New Visa Category for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

With Comprehensive Immigration Reform on again off again proposition, the fine folks at the Onion had a new idea for a new visa category. Click link below for details from the Onion http://tinyurl.com/q5pquo8

Tumblr creator, AOL co-founder, and others back 'virtual march' for immigration reform

Tumblr creator, AOL co-founder, and others back 'virtual march' for immigration reform As some of the most visibly successful American companies, startups and larger tech outfits enjoy favored status in political discourse. Finding "the next Steve Jobs" is a common talking point (it's showed up in, among other places, the 2012 State of the Union Address), and Obama has consistently called for better STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education to allow the US to maintain its technological prowess. At the same time, internet companies are pushing their own causes: Google has become a major player in Washington over the past year, and the SOPA protests of 2012 set a model for online company-backed activism. Now, as a new immigration plan is being workshopped in the Senate, parts of the tech community are putting their weight behind reform. Beng it here for entire article from Adi Robertson of The Verge http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/25/4027928/tech-sector-members-back-virtual-march-for-immigration-reform

The "Immigration Innovation Act of 2013" May Double H-1B Visa Cap

With all the talk of CIR, The "Immigration Innovation Act of 2013" May Double H-1B Visa Cap and will help "LEGAL" business based Immigration According to the ACT 1. Increase H-1B cap from 65,000 to 115,000 2. Establish a market-based H-1B escalator, so that the cap can adjust – up or down – to the demands of the economy (includes a 300,000 ceiling on the ability of the escalator to move) o If the cap is hit in the first 45 days when petitions may be filed, an additional 20,000 H-1B visas will be made available immediately. o If the cap is hit in the first 60 days when petitions may be filed, an additional 15,000 H-1B visas will be made available immediately. o If the cap is hit in the first 90 days when petitions may be filed, an additional 10,000 H-1B visas will be made available immediately. o If the cap is hit during the 185-day period ending on the 275th day on which petitions may be filed, and additional 5,000 H-1B will be made available immediately. 3. Uncap the existing U.S. advanced degree exemption (currently limited to 20,000 per year) 4. Authorize employment for dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders 5. Increase portability of high skilled foreign workers by: o Removing impediments and costs of changing employers; o Establishing a clear transition period for foreign workers as they change jobs; and, o Restoring visa revalidation for E, H, L, O, and P nonimmigrant visa categories Student Visas  Allow dual intent for foreign students at U.S. colleges and universities to provide the certainty they need to ensure their future in the United States Immigrant Visas and Green Cards  Enable the recapture of green card numbers that were approved by Congress in previous years but were not used  Exempt certain categories of persons from the employment-based green card cap: o Dependents of employment-based immigrant visa recipients o U.S. STEM advance degree holders o Persons with extraordinary ability o Outstanding professors and researchers  Provide for the roll-over of unused employment-based immigrant visa numbers to the following fiscal year so future visas are not lost due to bureaucratic delays  Eliminate annual per-country limits for employment based visa petitioners and adjust per-country caps for family-based immigrant visas U.S. STEM Education & Worker Retraining Initiative  Reform fees on H-1B visas and employment-based green cards; use money from these fees to fund a grant program to promote STEM education and worker retraining to be administered by the states

AILA highlights Pres. Obama's Immigration Reform Spech

From American Immigration Lawyer Association Today, President Obama called for common sense, comprehensive immigration reform, saying unequivocally that now is the time for action. He noted that most Americans agree that it is time to "fix the system that has been broken for way too long" and that immigration reform will strengthen our economy and our nation's future. AILA applauds the President's commitment to key principles at the heart of meaningful immigration reform, starting with an earned path to legal status that eventually could be converted to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented in our communities, and including: Eliminating the extremely long wait times for families to be reunited with loved ones with temporary and permanent reforms to the family-based immigration system. Treating same-sex families just like other families. Eliminating long wait times for employers and prospective employees by reducing backlogs and adding visas. Granting green cards to graduates in science, technology, engineering and math fields, creating a "startup visa" for job-creating entrepreneurs, and expanding opportunities for investors contributing to U.S. economic development. Expediting an opportunity for DREAMers to earn their citizenship. Investing in our immigration courts and providing greater protections for those least able to represent themselves. Providing broader discretion to judges to help keep families together when they face hardship. Imposing tough criminal penalties on notarios who prey on vulnerable immigrants.

IS CIR coming ?

A bipartisan group of leading senators has reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to rewrite the nation's immigration laws. The deal, which was to be announced at a news conference Monday afternoon, covers border security, guest workers and employer verification, as well as a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country. Although thorny details remain to be negotiated and success is far from certain, the development heralds the start of what could be the most significant effort in years toward overhauling the nation's inefficient patchwork of immigration laws. President Barack Obama also is committed to enacting comprehensive immigration legislation and will travel to Nevada on Tuesday to lay out his vision, which is expected to overlap in important ways with the Senate effort. The eight senators expected to endorse the new principles Monday are Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado; and Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida and Jeff Flake of Arizona. Keep following us for breaking news on CIR

Sean Hannity and the Conservatives changing view on Comprehensive Immigration Reform?

After the election and the overwhelming support of the of the Democratic party by Latino, it seems like there is a change in view of Conservatives for comprehensive immigration reform

Obama seeks Immigration Reform is re-lected

I 'll believe it when I see it

President Barack Obama, expressing confidence he will win re-election in November, told a Hispanic audience he would use a second term to seek comprehensive immigration reform.

"My presidency is not over," Obama said in an interview with Univision Radio when asked about his failure so far to push through an immigration bill. "I've got another five years coming up. We're going to get this done."

Is he just pandering to voters? We shall see

US Tenn Self Deports herself... ICE complies

WOW

A Texas teenager who was deported to Colombia after claiming to be an illegal immigrant was returned to the United States and remains at the center of an international mystery over how a minor could be sent to a country where she is not a citizen

Some proposed Immigration Relief

Now, Citizenship and Immigration Services proposes to allow the immigrants to obtain a provisional waiver in the United States, before they leave for their countries to pick up their visas. Having the waiver in hand will allow them to depart knowing that they will almost certainly be able to return, officials said. The agency is also seeking to sharply streamline the process to cut down the wait times for visas to a few weeks at most.

Sponsor of Darconian Arizona immigration bill being Recalled

Russell Pearce, the sponsor of the controversial SB 1070 law that sparked a new flash point in the country's immigration debate, is facing a recall election in his district in Arizona.
Critics of the legislator filed petitions Tuesday.
The requirement to do so is 7,756 voter signatures from the Mesa Republican's legislative district.


Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2011/06/01/russell-pearce-sponsor-sb-1070-faces-recall-election/#ixzz1O7YBoEzy

Another Case for the Dreamers

Elier Lara is concentrating on final exams this week and not worrying about his immigration status.

The University of Cincinnati honor student has learned that his attorney and the chief deputy counsel for the Department of Homeland Security filed a joint motion requesting dismissal of Lara's deportation case.

Click the link to see a wonderful article by Mark Curnutte of the Cincinnati Enquirer

Mexico Deports immigrants too

They stood and squatted for hours, crammed into two sweltering semi-trailers, clinging to ropes so they would not fall as the trucks traveled through winding mountain roads.
Mexican authorities say the more than 500 illegal immigrants they detained Tuesday wanted to reach the United States and each had paid $7,000 to get there.
But by Wednesday, a day after X-ray equipment detected them at a highway checkpoint, the majority of them had been deported to their home countries in Central and South America.

Bloomberg Call for stop of Immigration Bickering

NEW YORK, April 24 (UPI) -- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg Sunday said conservatives should stop fighting immigration and accept it as necessary to U.S. growth.

President Blogs about Immigration Reforms

Working Together to Create a 21st Century Immigration System
Posted by Melody Barnes on April 20, 2011 at 09:37 AM EDT
President Obama remains deeply committed to reforming our immigration laws to meet our 21st Century economic and security needs. In his State of the Union address, the President asked Republicans and Democrats to work with him to take on this issue. While we all know the debate will be tough, the American people expect their leaders in Washington to tackle difficult issues. The President cannot fix our broken system on his own.

Yesterday, I joined the President at an important meeting with a broad group of business, law enforcement, faith, and elected leaders from across the country. The President was joined by several members of his Cabinet, including Secretaries Janet Napolitano, Hilda Solis, Ken Salazar, and Attorney General Eric Holder, all of whom have been actively engaged in the Administration’s efforts to advance legislation to improve our system in the key areas that they oversee.

The President made a strong case that immigration reform needs to be a priority, not just for him but for all of the people in the room. He heard their concerns and got feedback on how to advance legislative efforts to get the job done. The President urged them to lead serious and civil discussions in their sectors and around the country to help create the space for congressional action. I hope others will join the President in bringing the debate to their own communities.

It was inspiring to hear about the important work already underway – work that will build the momentum for immigration reform critical to our economic future, global competitiveness, and national security interests. It was also a reminder of all the work that needs to be done.

As we work toward immigration reform, the Administration will continue to look for ways to improve our legal immigration system, secure the borders, and enhance our enforcement strategy so that it is smarter and more effective at removing criminals and prosecuting unscrupulous employers. But enforcement alone will not solve our immigration problem. We need reform that affirms our history as both a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants – and to do that, we need to work together to pass legislation.

Immigration reform has always been a bipartisan issue, and the President believes it can and should be again. Democrats, Republicans and Independents working together can enact meaningful, lasting reforms and make the right choices for our future.

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Interesting article on ANTI Immigration Advocate

A beekeeper and amateur naturalist of prodigious energy, John Tanton had spent two decades planting trees, cleaning creeks and suing developers, but population growth put ever more pressure on the land. Though fertility rates had fallen, he saw a new threat emerging: soaring rates of immigration.

Obama aid rips white house immigration policy

n a stinging rebuke of the White House, Washington politicians and federal agencies, a former Obama administration official slams in a law journal the U.S. government for its inaction on immigration reform and tougher-than-ever enforcement.

With uncommon candor for a once-public official, Roxana Bacon, a former top counsel for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, says that the administration — and her erstwhile employer — have shied away from vision and practical leadership on immigration, because of indifference and timidity, respectively. She published her comments in the March issue of Arizona Attorney, the state bar's law journal.



YOu go Roxy!

Immigration Reform is Dead?

Just days after Congress killed the DREAM Act, voices on all sides of the immigration reform debate say it’s unlikely there will be much movement on the issue during the next two years.

With Republicans poised to assume House control in January, immigrant-rights advocates see scant chance legislation to grant illegal immigrants any kind of foothold in the U.S. could move through the lower chamber.

Colbert testifies on Ag Jobs

General Colin Powell on Immigration

Colin Powell Gets it right on Immigration reform
“[Republicans] have got to take a hard look at some of the positions they’ve been taking,” Powell said. “We can’t be anti-immigration, for example. Because immigrants are fueling this country. Without immigrants [the U.S.] would be like Europe or Japan, with an aging population and no young people coming in to take care of it. We have to educate our immigrants.”

Immigration Law is hard to understand

A Lack Of Understanding"
CUNY Prof. Ruthann Robson gives us a key quote from Lozano v. Hazleton: "Merely because an immigrant may have a present status does not mean that this status is correct, unchangeable, or may cause the federal government to exercise its discretion to remove the immigrant. Stitched into the fabric of Hazleton’s housing provisions, then, is either a lack of understanding or a refusal to recognize the complexities of federal immigration law. Hazleton would effectively remove from its City an alien college student the federal government has purposefully declined to initiate removal proceedings against. So too would Hazleton remove an alien battered spouse, currently unlawfully present, but eligible for adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident under the special protections Congress has afforded to battered spouses and children."