automatically create a temporary worker program, Rosenblum stressed. The bills considered by the Senate in 2006 and 2007 would have set up a temporary worker program with 200,000 new visas annually for low-skilled workers.
CIR ASAP instead would create a Standing Commission on Immigration and Labor Markets, which would make annual recommendations to Congress on the number of employment-based visa to be authorized that year. The recommendations would go into effect automatically unless congress overrides them within 90 days. In this way, the government can adjust visa numbers to match US economic conditions.
The bill would make changes to some requirements for visa programs, Rosenblum continued. Employers would be required to hire an available legal US worker before recruiting an H-1B visa employee. The bill also would increase wages for highly skilled H-1B visa holders and low-skilled H-2B visa holders. Earlier bills would have done much less to restrict existing non-immigrant visa programs, he added.
Michael Fix, MPI senior vice president and director of Research, said CIR ASAP has a strong focus on immigrant integration.
The bill would offer more relaxed standards for learning English than earlier bills--permitting immigration applicants to pass a naturalization test or to produce a high school degree or to demonstrate that they are learning English in acceptable forum.
The bill also would place a large focus on eight to nine million legal residents who could presently naturalize but have not done so. It would waive language and history tests for permanent residents and would cut application fees in half. The bill also would set up grant programs to promote legalization and naturalization.
CIR ASAP also would initiate an express immigrant integration policy, where English as a second language teachers would receive tax credits as would employers offering English language classes. It also would set up state integration councils. It would not, however, fund a large impact aid program as previous bills did.
http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/11571/149/
by Mickey McCarter Wednesday, 23 December 2009
MPI analysts examine how CIR ASAP protects those applying to become legal US residents
Analysts at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Tuesday presented a comparison of the comprehensive immigration reform bill introduced by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) with previous immigration bills considered by the US Senate in 2006 and 2007.
Doris Meissner, MPI senior fellow and director of its US Immigration Policy Program, emphasized that the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security And Prosperity (CIR ASAP) Act of 2009 (HR 4321) faces its biggest challenges from questions of its impact on the economy and enforcement.
"It's the first concrete step by this congress toward immigration reform legislation. There has been a lot of table setting, both on the part of the administration and those in the Congress," Meissner told reporters on a conference call, yet it remains difficult to determine an outlook for the bill, which currently has 91 co-sponsors.
Although the US recession appears to be ending, jobs and employment have not yet recovered, Meissner observed, so the job market will continue to be under stress for the next year.
"Under those circumstances, even though there is a very good argument that this is a good time to fix our immigration system--because immigration can be an important factor in recovery--in the real world, it's hard to see the politics for that when American native-born workers are under such stress and will continue to be so for a while," Meissner commented.
Meanwhile, the United States has made significant investments in border security, doubling the amount of money dedicated to keeping illegal immigrants from entering the country from $6 billion to $12 billion from the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003 until now.
Obama administration demonstrates a strong commitment to using its administrative authority to enhance immigration enforcement, Meissner remarked. For example, it has continued pressure on key stakeholders like employers.
The CIR ASAP bill has six parts. The first deals with border enforcement issues.
Earlier bills considered by the Senate focused on building infrastructure and hiring personnel and adding capabilities for the enforcement agencies, Meissner explained. The 2007 Senate bill would have used these enforcement methods as a trigger with conditions to be met before going ahead with some other provisions of the bill, particularly any amnesty offered to illegal immigrants in the United States.
CIR ASAP, on the other hand, would focus on reporting, oversight and standards in enforcement programs, she continued. It rolls back some provisions of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, signed into law by President Bill Clinton to toughen immigration enforcement. For example, it would abolish the 287(g) program, named for a provision of the 1996 immigration law, by prohibiting states and municipalities from enforcing immigration law.
The bill would further strengthen US ports of entry by adding more personnel and focusing on the facilitation of legitimate trade and travel into the United States. It would add 5,000 Customs inspectors at ports of entry, as well as ,200 agriculture inspectors and 350 support personnel.
Donald Kerwin, MPI vice president for programs, noted that the detention provisions of the new bill stress protections for illegal immigrants under detention.
The 2006 and 2007 bills would have expanded detention beds but the CIR ASAP bill would strengthen governance for detainees and protect against unlawful detention, Kerwin said.
It would provide special treatment for vulnerable persons and establish standards for medical care, telephone access, protection from sexual abuse, detainee transfers, and other matters.
CIR ASAP would establish an Immigration Detention Commission to report to Congress on compliance with those standards at DHS. It would further forbid immigration arrests at churches, schools, hospitals, and other places.
Other provisions
MPI Senior Policy Analyst Marc Rosenblum said the CIR ASAP bill has strong electronic verification requirements--much like the Senate immigration bills did. The bill would require employer participation in an electronic verification system like E-Verify. But it would attempt to resolve erroneous non-confirmations and reduce vulnerability to identity fraud.
CIR ASAP would permit a range of documents to be used to prove employment eligibility and it would set strong rules to prevent discrimination and employer misuse, Rosenblum described.
The bill would set up due process protections to prevent erroneous non-confirmations and would allow DHS to stay a non-confirmation and to conduct administrative reviews to resolve errors. The bill would attempt to improve E-Verify through a worker pilot program that would allow workers to opt into a verification process controlled by a personal identification number to guard against identity theft and employer misuse.
Meissner pointed out that CIR ASAP would attempt recapture unused visas from the past and apply them to reducing the visa backlog. Recapturing unused visas from 1992-2008, as the bill proposes, could yield more than 100,000 visas, Meissner estimated.
The bill would further exempt the children of lawful permanent residents from quota caps to permit more immigrant families to stay together, she said.
It also would expand the diversity visa lottery, currently issued to citizens of under-represented nations, Meissner pointed out. With the establishment of the Prevent Unauthorized Migration (PUM) Visa, the United States would offer 100,000 visas annually for the first three years of the program to people who come from countries representing at least 5 percent of the total unauthorized migration population within the United States for the past five years through a lottery system.
Kerwin described the legalization process under CIR ASAP as occurring in two stages: a conditional non-immigrant status and lawful permanent residence. An applicant for legal status would not have to leave the country to apply for either status.
To qualify for conditional status, an immigrant must be present in the United States on the date of the legislation and continuously thereafter. An applicant must file an attestation that they are contributing to United States through employment, school, volunteerism, or other means. The bill would provide exemptions for the elderly, disabled, or very young.
Applicants must submit to biometric identification and pass criminal background checks. They must pay fees and a $500 fine. They then receive a document that would verify their eligibility for work and would prevent any detention.
The path to lawful permanent residence would occur over a five-year period, where applicants demonstrate contributions to United States, gain no convictions for criminal offenses, demonstrate English language skills and civil knowledge, pass medical exams, pay income taxes, and meet other requirements.
Interestingly, the bill would not automatically create a temporary worker program, Rosenblum stressed. The bills considered by the Senate in 2006 and 2007 would have set up a temporary worker program with 200,000 new visas annually for low-skilled workers.
CIR ASAP instead would create a Standing Commission on Immigration and Labor Markets, which would make annual recommendations to Congress on the number of employment-based visa to be authorized that year. The recommendations would go into effect automatically unless congress overrides them within 90 days. In this way, the government can adjust visa numbers to match US economic conditions.
The bill would make changes to some requirements for visa programs, Rosenblum continued. Employers would be required to hire an available legal US worker before recruiting an H-1B visa employee. The bill also would increase wages for highly skilled H-1B visa holders and low-skilled H-2B visa holders. Earlier bills would have done much less to restrict existing non-immigrant visa programs, he added.
Michael Fix, MPI senior vice president and director of Research, said CIR ASAP has a strong focus on immigrant integration.
The bill would offer more relaxed standards for learning English than earlier bills--permitting immigration applicants to pass a naturalization test or to produce a high school degree or to demonstrate that they are learning English in acceptable forum.
The bill also would place a large focus on eight to nine million legal residents who could presently naturalize but have not done so. It would waive language and history tests for permanent residents and would cut application fees in half. The bill also would set up grant programs to promote legalization and naturalization.
CIR ASAP also would initiate an express immigrant integration policy, where English as a second language teachers would receive tax credits as would employers offering English language classes. It also would set up state integration councils. It would not, however, fund a large impact aid program as previous bills did.
http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/11571/149/