Update on Immigration Reform

The Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund has released the following statement on updates on immigration reform:

Menendez/Hagel Amendment – MALDEF, religious, Asian American, and other advocates strongly support this amendment to restore the ability of over 800,000 U.S. citizens to be reunited with close family members. Without this bipartisan amendment, they would lose their place in the legal immigration line and get shifted into the untested and unpredictable Point System for visa allocation. Reducing opportunities for citizens who have waited to be reunited with close family members should not be part of the overall compromise. This amendment limits the damage to families and should be the first amendment to be debated and voted upon today.

Clinton/Hagel Amendment – MALDEF Legislative Attorney Eric Gutierrez will appear at a press conference today on Capitol Hill with Senators Clinton and Hagel and immigrant advocates in support of this amendment that would treat spouses and minor children of permanent residents as “immediate relatives” for immigration category purposes. If adopted, the amendment would mean that spouses and minor children would no longer have to endure up to five years of waiting for their visas.

Menendez/Obama Amendments – These senators are expected to offer two amendments that would reduce the negative impact on family reunification that would be created by the new Point System. MALDEF supports these amendments that would (1) end the Point System after 5 years unless Congress studies and extends it and (2) give family members a better chance of emerging from the Point System with enough points to qualify for a visa. MALDEF opposes this Point System entirely. If it remains in the Senate bill, we will work to remove it in the House.

Dodd/Hatch Amendment – This bipartisan amendment would undo damage in the compromise that makes it more difficult for the parents of U.S. citizens to obtain a visa. The compromise would place a limit on the number of visas for parents at roughly half the current usage. The amendment retains the limitation but raises it to 90,000 visas per year or roughly the current usage. MALDEF supports this amendment.

Moving to the legalization program, an unexpectedly harsh amendment may be offered by freshman Missouri Senator McCaskill. In addition to the $5,000 fine, various application fees and eight or more year process for eventual legal status that is already in the compromise, the potential McCaskill Amendment would force individuals seeking legal status to admit to the misdemeanor of entering the United States without authorization and to perform hundreds of hours of “community service.” MALDEF strongly opposes this amendment as an unnecessary and unduly excessive obstacle to legal status. The amendment ignores that (1) unauthorized immigrants already work in some of the most dangerous, difficult, and unwanted occupations and (2) the requirements under the compromise are already far more stringent than any of the many legalization programs the government has regularly administered over the past 80 years.

On Tuesday, MALDEF President and General Counsel John Trasviña addressed the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City on the immigration legislation and, with Legislative Attorney Eric Gutierrez, conducted a press conference with the ACLU and AFL-CIO on various provisions of the bill. We will continue to carry out these and other activities and invite you to let us know of opportunities where we can educate the Latino community and others about what is at stake in the current deliberations or assist you in your own efforts.

KJ