Hutchison and Webb Amendments to Senate Bill

Here are two amendments that the Senate is considering on the immigration bill (which is now numbered S. 1639)

1. The Hutchison (R-Texas) Amendment.  The amendment would make 2 changes to the legalization program.  First, it would require both the head of the household and the spouse to leave the country.  Second, it would require the “touch back” to occur prior to applying for the Z visa (in other words, at the beginning of the program) rather than later on.  The significance of the changes taken together is that both parents would have to leave the country and run the risk of being denied a Z visa and be both out of status and out of the U.S.  As soon as one family was caught in that trap, no one else would come forward to apply. 

2, The Webb (D-Virginia) Amendment.  This amendment would move back the legalization eligibility date to 4 years before the bill was enacted and thus deny eligibility to about 4 million people.  It would leave to the Dept of Homeland Security the discretion to establish eligibility criteria after the bill was enacted based on “ties to the United States.”  So, if this passed, we would have little idea who was eligible for legalization but the certainty that 4 million would not be. 

I’d recommend encouraging your senators to vote “no” on these amendments.

bh