Same Old Tune on Immigration

Reuben Navarrette wrote an interesting column recently for Real Clear Politics. The topic is  the continuing failure of the government to pass immigration reform. Here are the opening paragraphs.

This being soccer season, it's appropriate that many Latinos see President Obama and the promise of immigration reform like Lucy and the futbol.

This week, in El Paso, Obama again pledged to fix a broken system but not without an assist from Republicans. And again, he bragged about cracking down on illegal immigration. We're a nation of immigrants, but also a nation of laws.

Blah, blah.

It's a song that Latinos have committed to memory, and they usually hear it whenever Obama speaks to Latino audiences on or near Mexican holidays. Happy belated Cinco de Mayo!

In a more honest rendition, Obama would acknowledge that, for Democrats, the utility of the immigration debate is to give Republicans a chance to alienate Latino voters.

 Ten days before the speech, I was sitting in a pew in a barrio church in Los Angeles waiting for remarks by Rep. Luis Gutierrez. The Democratic congressman from Chicago has been urging the White House to develop a fairer and more humane immigration policy. To push this message, he went on a 20-city tour: "The Campaign for American Children and Families."

The tour kicked off with a news conference. Several congressional lawmakers, including Rep. Michael Honda, D-Calif., have said that administration officials called them beforehand to dissuade them from attending. Once the tour was under way, the White House scheduled a showy reception for Latino celebrities, possibly to distract the media.

There was no distracting the 150 or so angry people in the church. What angered them most were the deportations.

Barack Obama -- who once ?bemoaned when "communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing" -- is on track to deport more illegal immigrants than any U.S. president since Dwight D. Eisenhower and "Operation Wetback" in 1954. That crackdown resulted in the removal of nearly 1 million people. The Obama administration deported about 800,000 people in its first two years.

I asked Gutierrez why he thinks Obama has developed a knack for deportations.

"He responds to the restrictionists," Gutierrez said. "If you hear the restrictionists, they say: ‘We will win through attrition. Just enforce the law.' Well, every discretionary tool that this president has used helps them reach that goal."

And, in return, Obama gets to establish his credentials as a tough guy on illegal immigration in time to run for re-election.

"That gives him credibility on the immigration issue, he thinks, being the enforcement guy," Gutierrez said.

Inside the church, one person after another explained how their families were split apart. One woman said that since her husband was deported, she has had to hold down four jobs to support herself and her children.

As someone who believes that illegal immigrants should be deported, what concerns me is that Obama is being cynical and dishonest. For example, after suing Arizona over the principle that enforcing immigration law is the job of the federal government and not local or state law enforcement agencies, the administration is using those agencies as a force multiplier and scooping up illegal immigrants arrested by them to boost the deportation tally.

I wanted to know what troubles Gutierrez.

"What bothers me is that Barack Obama had the ability," he said. "He just didn't make it a priority and give it the importance that it deserved. And now that this opportunity has been lost, he doesn't use the wonderful powers that he has to ameliorate the situation. I'm not asking him to stop the deportations, just bring a little balance to it."

Gutierrez wants Obama to spare two groups of people with an executive power known as "parole-in-place" -- illegal immigrants who have U.S.-born children, and college students who might have qualified for legal status under the Dream Act.

Obama has refused to do either of these things, insisting that he lacks the legal authority to stop deportations. Two former general counsels of the Immigration and Naturalization Service disagree.

What Obama really lacks is nerve. It's an article of faith at the White House that nothing loses an election faster than being soft on illegal immigration. So the administration is extra hard.

That strategy wasn't lost on the people in the church, many of whom bought into Obama's promise of "change" three years ago. As I exited, on a table near the door, I noticed a handwritten sign with a message: "Mr. President, Real Change Requires Courage."

Amen.

Obama Visit to Texas Proves He's Serious About Immigration, Aides Say

President Obama is visiting Texas today, and will speak in El Paso about immigration reform. According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, Obama will use the visit to talk about meaningful immigration reform — an uphill battle. Here are excerpts from the article:

President Barack Obama will use Tuesday’s visit to the Texas-Mexico border to put pressure on Congress to enact a new immigration policy.

But he’ll have a hard time convincing critics that the border is secure enough, or that his vision of change — which includes some path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants — doesn’t amount to “amnesty” for lawbreakers.

After seeing Obama mostly set aside immigration until now, even some allies are skeptical about his commitment, though aides insisted he’ll keep pushing until it gets done.

“This is an important part of the campaign to build public awareness and public support,” White Housespokesman Jay Carney said Monday, adding that the president’s speech in El Paso on Tuesday is meant to “generate some pressure on Congress to take action. … We are congenital optimists here.”

Obama believes enough progress has been made on security since the last serious effort to overhaul immigration law, four years ago, that it’s time to try again, aides said.

“This border is as secure as it has ever been,” said a senior administration aide, briefing reporters ahead of the trip on condition of anonymity. Obama is making his first tour of the border as president, and the official said he wanted to see the progress after “the most sustained and serious action securing our Southwest border ever in our nation’s history.”

He has previously called for a new guest worker program, and for creating a path to eventual citizenship for the estimated 12 million people who overstayed visas or entered the country without permission.

Some immigration advocates expressed cautious optimism that Obama is serious — and not simply courting the Hispanic vote as thoughts turn to re-election.

“It’s never too late to do the right thing, and immigration reform is the right thing,” said Louie Gilot, executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso. “If immigration is back on the table, it will take a lot of leadership to push this through Congress. I hope President Obama is up to the task.”

“I hope he can address the situation in Mexico which is bringing in newcomers,” both legal and illegal, Gilot said. “I want to hear that we have a plan in our country to help our neighbors.”

Obama aides ticked off signs of the progress and commitment to security.

For instance, there are now 20,700 Border Patrol agents, more than double the number since 2004 — though Republicans on Monday accused the administration of trying to take credit for a surge that started before he took office. And the number of intelligence analysts working on border security has tripled.

Article Says U.S. Must Strengthen Protections for Exploited Guest Workers

The New York Times opined, "Slavery and human trafficking are alive and well in the United States, according to lawsuits filed by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of farm laborers in Hawaii and Washington State and shipyard workers on the gulf coast." Maintaining "today's shackles are the threats of deportation and financial ruin," the Times says the US "urgently needs to strengthen protections for guest workers who are lied to by recruiters and tied to employers with too much power to exploit them." Indeed, a "recent agreement by the federal Labor and Homeland Security Departments to work together on immigration and labor enforcement at worksites is encouraging," and the Indian and Thai men "may win some money," but they "are only a handful of workers...stranded in a system that accepts their labor but fails to prevent their exploitation."

From the American Association for Justice news release. 

Bills to Punish Employers for Hiring Illegal Immigrants Hit Snag

Ideology ran into practicality in theTexas Legislature recently when business interests objected to Republican proposals to punish companies that hire illegal aliens. It will be interesting to see whether the "social-conservative" wing of the Republican party wins out over the "business-conservative" wing. This conflict was reported in the Dallas Morning News. Here are excerpts from the article:

Business interests, including small contractors and GOP stalwarts, have raised concerns that could derail proposals to fine or lock up employers who hire illegal immigrants, Rep. Byron Cook, chairman of a top House committee, said.

Measures before the House State Affairs Committee would require employers to use the federal E-Verify system or make other good-faith efforts before hiring new workers, to ensure they are citizens or authorized to work in the U.S.

The toughest bill, by Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, would make intentionally hiring an illegal immigrant subject to jail time, although family maids and gardeners were exempted.
Employers could defend themselves against charges by showing that they asked for driver’s licenses or other verification, Riddle said.

The other bills, by Carrollton Republicans Reps. Jim Jackson and Burt Solomons, would push for state agencies to use E-Verify in their own hires and for contractors.

It’s part of a broad effort in the House to tackle illegal immigration, with measures that would challenge automatic U.S. citizenship for children born on American soil to illegal immigrants, and resolutions exhorting Congress to do a better job of securing the borders.

But when it comes to employment verification, businesses are pushing back. A steady stream of people testified that the E-Verify system is flawed, has too many false-positives and can be easily skirted by businesses that claim their workers are “independent contractors” not subject to the system.

Most of what needs to happen is at the federal level, said Cook, R-Corsicana, on Thursday.
“What we can do is limited and is subject to federal jurisdiction,” the chairman of the State Affairs Committee said.

Almost a dozen people testified Wednesday night that using the E-Verify system doesn’t stop the problem. Bill Hammond of the Texas Association of Business said each verification could cost a business $127.

David Coburn, a painting contractor from Austin, told the committee that he advertises for $13-an-hour jobs, and the applicants are all Hispanic. He said he complies with the law and checks their information, even though he suspects some are in the country illegally. He also said he has seen bidders for state contracts come in so low that he knows they must be using illegal immigrant laborers and not paying Social Security or other taxes.

Only a few people spoke in favor of the bills, saying the state should punish those who offer the jobs that attract immigrants and keep them in the country illegally. The bills were left pending in the committee.

Bankruptcy And Immigration - Does Filing For Bankruptcy Influence Immigration Status?

This guest post is courtesy of Oak View Law Group:

Debt issues are quite common nowadays. If you are slogging through a swamp of debts, Debt Settlement Company can help you out in this regard and can ease or eradicate your debt loads. You can file for bankruptcy as well but if you are a non-citizen of U.S and worrying how bankruptcy can affect your immigration issue, read the rest of the article, and find out whether filing for bankruptcy can jeopardize your immigration status or not.

There is no such specific law which states clearly anything about bankruptcy and immigration or any regulation which disqualifies anyone from the privileges of immigration in the US. However, bankruptcy might not have any direct influence on immigration status, it has some indirect ones for sure. The Bankruptcy Code pronounces clearly that "...only a person that resides or has a domicile, a place of business, or property in the United States, or a municipality, may be a debtor under this title" [11 U.S.C. Section 109(a)]. The term "person" incorporates individual, partnership, and corporation... [11 U.S.C. Section 101(a)(41)].The bottom line is there is no requirement of citizenship in the bankruptcy code.

How Bankruptcy Affects Immigration Status 

·      In general, filing for bankruptcy won’t affect the citizenship applications in any way. However, whenever there are criminal convictions like holding credit cards in other people's names, writing "fraudulent" checks in more than one state, tax elusion, false transfers of assets, or filing an inaccurate bankruptcy petition, it would mandate the deportation crimes of "moral turpitude" and can adversely affect one’s immigration status.

·      To gain the lawful permanent citizenship of US, one must establish himself as of “good moral character” before US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filing for bankruptcy might be deemed as a blemish on ones moral character and therefore won’t have a good impact on his or her immigration status.

·      Tax evasion is a serious matter of concern for people who are still immigrants or had applied for citizenship. People becoming a lawful permanent resident should not fail to file a required federal, state, or local tax return, or must not owe any federal, state, or local taxes that are overdue. However, someone filing for bankruptcy does not prove that the person has overdue taxes as well. If any immigrant works illegitimately and does not pay taxes on time or transfer money or property to another person in order to evade tax liabilities, and if these amounts exceed $10,000, he or she could be considered an "aggravated felon" and is conclusively estimated to be an outlaw and hence could be ostracized.

Bankruptcy and immigration around the world

While maximum countries have bankruptcy laws and procedures similar to those of the United States, some of the countries have different cultures and attitude towards the issue. In countries like China or Japan, most people are ignorant of bankruptcy and the suicide rate is quite high for people going through financial turbulence. However, in countries like Hong Kong no social stigma is attached to bankruptcy and it is accepted by almost everyone.

Final thought

Remember, the immigration officers no matter which country they belong to, always verify the immigrant’s financial status. Therefore, if you are an immigrant, stay honest while passing any information to the federal government and make sure that all your income is reported to the IRS on tax returns. If required, you can take help from immigration attorneys in this regard and determine whether bankruptcy can adversely affect your immigration status.

E-Verify is Not a Solution

Texas immigration attorney Mark Murov has a good article about the E-Verify system in his latest newsletter. His conclusion is that this is not a workable solution to our immigration problems. Here are excerpts from Mr. Murov's article:

Although the government claims that E-Verify, its electronic employment authorization program, is free, most companies which have been forced to use it (due to Federal Contracts and State laws) have found it necessary to utilize vendor programs, and to pay setup costs and ongoing service fees. A recent Bloomberg study states that if E-Verify had been mandatory for employers last year, it would have cost U.S. employers $2.7 billion. Moreover, 99.7% of employers have fewer than 500 workers and can least afford the expense. The Cato Institute issued a report which called E-verify Franz Kafkas Solution to Illegal Immigration.

Although E-Verify has improved somewhat in the fourteen (14) years since it was first rolled out, many companies have found that E-Verify does not work well for them or their workforce. E-Verify cannot detect all unauthorized workers. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), it does nothing to detect identity fraud : if a worker presents genuine documents belonging to another person,

E-Verify will erroneously confirm him as work authorized. Additionally, due to errors in the database, workers who are in fact authorized sometimes lose their jobs, creating hardship to their families and to employers which incur the expense of replacing them.

The only way to fix the problem of unauthorized workers is to address this issue wtih Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). This means a more comprehensive package of reforms, including a legalization program that brings workers into compliance and taxes their income. CIR should include a workable Verification program to allow employers to verify their workers immigration status with greater confidence that they are doing the right thing. CIR means a solution which comprehensively addresses the future of foreign workers living and working here by creating working visa categories which employers need. CIR should also reform the systems by which the laws are enforced to create equity and certainty for workers and employers.

Its time for our Congress to do the right thing and fix our immigration system, in one piece of legislation. CIR is the only smart way to fix the problems with unauthorized employment and verifications.