By Stephen M. Dunne, Esq.
On December 15, 2009, Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced legislation (HR 4321) to reform our immigration laws. To date, the bill has 92 co-sponsors, all of them Democrats.
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP) represents an important step in getting Congress to repair our broken immigration system.
The CIR ASAP bill is the first comprehensive immigration reform bill that aims to rectify some of the egregious immigration practices set in place since 1996 while simultaneously establishing a 21st century approach to protect and secure our nation’s borders.
Below is a thumbnail sketch of the contents of the bill:
Border Security: The bill creates a Southern Border Security Task Force that is composed of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers with oversight and accountability provided by the Department of Homeland Security. The enforcement provision of the bill ensures that the Customs and Border Protection have sufficient assets such as helicopters, power boats, motor vehicles and other advanced aerial surveillance equipment to properly secure the U.S. – Mexico border.
Enforcement: The bill repeals the controversial 287(g) program, a provision of immigration law relating to cooperation between state and local enforcement agencies and ICE (misused by some agencies bent on harassing immigrants) and clarifies that the authority to enforce the federal immigration law lies solely with the federal government.
Judicial Review: The bill would restore provisions providing for judicial review of immigration proceedings that were stripped from the law by 1996 legislation. The federal courts would be free to review the decisions and practices of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) thereby restoring the historic role that the courts play in reviewing agency actions.
Legalization: The bill would create a program providing conditional nonimmigrant status for undocumented immigrants (and their spouses and children) in the U.S., which is valid for six years. An undocumented immigrant must establish his/her presence on or before December 15, 2009, pass a criminal background check, learn English and U.S. civics and pay a $500 fine (plus necessary application fees) in order to obtain a six-year visa. After the six-year term has expired, the undocumented immigrant is also eligible to adjust their status from conditional nonimmigrant to lawful permanent resident status (green card) and eventual citizenship.
Visa Reforms: The bill would reduce the existing backlog by permitting “recapture” of unused employment-based visas and family sponsored visas from fiscal years 1992-2008 and allows future unused visa numbers to roll over to the next fiscal year. It is estimated that these recaptured visas would number in the hundreds of thousands. The bill would increase the number of employment-based green cards from 140,000 to 290,000 per year. To promote family unity, the bill reclassifies the spouse and children of Legal Permanent Residents and treats them the same as the spouses and children of citizens, exempting them from the annual immigration cap. Furthermore, immigration judges are given great discretionary authority to waive unlawful presence bars to reunite families upon a demonstration of hardship for applicant’s U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident family members.
Our current immigration system has failed by all accounts and we desperately need to begin the comprehensive immigration reform dialogue in Congress in order to solve the current crisis. President Obama has indicated that he wants Congress to pass an immigration bill in 2010 and (HR 4321) may be that bill. It certainly would be a brilliant way to start the New Year.
Stephen Dunne is a Center City attorney who was born in Dublin. He graduated from Penn State, got his law degree from New England Law, and has served in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. He volunteers at the Philadelphia Irish Immigration Center, the Pennsylvania Senior Law Center and the Immigrant Migration Center in Philadelphia, among others.
