CHICAGO — Having waited patiently in the wings, immigration
advocates are anxious to take President Barack Obama at his word when he said
immigration reform would soon follow health care on the nation’s agenda.
With several initiatives gearing up to put the issue before
Congress in 2010, the advocates are all too aware they haven’t had much cause
for celebration in recent years. Their last big push in Washington, in 2007,
failed to settle the status of the nation’s estimated 11.9 million undocumented
immigrants.
Deportations have continued, with nearly 370,000 immigrants
detained during the fiscal year that ended in October. That’s more than twice
the number in 1999, according to a report last week by Transactional Records
Clearing House at Syracuse University.
In Chicago, frustration has been heightened by tougher local
enforcement measures, such as a new city ordinance that, starting Jan. 1, will
allow police to impound the cars of unlicensed drivers. Many of them turn out
to be undocumented immigrants.
On the street, the emotions behind the issue could be seen
in the campaign on behalf of Rigo Padilla, an undocumented college student who
had been ordered out of the country by Dec. 16. Last week, 200 people rallied
through downtown, and some demonstrators have threatened civil disobedience if
Padilla isn’t allowed to stay. On Thursday, Padilla said he had been allowed to
stay in the United States for one more year.
Groups seeking more aggressive immigration-law enforcement,
meanwhile, see cases like Padilla’s as reasons to crack down further on illegal
immigrants. His illegal status was discovered when he was arrested for drinking
and driving, and he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor DUI charge.
In hopes of finding a resolution, Congress is again talking
about an immigration overhaul early next year. One House bill, sponsored by
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., is expected to be introduced before
Christmas, and another Senate bill is expected in January.
Following up on Obama’s vow to address the issue when he met
with activists at the White House earlier this year, Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano said last month the administration envisions a
“three-legged stool” that includes better border enforcement, more
efficient legal immigration, and “a tough and fair” pathway to
legalization that will require the undocumented to learn English and pay fines,
among other things.
Below, where the three legs currently stand:
ENFORCEMENT
In November, officials at Immigration and Customs
Enforcement announced 111,000 “criminal aliens” were identified in
jails and prisons under a Secure Communities Initiative launched in October
2008 with local law enforcement agencies. Of that number, 11,000 were serving
time for murder, rape and other serious crimes. The rest had been charged with
less serious crimes, such as burglary or property theft.
In April, ICE announced a shift in focus to crack down more
on employers that illegally hire undocumented immigrants, though records do not
yet show that the new approach has resulted in more employer arrests. In FY09,
114 employers were arrested on criminal charges, compared with 135 in FY08 and
92 in FY07. Meanwhile, arrests of illegal workers at their jobs went down to
1,840 in FY09 from 6,152 the year before.
In July, 654 “workplace audits” checking for
illegal hiring produced 14,000 suspected documents and $2.3 million in fines.
In November, ICE announced 1,000 new workplace audits.
Earlier this year, the Obama administration rescinded a
hotly contested “no-match rule” introduced by the Bush
administration. The never-implemented rule — the subject of a federal lawsuit
in San Francisco — would have imposed fines on employers who did not quickly
act on federal notices showing a worker’s stated Social Security number did not
match Social Security Administration records.
Approximately 170,000 businesses nationwide use the federal
“E-verify” software program that is meant to determine whether new
hires are providing legal documentation. Initially created as a pilot program
in 1996, the software has become widely available, with 1,000 new subscribers
per month since 2007, according to Homeland Security. Under a rule approved
this year, federal contractors are required to use E-verify.
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PATHWAY TO LEGALIZATION
There are an estimated 11.9 million people in the country
illegally, according to a 2008 report by the Pew Hispanic Center. In the
Midwest, of the 286,000 Mexican immigrants who’ve arrived since 2001, roughly
66 percent are illegal, according to a 2009 report by the Chicago Council on
Global Affairs. The economic recession has had an impact on immigration flows,
leading to a 20 percent drop in annual remittances to Mexico earlier this year.
In a November 13 speech, Napolitano laid out a plan for
legalization that would require illegal immigrants to register, pay fines and
all taxes they owe, learn English and pass a criminal background check.
Napolitano argued that bringing illegal immigrants into the system would
enhance national security and protect American workers against unfair competition
from lower-paid illegal immigrants. Opponents dismiss legalization as a form of
amnesty.
LEGAL IMMIGRATION
Delays for some forms of legal immigration can stretch to
several years. This year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which
processes citizenship applications and visas, successfully reduced months-long
backlogs for FBI background checks and other red tape.
After a 69 percent increase in processing fees two years
ago, naturalization applications dropped to about 733,000 in FY09, from about 1
million during the previous 12 months.
Officials are weighing whether to increase fees again in the
face of declining revenues, prompting an outcry from immigrant advocates who
argue that will keep more eligible people from becoming citizens.
In discussions over immigration reform, some have proposed
an increase in foreign guest-worker visas, but unions and groups seeking to
limit immigration in general are opposed, arguing those workers would take jobs
away from Americans.
PENDING LEGISLATION
Gutierrez is expected to introduce a bill for comprehensive
immigration reform in the next few weeks, kicking off another round of debate.
The bill’s “core principles” would include a pathway for
legalization, aligning “future flows” of legal immigration with
economic and labor market needs and making family unity a cornerstone of the
nation’s immigration system.
In July, U.S. Rep. Heath Schuler, D-N.C., and U.S. Sen. Mark
Pryor, D-Ark., re-introduced the SAVE Act, which seeks to reduce illegal
immigration through increased border security and requiring employers to prove
their workers are in the U.S. legally. The bill was defeated in 2007.
In April, U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., re-introduced
the DREAM Act, which would grant conditional legal status to undocumented
students who arrived to the U.S. younger than 16 and have been continuously in
the country for six years. The legislation was first conceived in 2001, and has
been repeatedly defeated.
Also in April, Durbin and U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley,
R-Iowa, introduced legislation designed to curb abuse in the H-1B temporary
visa program used by software companies and other high-tech employers to fill
vacant positions. Among other things, the bill would require employers to prove
they’ve sought American workers for those spots first.
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
