Issue Position: Immigration

Issue Position

Our immigration system is broken. Just ask the farmers in Alabama who cannot plant or harvest this season, because the state of Alabama has cracked down on illegal immigrants. Now the farmers cannot find workers to harvest their crops.

I support the provisions of the Dream Act as a first step in fixing our broken system. This bill would provide conditional permanent residency to certain illegal individuals of good moral character who arrived in the United States as minors, graduated from U.S. high schools, and lived in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment. I also applaud President Obama's decision in June to stop deporting some illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. Punishing innocent children because their parents broke our immigration laws is not good public policy.

The new administration policy is a start, but it will not fix our immigration system. I believe the only solution to our immigration system is Comprehensive Immigration Reform. A piecemeal approach will not work. I support the Comprehensive Immigration Reform proposed by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). The four components of this reform are summarized below and are listed in AILA's Making the Case for Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Resource Guide, page 9. The complete guide is located in the Research tab.

AILA's Position: Since many of the problems with our current immigration system are interrelated, AILA believes that any workable immigration reform proposal must be comprehensive. Specifically, it must simultaneously create legal avenues for people to enter the U.S.; allow people already here to earn the opportunity to adjust their status; address the multi-year backlogs in family and employment-based immigration; and create and implement a smart border security and enforcement regime that respects core principles of due process. Thus, any workable proposal to reform our immigration system must:

1. Enhance Channels for Legal Workers

Current immigration laws do not meet the needs of our economy or workers. In the current regime, there is no visa category authorizing essential workers in low-or semiskilled occupations to work in the U.S., except on a seasonal basis. That seasonal, employment-based visa--the H-2B program--is wholly inadequate to meet labor needs in a broad range of industries, from landscaping to hospitality to health care. A "break-the-mold" program would provide visas, full labor rights, job portability, and a path to permanent residence over time for those who would not displace U.S. workers. It would thereby significantly diminish illegal immigration by creating a legal avenue for people to enter the U.S. and return, as many wish, to their countries, communities, and families.

Comprehensive reform also must expand legal channels for temporary workers in high-skilled professions. Despite overwhelming evidence of the number of high-tech workers that American businesses require, and the shortage of U.S. workers available to fill these positions, Congress has maintained arbitrarily low caps on the number of visas available for high-skilled foreign workers. An expanded H-1B visa program would allow American businesses to hire the workers they need and enable the U.S. to maintain its competitive edge in the global economy.

2. Address the Situation of People Living and Working Here

Most undocumented workers are law-abiding, hardworking individuals who pay their taxes and contribute to our society. They are essential to many sectors of our economy. By allowing these people an opportunity to come out of the shadows, register with the government, pay a fine, go through security checks, and earn the privilege of permanent legal status, we can restore the rule of law in our workplaces and communities.

3. Reform the Family-Based and Employment-Based Permanent-Residency Preference Systems

U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents are regularly required to wait 7-10 years (and sometimes up to 20 years) to reunite with their close family members. Such long separations make no sense in our pro-family nation and undermine one of the central goals of our immigration system: family unity. Relatedly, backlogs for employment-based immigrant visas have expanded dramatically for workers with certain skill sets from certain countries. These backlogs make it difficult for employers to attract and retain the best and brightest talent from around the world, thus undermining our competitiveness in this global economy. Any workable comprehensive immigration reform proposal must eliminate our family-based and employment-based immigrant visa backlogs and reform our preference systems to catch up to 21st century realities.

4. Restore the Rule of Law and Enhance Security

By encouraging those who are already here to come out of the shadows, and by creating legal channels to provide for the future flow of workers, we can restore the rule of law in our workplaces and communities and focus our enforcement resources on those who mean us harm. We need smart enforcement that includes effective inspections and screening practices, fair proceedings, efficient processing, and strategies that crack down on criminal smugglers and lawbreaking employers. At the same time, our border security practices must facilitate the cross-border flow of goods and people that is essential to our economy. A vibrant economy is essential to fund our security needs.

We have 10 million people living here illegally, so this is not small issue. For all the reasons listed above, it is time to address this issue. As your Congressman, I shall work toward the implementation of the comprehensive reforms advanced by American Immigration Lawyers Association.

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