According to a recent article in the New York Times, the White House has made it clear that President Obama intends to make good on his campaign promise to reform our dysfunctional, antiquated U.S. immigration system during his first year of office. In fact, the New York Times reported yesterday that President Obama “plans to speak publicly about the issue in May” and “over the summer he will convene working groups, including lawmakers from both parties and a range of immigration groups, to begin discussing possible legislation for as early as this fall.”
White House Chief Of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, reportedly has begun taking “concrete steps” in support of the President’s message for comprehensive immigration reform according to The Wall Street Journal. Recent statements from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid have also signaled their support for comprehensive immigration reform.
White House officials have emphasized that a key component of comprehensive immigration reform will be establishing a pathway to legal status for the roughly 12 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States. A well-tailored legalization program would, in fact, bring order and legality to what is now a chaotic and unregulated situation. It is presumed that undocumented immigrants applying for legal status would not only be required to register with the Federal Government, but would also have to meet a number of other requirements, including paying taxes, getting criminal background checks, learning English, and paying a fine for entering the United States illegally.
Additionally, comprehensive immigration reform may address many of the other flaws and inequities within our current immigration system, including updating Congressionally-mandated limits on corporate and business-related immigrant and nonimmigrant visas based upon the rise and fall of labor needs of our economy [rather than antiquated and arbitrary numerical caps that bear no relationship to labor demand] and reducing of the enormous backlog of applications for family reunifications.
Finally, comprehensive immigration reform may establish more effective enforcement mechanisms to find individuals who pose a danger to public safety or our national security, as well as targeted measures to enforce the laws against those employers knowingly employing undocumented workers.
Anticipating opposition to immigration reform, President Obama has sought to shift some of the political burden to advocates for immigrants, by encouraging them to build support among voters for when his proposal goes to Congress.
In addition to our March 19 visit with a senior staff member of Congressman Donald M. Payne’s office (D.NJ) in connection with the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s National Day Of Action, the Immigration Law Group of Meyner and Landis LLP plans to work with Congressman Payne and others to spread the message about the underlying importance of the White House’s efforts to fix our currently broken immigration system.