VIA Times – December 2015 Issue Vital News, Vibrant Views for Asian Americans in Chicago & Midwest
By: Robert Gard
Americans should not forget the party and the people who brought us to this grim situation. It was hard-core Republican nativists who repeatedly stymied comprehensive reform, most recently killing a bill that passed in the Senate in 2013 but died in the House.
After the House failed to take up a bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill that had been approved in the Senate, President Obama felt that he had no choice but to use his executive authority to accomplish what he could to fix a long broken immigration system. Nearly a year ago, the Obama administration expanded protections to certain immigrants and their parents living here illegally. States, led by Texas, sued and won an initial victory to block implementation. The case is now stalled in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and some advocates suspect the court’s delay is deliberate.
Two key pieces (expanded “DACA” without age limits and “DAPA”) of President Obama’s Executive Actions Program, announced on November 20, 2014, were scheduled to go into effect on February 18th and May 26th of this year, respectively; but legal and political hurdles to implementation remain. On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced his “immigration accountability executive action,” which includes a series of measures that are first steps towards common-sense reforms to an outdated immigration system.
The series of executive actions presented by the administration range from new temporary immigration protections for many unauthorized parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to highly technical regulatory proposals to fix outdated visa provisions. The USCIS website has a DACA page/link, where the public can sign up for emailed instructions, updates and further developments: http://www.uscis.gov/immigrationact ion
As of the date of my last article on these issues (August), US District Court Judge Hanen (in Brownsville, Texas area) had issued a 123 page decision on February 16th, putting in place a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking implementation of President Obama’s new deferred action initiatives (expanded DACA and DAPA), while pointedly leaving the original 2012 version of DACA untouched and undisturbed.
Judge Hanen indicated that his preliminary injunction was for the purpose of providing time for a coalition of 26 states to pursue a lawsuit seeking a permanent injunction against the President’s new deferred action initiatives. The Obama Administration filed an emergency Motion to remove the injunction ordered by Judge Hanen, and, on Tuesday, May 26th, a three judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, by a vote of two to one in what appeared to be an overtly politically influenced ruling, chose to leave Judge Hanen’s injunction in place, and the 5th Circuit then set a date of July 10, 2015 for a hearing on the full appeal. The full appeal was argued in the 5th Circuit before a panel of three Judges in July, two of whom had previously ruled against the Obama Administration on the previously argued emergency Motion.
On Monday, November 9th, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the appeal of the Obama Administration, and the Justice Department has now asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the issues involving the President’s use of Executive Authority. Assuming the Supreme Court grant the Writ of Certiorari, the Court is not expected to rule until around the middle of next year. In an effort to further delay a final ruling in the Supreme Court, the State of Texas has asked for more time to respond to the Administration’s request for review at the Supreme Court. “Each day that the court delays a ruling, it tears apart thousands of families and forces millions more to succumb to uncertainty. There are some who relish playing politics with the courts and people’s lives and are putting American values on hold,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
Quick Notes: Emma, USCIS’ New Virtual Assistant, Can Soon Answer Your Visa Questions
USCIS has been plagued by much-delayed technology efforts, including “ELIS”, a $2.6 billion project intended to automate green card processing that may not be operational until 2018 or 2019. Now, the agency is testing out a prototype of Emma, a computer-generated assistant designed to guide users throughout the USCIS website (under the “Tools” tab).
Emma, a rudimentary, textbased version of more advanced virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri, interprets typed questions and direct users to relevant parts of the USCIS website. For instance, when asked, “How do I prepare for a trip to Brazil?”, Emma might prompt users to choose an option based on their immigration status. The agency is now testing Emma on a separate USCIS site, and encourages users to interact with it as much as possible.
“We can’t guarantee yet that she’ll know all the answers, but the more you ask her, the smarter she’ll get,” a disclaimer on the test site reads.
Once Emma’s service is improved, USCIS plans to integrate the chat-box into the main USCIS site — potentially by the end of this year. USCIS is also working on a version of Emma that can answer questions written in Spanish. Emma currently works best on desktop computers and laptops, but will soon operate better on mobile devices, according to USCIS. The new system is named after Emma Lazarus, author of the poem “The New Colossus” printed on a plaque at the Statue of Liberty.
Tips and Tricks for Filing Reentry Permit Applications
If you submit passport photos for reentry permit applicants under age 14 or over age 79, they will not need to appear for a biometrics appointment. The purpose of the biometrics appointment for such applicants is to capture a photograph since fingerprints are not required. By submitting the passport photos, you can avoid the need for a biometrics appointment if you are not otherwise required to appear for biometrics capture.
Keep in mind that after an LPR (green card holder) has been abroad for four years in the aggregate, in most cases, any issued reentry permit will be valid for only one year. Therefore, you should be realistic in your expectations and understand that the first two reentry permits will be valid for a maximum of two years each and that any subsequent permits will be valid for only one year. The sole exceptions to this rule are civilian or military employees of the U.S. government or their spouses or children, employees of the American University of Beirut, certain international organization workers and professional athletes who compete in the U.S. and abroad.
Top 10 Myths About Immigration Immigrants take American jobs
Agriculture has long sought migrant laborers because no Americans apply. New Mexico chili growers recently put out a plea for an expanded guest worker program – they face a labor shortage and find that young Americans don’t want to do the work. The Associated General Contractors of America reports that construction firms can’t find workers, and that few American students see this as a career path. Besides doing the work that natives do not want, Latino and Asian immigrants’ annual $2 trillion purchasing power sustain nearly every American industry which in turn, create jobs for Americans. Plus immigrants start businesses at twice the rate as natives. Their businesses have annual sales of $857 billion and employed 4.7 million workers.
Immigrants hurt the economy
According to the Congressional Budget Office “Over the past two decades, most efforts to estimate the fiscal impact of immigration in the United States have concluded that, in aggregate and over the long term, tax revenues of all types generated by immigrants — both legal and unauthorized — exceed the cost of the services they use.” In fact, immigration reform would lead to greater economic growth.
Undocumented Immigrants are thugs and criminals
Between 1990 and 2013, the number of undocumented immigrants rose from 3.5 million to 11.2 million, but figures from the FBI show violent crime declined by 48 percent in that period. This includes aggravated assault, rape, robbery and murder. The property crime rate also declined 41 percent. Undocumented immigrants on average commit crime at a lower rate than native born. Source: http://immigrationpolicy.org/specialreports/ criminalization-immigrationunited- states
Undocumented Immigrants suck up welfare
Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) claimed that undocumented immigrants use welfare programs at higher rates than the native-born population. An analysis by conservative think-tank Cato Institute found CIS study to be false because it excluded Social Security and Medicare. Fact is contributions by immigrants vastly outweigh their net-consumption of means-tested welfare, according to Cato.
Undocumented Immigrants don’t pay taxes
In a recent report titled Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) explores in depth the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants paid $11.8 billion in state and local taxes 2012. This ranged from roughly $3.2 million in Montana (home to only 6,000 undocumented immigrants) to $3.2 billion in California (with an undocumented population numbering 3.1 million). The average effective state and local tax rate of undocumented immigrants in 2012 was 8 percent (compared to 5.4 percent for the top 1 percent of all taxpayers). Giving legal status to 11.4 million undocumented immigrants would increase their state and local tax contributions by $2.2 billion per year. A better wall will stop illegal immigration.
The United States spent more than $130 billion on border surveillance and security in the past two decades. 2011 study by the National Research Council reports that dramatic reduction in the number of illegal border crossings in recent years has more to do with the recession, which chilled demand for migrant labor. What’s more, about 40 percent of illegal immigrants in the country entered legally and overstayed their visas.
Immigrants don’t share our values
The vast majority of immigrants come here to work. Their labor is in demand because they arrive with a strong work ethic. Sixty-eight percent are Christian, according to Pew Research Center. But increasing numbers report no religious affiliation, which mirrors trends in the United States. They value family, home ownership and have strong community ties. In 2012, 62 percent of the undocumented population had been in the United States a decade or more.
Immigrants don’t assimilate or learn English
Census Bureau data shows that the adult-born children of immigrants earn more than their parents, attain higher levels of education and have a better standards of living. They speak English and identify as “typical American,” according to Pew, similar to the assimilation of European immigrants who arrived on the Mayflower.
Mexico is reclaiming the Southwest through illegal immigration
In 2014, there were more non- Mexicans apprehended trying to cross the border illegally than Mexicans, according to Pew. There have been steady increases in apprehensions of undocumented bordercrossers from Central America, where violence, poverty and corruption are widespread. Immigrants from China and India have overtaken Mexicans as the largest groups coming into the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
We have to end birthright citizenship or they’ll take over
There were about 295,000 babies born to undocumented mothers in the United States in 2013, according to the Pew Research Center. Those babies are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. These tiny Americans made up a tiny 8 percent of the total births in this country. Their births represent a decline from the peak year of 2007, when 370,000 babies of undocumented mothers claimed birthright citizenship.
FACTS: Immigrants are job creators, innovators and taxpayers.
Immigrants started 1 of 4 American businesses and high-tech startups.
40% of Fortune 500 companies are founded by immigrants or children of immigrants 90% of patents from the University of Illinois has had at least one immigrant inventor $5.4 billion in total net business income is generated by immigrant businesses in Illinois Latinos and Asians in Illinois have purchasing power of $77.5 Billion Undocumented immigrants pay $793.7 million in Illinois state and local taxes each year Illinois would lose $25.6 Billion in economic activity, $11.4 Billion in gross state productive and 120,000 jobs if all undocumented immigrated were removed Massive deportation would cost America $600 billion to implement while real GDP would drop by nearly $1.6 trillion and shave 5.7 percent off economic growth.
COPYRIGHT BY AUTHOR — 2015
This article is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered.
