Immigration Reform

Everyone agrees that our immigration system needs to be reformed. Our office firmly believes that Congress should enact legislations to accomplish the following:

• A "Worker" Program That Works: A simple, inexpensive, and expeditious process for workers to enter the United States is needed. Immigrants do not want to enter the United States illegally, but they do so because there is not an efficient or fair process to enter legally. Opening up the worker-visa program will be the single easiest way to decrease the amount of undocumented immigration. This would also permit our border patrol to focus their efforts where it is really needed, such as stopping drugs or dangerous individuals from being smuggled across the border.


• Simplification of the Immigration and Nationality Act: Our immigration laws are so complex, so arcane, that even the greatest legal minds are unable to intepret the law. If lawyers, immigration officials, and judges are unable to comprehend the law, how it be understood by immigrants whose first language is not English, and are often unfamiliar with the legal system?
  
  Let's take the following example. See if you can understand what Congress intends by the following definition contained in INA Section 101:

  
  (15) The term "immigrant" means every alien except an alien who is within one of the following classes of nonimmigrant aliens
  ....
  (H) an alien
  (i) subject to section 212(j)(2), who is coming temporarily to the United States to perform services (other than services described in subclause(a) during the period in which such subclause applies and other than services described in subclause (ii)(a) or in subparagraph (O) or (P)) in a specialty occupation described in section 214(i)(1) or as a fashion model, who meets the requirements for the occupation specified in section 214(i)(2) or, in the case of a fashion model, is of distinguished merit and ability, and with respect to whom the Secretary of Labor determines and certifies to the Attorney General that the intending employer has filed with the Secretary an application under section 212(n)(1), or (b1) who is entitled to enter the United States under and in pursuance of the provisions of an agreement listed in section 214(g)(8)(A), who is engaged in a specialty occupation described in section 214(i)(3), and with respect to whom the Secretary of Labor determines and certifies to the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State that the intending employer has filed with the Secretary of Labor an attestation under section 212(t)(1), or (c) who is coming temporarily to the United States to perform services as a registered nurse, who meets the qualifications described in section 212(m)(1), and with respect to whom the Secretary of Labor determines and certifies to the Attorney General that an unexpired attestation is on file and in effect under section 212(m)(2) for the facility (as defined in section 212(m)(6)) for which the alien will perform the services; or
  
  (ii) (a) having a residence in a foreign country which he has no intention of abandoning who is coming temporarily to the United States to perform agricultural labor or services, as defined by the Secretary of Labor in regulations and including agricultural labor defined in section 3121(g) of 3bbb/ the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, agriculture as defined in section 3(f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203(f)), and the pressing of apples for cider on a farm, of a temporary or seasonal nature, or
  (b) having a residence in a foreign country which he has no intention of abandoning who is coming temporarily to the United States to perform other temporary service or labor if unemployed persons capable of performing such service or labor cannot be found in this country, but this clause shall not apply to graduates of medical schools coming to the United States to perform services as members of the medical profession; or
  
  (iii) having a residence in a foreign country which he has no intention of abandoning who is coming temporarily to the United States as a trainee, other than to receive graduate medical education or training, in a training program that is not designed primarily to provide productive employment; and the alien spouse and minor children of any such alien specified in this paragraph if accompanying him or following to join him;
  ....
  

  In case you were looking for the period, you did not miss it because there is none. Do not get us wrong -- we certainly appreciate "pressing apples for cider on a farm" as much as the next person. But the clause cited above is one sentence. A very long and virtually incomprehensible sentence requiring reference to a dozen other long and incomprehensible sentences in other long and incomprehensible statutes. And that is just one clause of the over ten-thousand word Section 101 of the INA. And Section 101 of the INA is just one section of the over hundred section Act. We've reproduced § 101, HERE.
  
  Can you figure out what Congress means? Not to worry, few people actually can. Congress needs to re-write many sections of the INA to make it more understandable.


• Return of 245(i): Section 245(i) of the INA permitted some individuals to waive their unlawful entry to the United States if they were otherwise eligible to adjust their status. 245(i) expired in 2001, and was not extended. Because unlawful entry acts as bar to adjustment, numerous individuals with extensive ties to the United States will never be able to receive lawful status, even if their entry occurred decades ago. The return of 245(i) can provide a fair and equitable way for individuals who are otherwise eligible to adjust their status, to waive the consequences of an unlawful entry.


• Epansion of the H-1B numerical quota: In 2004, Congress exempted 20,000 H-1B cases filed for Masters and Ph.D. graduates of American universities from the H-1B quota of 65,000. This took some pressure off of the H-1B quota system, but not enough. USCIS will begin accepting H-1B filings for 2007 in April. Once all 65,000 visas are taken (which could happen in weeks, or even days), countless employees and employers will be left without recourse. A more equitable and market-based process is required. How can businesses be expected to know, and meet, their staffing needs on an arbitrary date?

Contact us

If you are interested in being contact if and when there are any changes to immigration law, please provide us with your contact information: