In our spring newsletter, co-director, Nicole Cortes referenced Congress’ consideration of an Immigration Reform bill in her co-director note, expressing the potential for “new legal options and a renewed sense of hope”. In this blog post the MICA Project would like to continue this message of hope and provide a brief update on the Immigration Reform Bill’s current standing. To refresh, in the past year President Obama has proposed new immigration reform, which would allow for the deferment of deportation for many immigrants residing in the United States without legal status. In a speech to the American Public on November 20th. 2014, President Obama clarified his executive actions "deal" saying,
"If you’ve been in America for more than five years; if you have children who are American citizens or legal residents; if you register, pass a criminal background check, and you’re willing to pay your fair share of taxes — you’ll be able to apply to stay in this country temporarily without fear of deportation. You can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. That’s what this deal is."
Although not perfect, this reform is an active step towards fixing current flaws in the immigration system. However, the lack of support from Congress on previous immigration reform legislation and current opposition to Obama's executive actions, (described above) have created a lot of uncertainty for the issue. In February 2015, these executive actions were challenged by representatives of the federal government and 26 states who oppose the actions, deeming them unconstitutional. These challenges have resulted in a holdup of registration and enactment of these executive actions. In July 2015, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of appeals will hear arguments, but it is likely that the case will eventually be brought to the Supreme Court. However, despite these holdups legal precedent still suggests hope for this immigration reform to eventually go through. For references as to what exactly is included in Obama’s executive action and the current standing see the link to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services site here.
"If you’ve been in America for more than five years; if you have children who are American citizens or legal residents; if you register, pass a criminal background check, and you’re willing to pay your fair share of taxes — you’ll be able to apply to stay in this country temporarily without fear of deportation. You can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. That’s what this deal is."
Although not perfect, this reform is an active step towards fixing current flaws in the immigration system. However, the lack of support from Congress on previous immigration reform legislation and current opposition to Obama's executive actions, (described above) have created a lot of uncertainty for the issue. In February 2015, these executive actions were challenged by representatives of the federal government and 26 states who oppose the actions, deeming them unconstitutional. These challenges have resulted in a holdup of registration and enactment of these executive actions. In July 2015, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of appeals will hear arguments, but it is likely that the case will eventually be brought to the Supreme Court. However, despite these holdups legal precedent still suggests hope for this immigration reform to eventually go through. For references as to what exactly is included in Obama’s executive action and the current standing see the link to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services site here.
RSS Feed
