This Week in Immigration
Friday, 02. 5. 2010 – Category: Immigration Reform, Recent Activity
There has been mixed reaction to President Obama’s mention of comprehensive immigration reform in the State of the Union. Some believe that he is strongly supportive of reform, while others argue that he has given up. But we cannot give up on immigration reform for 2010. Too many APIs have been affected by the broken immigration system.
Obama’s proposed 2011 budget does have immigration-related provisions. DHS would receive a bump in funding of $6 billion, including funding for the virtual border fence, E-Verify, and an increase in border patrol officers and intelligence analysts along the southern border. California would also receive $330 million to help pay for immigrant detention under the SCAAP program, which funds states and localities who detain undocumented immigrants.
In a Los Angeles townhall attended by Rep. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), the author of CIR ASAP, a diverse group of labor, law enforcement, APIs, Latinos, faith, African-Americans and elected officials called for reform. In Washington, D.C., Sen. Graham (R-SC) is still supportive of the issue, and Sen. Schumer (D-NY) also met with Lou Dobbs, conservative talk show host, who is slowly changing his views on immigration.
Reps. Tiahrt (R-KS), Alexander (R-LA), Bilbray (R-CA), and Hunter (R-CA) introduced the Fairness for American Students Act, which includes any college or university that provides in-state tuition to undocumented students from federal funding. In California, API students, which comprise about 40% of the undocumented student population in the University of California system and would otherwise be unable to afford college, are allowed to pay in-state tuition under state law AB 540.
Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) has also formed a new Congressional caucus, the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus, that attempts to frame the immigration debate in terms of unemployment. This is despite numerous reports from well-respected institutions that show that immigration reform would benefit both California and the U.S., creating $1.5 trillion in GDP nationwide.
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Presently, CIR ASAP has 93 co-sponsors in the House.
Reuniting Families Act has 5 co-sponsors in the Senate and 79 in the House.
Dream Act has 32 co-sponsors in the Senate and 106 in the House.
SUCCESS Act has 14 co-sponsors in the House.
Please call your members of Congress and encourage them to co-sponsor the legislation listed above!
Administrative & Legal Update
Indian temporary guest workers have brought a civil rights suit against a Mississippi company, claiming they are victims of human trafficking and labor abuse. The Signal International case has come to represent the flaws and pitfalls of the H-2B temporary guest worker program, where the company received advice from immigration officials on how to retaliate against organizing Indian workers.
USCIS and Los Angeles have announced a new Immigrant Integration Partnership, to strengthen local immigrant integration efforts. Los Angeles is the first city to enter into such an agreement with USCIS.
Some interesting reports were also released this past week:
* American Bar Association: Crisis within the immigration removal system
* Urban Institute: Children in the aftermath of immigration enforcement
* Immigration Policy Center: Future flow: Repairing our broken system