Administration plans change in immigration rule

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-admin-plans-change-immigration-rule-050150686.html

AP source: Administration plans change in immigration rule

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL and LUIS ALONSO LUGO | AP – 1 hr 42 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration plans a rule change to help reduce the time illegal immigrant spouses and children are separated from citizen relatives while they try to win legal status in the United States, a senior administration official said Thursday.

Currently, illegal immigrants must leave the country before they can ask the government to waive a three- to 10-year ban on legally coming back to the U.S. The length of the ban depends on how long they have lived in the U.S. without permission.

The official said the new rule would let children and spouses of citizens ask the government to decide on the waiver request before the illegal immigrant heads to his or her home country to apply for a visa. The illegal immigrants still must go home to finish the visa process to come back to the U.S., but getting the waiver ahead of time could reduce the time an illegal immigrant is out of the country.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proposed policy change had not been made public.

The waiver shift is the latest move by President Barack Obama to make changes to immigration policy without congressional action. Congressional Republicans repeatedly have criticized the administration for policy changes they describe as providing "backdoor amnesty" to illegal immigrants.

Immigrants who do not have criminal records and who have only violated immigration laws can win a waiver if they can prove that their absence would cause an "extreme hardship" for their citizen spouse or parent. The government received about 23,000 hardship applications in 2011 and more than 70 percent were approved, the official said.

Applications for the waiver can take as long as six months to be acted upon, the official said. The new rule is expected to reduce that processing time to just days or weeks, the official added.

"This would streamline the process (and) reduce the time of separation between family members," the official said.

The proposal will be published in the Federal Register on Friday. The official said the administration hopes to change the rule later this year.

Immigration has become a difficult issue for Obama ahead of the November election. As a presidential candidate, he pledged to change what many consider to be a broken immigration system.

To that end, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced plans last year to review some 300,000 pending deportation cases in an effort to target criminal illegal immigrants, repeat immigration law violators and those who pose a national security or public safety threat.

Napolitano said the DHS would delay indefinitely the cases of many illegal immigrants who have no criminal record and those who have been arrested for only minor traffic violations or other misdemeanors.

A pilot program to review about 12,000 cases pending in immigration court in Baltimore and Denver was launched in November and ends next week. The review is expected to expand to other jurisdictions later this year.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton also issued a memo in June outlining how immigration authorities could use discretion in deciding which illegal immigrants to arrest and put into deportation proceedings. Morton wrote in the memo that discretion could be used in a variety of cases, including for people with no criminal record and young people brought to the country illegally as children.

Congressional Republicans have decried the policy changes, arguing that the Obama administration is circumventing Congress to essentially provide amnesty to countless illegal immigrants.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has been among the most vocal critics and has accused Obama repeatedly of not enforcing immigration law.

Several attempts at an immigration law overhaul have failed in recent years, including the so-called DREAM Act, which would have allowed for some young illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to earn legal status if they went to college or joined the military.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

So this is Obama's way of getting the Dream Act that much closer. It pays to be an illegal these days.

[bigdog 376]

I have been saying so, harder to do it legal.

[Susita 175]

I think it's much, much more complex than that. We have a serious problem in this country with undocumented immigrants and everyone has their own "fix" for it. Unfortunately, some think that mass deportation is a realistic solution and economically, it's impossible. We can't even afford to investigate the pending cases we have open, nevermind mass-deport.

I think the DREAM Act would have helped out, it would have put basically innocent children of illegal immigrants (the actions of their parents is a whole 'nother story) on the books as taxpayers. If you can't work a legal job, you can't pay taxes.

Many have proposed other avenues to reduce illegal immigration, including punishing the businesses that hire and exploit undocumented workers with heavy fines. These are all great solutions, now let's see if they implement any of them.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I think it's much, much more complex than that. We have a serious problem in this country with undocumented immigrants and everyone has their own "fix" for it. Unfortunately, some think that mass deportation is a realistic solution and economically, it's impossible. We can't even afford to investigate the pending cases we have open, nevermind mass-deport.

I think the DREAM Act would have helped out, it would have put basically innocent children of illegal immigrants (the actions of their parents is a whole 'nother story) on the books as taxpayers. If you can't work a legal job, you can't pay taxes.

Many have proposed other avenues to reduce illegal immigration, including punishing the businesses that hire and exploit undocumented workers with heavy fines. These are all great solutions, now let's see if they implement any of them.

The Dream Act rewards those who willingly broke the laws of this country and screws the people like us who played by the rules. I'm all for punishing the businesses. Too bad the government isn't. Dems and Repubs are both guilty of selling out in that regard. Obama on the other hand is straight out selling us out for votes.

[kytwell 179]

The Dream Act rewards those who willingly broke the laws of this country and screws the people like us who played by the rules. I'm all for punishing the businesses. Too bad the government isn't. Dems and Repubs are both guilty of selling out in that regard. Obama on the other hand is straight out selling us out for votes.

Right on!

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Right on!

I always find it ironic that there's people on a legal immigration site such as this one that are pro illegal immigration.

[kytwell 179]

I always find it ironic that there's people on a legal immigration site such as this one that are pro illegal immigration.

Is usually one or the other of these:

[momof1 205]

nevermind

Edited January 6, 2012 by momof1

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Buy ammo.

[Susita 175]

The Dream Act rewards those who willingly broke the laws of this country and screws the people like us who played by the rules.

I know what you're saying, and trust me, in a perfect world, we'd have the funds and will in government to enforce our laws, but we don't have either right now. We also have a debt crisis in this country and desperately need revenue.

IMO, it's not rewarding the ones who actually broke the laws (the parents), but the innocent bystanders (the kids) who were dragged into it by their parents. In order to be guilty of a crime (such as illegally immigrating into a country) one has to have intent.

But, that's just my opinion anyway. I'm not pro-illegal immigration, as you can see me and my hubs did everything the legal way I just feel like there's many different sides to this complex issue, and I happen to see things differently than you, that's all.

[TBoneTX 43,405]

This same plan is also being discussed in the "Waivers" forum above.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

I know what you're saying, and trust me, in a perfect world, we'd have the funds and will in government to enforce our laws, but we don't have either right now. We also have a debt crisis spending problem in this country and desperately need revenue to cut spending.

IMO, it's not rewarding the ones who actually broke the laws (the parents), but the innocent bystanders (the kids) who were dragged into it by their parents. In order to be guilty of a crime (such as illegally immigrating into a country) one has to have intent.

But, that's just my opinion anyway. I'm not pro-illegal immigration, as you can see me and my hubs did everything the legal way I just feel like there's many different sides to this complex issue, and I happen to see things differently than you, that's all.

fixed.

[Susita 175]

fixed.

that too!

[Kang 22]

I do agree that mass deportation is very expensive. However, what I do not like with that DREAM act is that it gives backdoor amnesty to illegals plus PRIVILEGES that even regular citizens and green card cannot get. Another thing, why aren't there ANY relaxation of rules for children of US fathers (and alien mothers) born abroad. In a study conducted by ACA in the 1980s, 10% of children of US citizens were denied US citizenship because of very "ancient" technicalities

Google Miller vs Albright, Nguyen vs INS, Flores villar case

Illegals and Tourists have it easier to have a US citizen child just by giving birth in the US while a US citizen stationed or assigned abroad pay expensive fees and are even uncertain that his child will have US citizenship. Yet people who are so vocal on "immigration" reform ignore this and simply do not care

Imagine a US citizen not having a US citizen biological child.

I think what the government should do is drop the privilege on the amnesty and replace it with heavy fine, just as most countries do with their own "undocumented aliens"