SWOPblogger

Something needs to happen this year on Immigration Reform. With a new president setting his sites on the white house it may be years before the debate gets put back on the floor.

The bulk of the deals this year, is the "Z Visas."
The package includes:
a $5000 fine to get paid back in 8 years
each undocumented person would get a "Z Visa"
each head of household would then have to EXIT the country and then re-enter
After re-entry then they get put on the path to citizenship, by first becoming a resident.

Also - each person would get put on a grade system. Depending on how many points you get based on skills and education, then you either get to stay or you get to leave.

It's still not good enough. There are still too many obstacles, and we are still dividing families.

My personal answer - people want to work, let them work, give them visas and put them on the path to citizenship now. Fines aren't necessary...all that does is pay for bureacracy....the income taxes they pay and don't get refunded are enough to subsidize that.

Don't make them exit - what is that going to prove that they want to get back in? No one trusts the government and even I get the heeby jeebeez crossing the border and I have papers. Sorry that's not going to fly. How can we guarantee they will let them back in without harassment? It's a trap if you ask me.

Some people may grapple with the fact that they did break the law and they have to pay, I think they've endured enough, risking their lives in a death ridden 100 degree desert, get over it. They put themselves as risk not anyone else. Running a red light is more criminal!

This is an economic issue - we need the workforce - and that's the simple truth.

Below are a few writings. There are many questions as to what a good reform would look like and actually what is on the table now. I hope some of these bring some clarity as to what is happening now. One is the article in the Journal this morning about the Media Campaign targetted at Domenici and Bingaman, another delineates some of the issues being debating and lastly there are talking points put out by FIRM (Fair Immigration Reform Movement) Hope it helps.

We're all children of immigrants, some of us have just forgotten.


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Talking Points: The White House Proposal & the Senate Debate
A Focus on Family

What’s at Stake?

• If Senate Republicans get their way:

o Undocumented immigrants could wait years to receive legal status, and many could be disqualified before they could even apply,

o Hard working temporary workers brought to the United States to fill important jobs would be denied the protections shared by other workers and a path to citizenship,

o US citizens and legal immigrants would be unable to sponsor loved ones – parents, brothers, sisters, adult children – to immigrate to this country.

• The White House wants a “Rich man’s immigration system” that would limit future immigration to only people with money and with college degrees.

• Temporary workers and future immigrants would be judged based on a “point system” in which family bonds could count for nothing.

• America’s family-based immigration system reflects American values – it honors family ties, which promote integration, entrepreneurial ambition and love for this adopted home.

• This is a dramatic change that must not be negotiated in some back room deal, but must be brought into the light of a public debate.

• The White House proposal is un-American, un-democratic, anti-worker, and anti-family.

• For this, the White House is willing to prevent debate even on a comprehensive immigration reform bill that twenty-three Senate Republicans voted for less than one year ago.

• The price the White House wants for a restrictive legalization program is a forced choice between some immigrants versus others, some children versus other children, loved ones versus workers, the undocumented versus temporary workers. The price is too high.

• FIRM stands for a straightforward path to citizenship for the undocumented and for temporary workers, worker rights, civil liberties and families.

• It is time for Democrats and Republicans alike to demonstrate real values and real leadership. The immigrant community and all Americans are watching.

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Local Activists Target Domenici, Bingaman
Comprehensive immigration reform supporters launch media campaign
BY DEBRA DOMINGUEZ-LUND
Journal Staff Writer


Juan Barajas empathizes with the plight of the undocumented immigrant.

After all, Barajas — Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Church deacon and director of Hispanic Ministries of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe — immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1970 to study here as a student.

“I know the challenges immigrants go through,” he said. “That’s why I’m asking our legislators to push for comprehensive immigration reform.”

Barajas was one of eight immigrant rights activists who spoke in favor of reform during a news conference Tuesday at Sen. Pete Domenici’s office in Albuquerque.

Organizers are launching a media campaign urging Domenici, R-N.M., and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., to “lead the charge” for bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform as the Senate debates the issue this week.

The news conference was organized by a number of groups, including the New Mexico Federation of Labor, the New Mexico Conference of Churches, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and the Hispano Roundtable of New Mexico.

Rachel LaZar, director of El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, said the groups want stronger border security with common sense reform, including “family reunification, respect for worker rights and a pathway to citizenship.”

The media campaign is part of a nationwide effort to pressure those in Congress who are essential to passing comprehensive immigration reform, Somos un Pueblo Unido director Marcela Diaz said.

A representative from Bingaman’s office said the senator does support comprehensive reform, including providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

A representative from Domenici’s office said the senator is working toward agreement on a new bill and has not taken a stand on the comprehensive reform legislation that immigrant rights groups are seeking.

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Immigrants May Get Legal Status

Senators Agree On Details of Plan

BY NICOLE GAOUETTE
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — Senators negotiating a bipartisan immigration reform bill have settled on the details of a plan that would immediately grant legal status to all illegal immigrants in the United States.

The deal on “Z visas” for illegal immigrants is one of several issues where Democrats and Republicans have reached broad agreement.

But as senators emerged from what they had hoped would be a final round of negotiations Tuesday, they indicated that the slow progress would keep them from meeting the deadline set by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to begin debate on a bill today.

Late Tuesday, Reid agreed to push that deadline back to Monday.

“They tell me they’re 80 percent of the way,” Reid, D-Nev., said in announcing the delay. “That’s fine, the other 20 percent is hard.”

The plan to award legal status to all illegal immigrants who meet certain qualifications would occur only after other so-called “triggers” are met. These triggers would require certain border security and work-site enforcement measures be in place before other aspects of the overhaul go forward.

The Z visa plan would start with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States going on a probationary legal status. If the triggers are met — a process that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., estimated would take 18 months — then illegal immigrants who qualify could get Z visas.

Those who have committed felony crimes would not be eligible, Graham said, and all participants would have to pass security checks, pay a fine and a processing fee and pass an English proficiency test.

Z visa holders would be able to apply for legal permanent resident status, a step toward citizenship. But at some point, the heads of households with Z visas would have to return to their home country and then reenter the United States. They would have to take their Z visa, which would include a photo and fingerprints, to the U.S. embassy or consulate and would be guaranteed re-entry, Graham said.

Tuesday’s talks followed two months of negotiations between key senators and administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

“We’ve made a lot of progress,” said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. “There are a few issues outstanding.”

Reid had said that if the negotiators could not reach a compromise, he would start debate on a new version of the immigration bill that the Senate passed last year. Republicans say last year’s bill is no longer acceptable and had signaled that they might block it. With the deadline extended to Monday, chances are better that the senators will be able to reach a deal.

Republicans sounded cautiously hopeful. “I remain optimistic that we’ll be able to put together a bill that can clear the Senate on a bipartisan basis, hopefully an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Democrats were more measured. Reid cited “some areas of accomplishment” but added that the two sides were “a long ways from where we need to be.”

Unresolved issues include the terms of a guest-worker program for future immigrants. Republicans are adamant that any program that imports labor should be temporary and not allow participants to become citizens.

The senators also have to settle on the number of green cards to make available for legal immigrants who want to become permanent residents.

And they will also tackle a larger issue. From its formal beginnings, the U.S. immigration system has been based on family reunification. Republicans want to change that to a point-based system designed to serve the nation’s economic needs. Potential immigrants would be graded based on education and skills.

Senators said they are compromising by combining the family and point system, allocating points for those who have family already in the United States. “It’s not going to be all family, but there will be a family component,” said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.

The two sides have come to agreement on the Dream Act, a provision that would allow young illegal immigrants to attend college at in-state tuition rates and eventually gain citizenship. Democrats and Republicans also have agreed on a jobs program for the agriculture industry.

Labels: family unification, Immigration, immigration reform, Z Visas