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.
Learn MoreFacts
Good for Workers and Honest Employers
Legalization Would Level the Playing Field for Workers and Honest Employers
- Most undocumented immigrants in this country are working outside the system in a shadow economy that artificially depresses wages, allows unscrupulous employers to cheat the system, and exposes workers to abuse and labor violations. One of the most horrific examples of this underground system is the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant: after the plant was raided in 2008, the public discovered that the undocumented workers employed there had been exploited by low wages, health and safety violations, and even physical abuse.
- Reports have shown that under the Bush Administration, these unscrupulous employers have not been penalized for unfairly exploiting workers. A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified cases in which the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor inadequately investigated complaints about employers who failed to pay minimum wage and overtime. Another GAO report found a marked decrease in Wage and Hour Division enforcement actions during the Bush administration.
- Under a legalization program, undocumented workers would be made legal and subject to all wage and labor laws that govern the workplace. This would result in improved wages and labor standards for all workers.
Legalization Would Lift the Wages of All Workers
- According to a report released in December 2009 by the Center for American Progress and the Immigration Policy Center, comprehensive immigration reform that includes a legalization program would increase the real wages of less-skilled legalized workers by $4,405 per year. Higher-skilled workers would see a yearly wage increase of $6,185 per year.
- These increased wages would result in increased consumer spending which would support 750,000 to 900,000 jobs in the U.S.
- This report found that the alternative to comprehensive immigration reform, mass deportation, would result in widespread job loss.
- An analysis done by the Drum Major Institute of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act, found that the bill’s legalization program would allow undocumented workers to earn legal status, creating a workplace that enables effective enforcement of U.S. wage and hour laws, workplace safety standards and other labor regulations. This would ultimately benefit all working people who rely on these protections.
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Today, 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 [...]
Learn MoreWashington, DC – Luego de trabajar en la mayoría de sus enmiendas, el Comité Judicial del Senado se encuentra en las etapas finales de la revisión del proyecto de ley de inmigración bipartidista. Según el presidente del Comité Judicial, Patrick Leahy (D-VT), quien encabeza el proceso atenta y justamente, la revisión podría estar lista hoy. [...]
Learn MoreBelow is a press statement from the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, about President Obama’s meeting with DREAMers and their families today: Families part of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement Share Personal Stories of Broken Immigration System and the Impact on Their Lives (WASHINGTON) – This morning, President Obama and Vice President Biden met with seven [...]
Learn MoreA cross-post by DREAMer Eric Balderas, initially posted at the Hill: I have much in common with my home state’s junior senator, Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Like Cruz, I was not born in the U.S. Like Cruz, I moved to Texas at the age of 4 and grew up pledging allegiance to the American flag. Like [...]
Learn MoreToday is the last day of markup in the Senate Judiciary Committee–and advocates from around the country have been pumped up waiting for the Senators to pass the immigration bill out of committee. Below is a picture of some of the advocates in the hearing room–DREAMers, moms, dads, union supporters, business interests, faith leaders, immigrants, [...]
Learn MoreLos senadores que apoyan una reforma integral de las leyes de inmigración aceptaron cambios menores en público a la vez que negociaban el lunes en privado modificaciones más amplias en momentos que se espera que la Comisión de Asuntos Jurídicos del Senado las apruebe para mediados de esta semana. En una votación de 13-5, los [...]
Learn MoreUpdate: Cruz 3 has just been rejected on a 5-13 vote. Senators supporting a permanent, second-class status: Sessions, Lee, Grassley, Cruz, Cornyn. Right now the Senate Judiciary Committee (#CIRmarkup) is considering Sen. Ted Cruz’s amendment 3, one of the worst amendments that has been proposed to the Senate Gang of 8 immigration bill. Cruz seems [...]
Learn MoreHaving worked through a majority of its amendments, the Senate Judiciary Committee is in the final stages of marking up the bipartisan immigration reform bill. According to Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who led the process thoughtfully and fairly, the markup is likely to finish today. The biggest takeaway? Although some call the path [...]
Learn MoreLa Comisión Judicial del Senado de Estados Unidos espera concretar un elusivo acuerdo sobre visas para trabajadores del sector de alta tecnología y podría enviar al pleno de la cámara alta una controversia sobre matrimonios homosexuales en momentos en que realiza los ajustes finales a las decisiones sobre un proyecto de legislación de inmigración que [...]
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