President Obama’s new DREAM relief policy would allow undocumented youth who qualify to request temporary relief from deportation, making them eligible to receive work permits and a social security number.
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Reaffirming American Values
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Would Reunite American Families
- Massive bureaucratic backlogs can keep family members apart for years or even decades. Arbitrary visa quotas and bureaucratic delays can separate families for years. It takes an average of almost 5 years for a legal permanent resident to get a visa for his or her spouse or young child, and 10 years to get a visa for a son or daughter who is over the age of 21. Comprehensive immigration reform would reduce these backlogs significantly so that future immigration is controlled, orderly, and legal.
- Those who want to send parents and their children “home” should recognize that they already are home. Most undocumented immigrants have been in the U.S. for more than five years, and most live in family units.
- According to the Pew Hispanic Center, 3 million U.S. citizens have at least one undocumented parent. Under the current system, these children of “mixed-status” families live under the threat that they will either be separated from their parents or forced to leave their home country: the United States. Comprehensive immigration reform would allow them to grow up in stable American families
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Would Help Us Live Up to American Values
- Extending welcome to those who come to this country for a better life is part of our American heritage. Through most of the United States’ history, there was no such thing as “illegal immigration.” The waves of Irish, German, Italian, Polish, and Jewish immigrants who came to the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries—the ancestors of most Americans of European descent—were allowed to enter the United States as long as they were healthy. The restrictions which made some immigration “illegal” were first put in place in the early 1900s.
- Most undocumented immigrants want to obtain legal status, support their families, pay taxes and learn English. The backlogs for visas, green cards and citizenship (for those eligible) and for English-language classes—not to mention the number of undocumented workers who pay taxes demonstrate that most undocumented immigrants would be willing to do what it takes to be eligible for legalization and citizenship, if only there were a way for them to get legal.
- Faith groups of all political backgrounds recognize that immigration reform is a moral imperative. Denominations and organizations that have joined the Interfaith Immigration Coalition or issued public statements in favor of reform include the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; the National Association of Evangelicals; the American Jewish Committee; the Episcopal Church; the Islamic Information Center; the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations; the United Methodist Church; Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service; the Union for Reform Judaism; the Presbyterian Church; United Sikhs; and the American Friends Service Committee.
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For weeks, DREAMers and their supporters have been a force at the Senate Judiciary Committee markups, where they’ve served as personal illustrations as to how immigration reform would change people’s lives. Here’s a video of DREAMers, and others, cheering after the final vote sending the immigration bill out of markup yesterday: Senate markup is over [...]
Learn MoreWASHINGTON, DC – En votación 13-5 el Comité Judicial del Senado aprobó el proyecto enmendado de reforma migratoria S. 744 avanzando una mejorada vía a la ciudadanía para millones de indocumentados que esquivó intentos de dificultarla o descarrilarla, y garantizando que la próxima escala de la medida sea el pleno del Senado posiblemente el mes [...]
Learn MoreConservative commentator Bill Kristol was on Laura Ingraham’s radio show yesterday (and it does seem like Ingraham’s show has become the gathering spot for the dwindling anti-immigrant movement), where he implored Marco Rubio to walk way from immigration reform negotiations because “Jeff Sessions is winning the debate.” Here’s a recap of what Kristol said: I [...]
Learn MoreA coalition of technology’s brightest entrepreneurs is holding the March for Innovation today, a bipartisan virtual march calling for immigration reform that works for America’s future. As the #iMarch’s website states: The March for Innovation, together with thousands of supporters at every level, from grassroots supporters to tech leaders, companies and organizations, is a virtual [...]
Learn MoreWASHINGTON, D.C. – El Comité Judicial del Senado desestimó el martes por 13-5 una enmienda propuesta por el senador Ted Cruz (republicano de Texas) que prohibía que los inmigrantes que se legalizaran a través de la reforma migratoria del Grupo de los Ocho obtuvieran la ciudadanía, eximiendo únicamente a los asilados. Tres senadores republicanos, Orrin [...]
Learn MoreLast night, the immigration reform world cheered as the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Gang of 8 immigration reform bill out of markup on a 13-5 bipartisan vote. As our own executive director Frank Sharry said: Today immigration reform took a giant step forward. The Gang of Eight bill is a carefully balanced piece of [...]
Learn MoreEl presidente, Barack Obama, alentó hoy a los estudiantes indocumentados a que sigan compartiendo sus historias de sacrificio con líderes del Congreso, como parte de una campaña de presión a favor de la reforma migratoria que debate el Legislativo. Obama y el vicepresidente, Joe Biden, recibieron hoy en el Despacho Oval de la Casa Blanca [...]
Learn MorePor una votación voto de 13-5, el Comité Judicial del Senado aprobó ayer el proyecto de ley para una reforma migratoria. Se espera que la propuesta sea debatida por la Cámara Alta en junio. Luego de cinco jornadas de trabajo y la consideración de más de 200 enmiendas, los legisladores culminaron el debate. Al final [...]
Learn MoreNational Journal: First Hurdle Cleared in Immigration, but Bigger Ones Remain By Fawn Johnson Bloomberg: Senate Panel Advances U.S. Immigration Bill With Hatch’s Changes By Heidi Przybyla and Kathleen Hunter Reuters: Senate panel passes immigration bill; Obama praises move By Rachelle Younglai and Caren Bohan NBC Latino: Senate committee votes “yes” on comprehensive immigration reform, [...]
Learn MoreToday, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the immigration legislation by a bipartisan vote (13-5). The vote concludes the committee markup process in the Senate and signifies the clearing of the first official legislative hurdle for immigration reform’s passage in 2013 (see here for a list of “good and bad” amendments added to the Senate bill [...]
Learn MoreTHE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE STRENGTHENED S. 744 BY Making the path to citizenship more efficient and practical. By adopting Hirono 12, the SJC ensured that immigrants along the path to citizenship will be able to pay application fees on a more affordable installment plan, ensuring more low-income immigrants will be able to pay the $2000 required [...]
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