LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COMPREHENSIVE  IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL

March 19,2007. Delayed Restart. 

The new Senate bill has yet to be published at the Senate's website. The site lists only the sponsors. Check there for updates. 

February 20,2007. Restart.

With a new Senate session begun in January, 2007, the bill was resubmitted in the Senate as Senate Bill No.9, sponsored by the new Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV). Read the actual bill at http://thomas.loc.gov, then click on "bill no.", and enter the number-S 9. The bill will apparently be considered in the upper house, the Senate, first and then the lower house, the Congress. The players have changed this year. The new Chair of the Senate Committee on Immigration is Edward Kennedy (D-MA).Prospects for progress in the Senate are difficult to ascertain but the the Senate cleared a similar bill last summer by a veto proof 63-39 vote.  

September 24, 2006  The Temporary End

The bill is not slated for action in this Congress. Further legislation, if any, will have to come from the new Congress, elected in November, 2006 and in office in January, 2007. If and when serious reform is given further consideration this website will return to keep you up to date.

August 2, 2006   Summer Doldrums

The reform bill is currently "on hold". In Washington, no conferees have even been nominated for any possible Conference Committee in Congress. The only action is in the country where each side holds hearings to confirm the respective positions of the participants.When and if the members of the two houses are ready to deal with each other, this site will report to you immediately.Until and unless something happens in Washington, there is no new immigration law. 

June 12, 2006  Warning

There is no new law passed that permits individuals to legalize their status.. The bill from the Senate is now in Conference with the bill from the lower house, the House of Representatives. There may be a compromise; there may be no compromise. You must wait. Unless and until there is a compromise and the President signs the compromise, there is no law   Do not fall prey to any unscrupulous immigration consultants or fake attorneys who claim a new law has passed and they can get you a work permit and green card under the new law.  

June 4, 2006  The Senate Immigration Reform Bill  MAY 23, 2006  Senate Vote This Week

The Immigration Resource Center in San Francisco (www.ilrc.org) authorized the re-publication of this reflection on the Senate bill as it goes to Conference. This version is edited from the original.) After much debate and discussion, the Senate by a vote of 62 to 36 passed S. 2611, a measure that would profoundly reform our immigration laws. We expect that the bill’s positive provisions will be further eroded, if not eliminated, and the negative provisions made more draconian and unfair. What provisions are of most concern in the Senate bill?

    *  A fundamentally unworkable three tiered legalization program with exorbitant fees that will be a nightmare to implement.

• Local and state police encouraged to enforce federal civil immigration law, a body of law that most do not understand and the enforcement of which will dramatically hamper community policing and discourage victims and witnesses of crime from coming forward. Contracts between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and local police in every state will be promoted so that local police will enforce immigration laws and immigration information will be entered into NCIC, the federal criminal database. 

• U.S. Mexico border militarized: An additional 370 miles of triple-layered fencing will be added along the U.S.-Mexico border as well as 500 miles of vehicle barriers. 

• Individuals, including those with green cards, will be detained without bond for failing to file a change of address card, even though the federal government does not even have the capacity to process all these filed changes. 
• Increased number of individuals deported for minor crimes and misdemeanors, changing the rules in the middle of the game: Long time legal permanent residents will be mandatorily deportable in the future for minor crimes such as having three DUIs (Driving under the Influence).
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• U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents criminalized for helping family members or friends.
• The number of youth who could be found deportable and ineligible for any immigration benefits expanded based on the sole finding that the child is or was a member of a gang, with no requirement that any criminal act was committed or there was actual gang activity or involvement.
• American businesses challenged by requiring employers to verify every single worker, when the only employer verification system that exists is rife with error, and a new, comprehensive database is years away.
• Faster deportation of people allowed and the court doors closed so that people are prohibited from ever seeing a judge, even if they have lived here for years. 

May 16, 2006

The newest version of the reform bills is the remake of the McCain-Kennedy bill into the Specter bill (Senate Bill No 2611). One part of the bill may make you eligible for a green card, not some type of work visa if you are now in the states illegally (by overstays or walk-ins) and have been in the states for more than five years from the date of April 5, 2006. That means that you stayed in the states for the five years ending April 5, 2006 except for brief trips abroad (“brief” as defined in a previous notice).  You did not have a valid, live nonimmigrant visa as of April 5, 2006. For three of the five years you had a job or several jobs with no period of unemployment greater than 60 days. You have written proof of the continuous residency and employment. For the five years, taxes were paid or you can make arrangements for the payment of the taxes. Each of the following shall (not may) be waived: entry to the states as an undocumented, visa overstays, failure to attend a removal proceeding, unauthorized employment, stated a false claim to citizenship, and/or were previously deported. If you prove your case, your spouse and children under 21 years of age are included. If your circumstances fit into these requirements then you may be eligible. If not, there are other visas available in the bill.

April 8, 2006 Interval or End.

Yesterday the Senate decided not to vote on any immigration bill. This means one of only two things-either the Senate decided that no bill was better than a compromise or the current two week recess is a pause enabling all parties to regroup and re-engage after the recess. There are many influential interests served by a compromise bill and the service of these interests requires another attempt at what failed yesterday. At the same time the crowded Senate docket for April and May would likely not allow another two weeks to focus on the single issue of immigration. It is quite possible that the issue is off until after the fall elections at a minimum or deferred for a few years.

March 30, 2006 Small Crimes and Large Immigration Consequences.

Small crimes can have large immigration consequences. If you are arrested and brought into Court, consider finding an attorney who specializes in criminal law in the same court. Do not enter into plea agreements until you have had discussions with your attorney. A common state plea of “continued without a finding” is, by statute, considered a guilty plea with immigration. Even if found guilty, you and your attorney can possibly negotiate a sentence agreement. The Judge and the Assistant District Attorney will want to know if a sentence of a particular length has some unanticipated immigration consequence. If your conviction is in the past, you might investigate the possibility of reopening the case and curing the unexpected, adverse immigration consequence. A vacated judgment or a reduction in the sentence can have dramatic immigration benefits.

March 13, 2006 Residency Requirements

The competing McCain bill and the Specter bill share a residency requirement for the undocumented. You must have been physically present in the United States on an appointed day-May 12, 2005 for McCain-Kennedy and January 4, 2004 for Specter. How do you prove the date of physical presence? Based on past examples, you would submit tax returns (certified copies), school records (with an affidavit by the school official to confirm authenticity), hospital records, rental and utility bill receipts, personal checks (with the bank stamp on the back side), credit card statements, employer’s letters and, if all else fails, affidavits from friends and family who knew you were present on the appointed day. If you file only your own affidavit it will surely trigger very close scrutiny. How many documents are enough? If your documents are from government sources (city property tax bill or federal tax return) you need less than if your documents are all monthly household bills. If you show utility bills before, at, and after the appointed day, you prove more than a show of a bill or two on the appointed day. The burden of proof is on you to prove presence.

March 6, 2006 Rival Bills

The McCain bill currently is competing with several rival bills, especially the “Specter bill” or the “Chairman’s Mark” proposed by Sen. Specter (R-Pennsylvania). McCain’s new visa, the H5 visa, is good for three years and is renewable once for a second three years; Specter’s visa, H2C, has the same features. McCain’s H5-A allows for an application for a green card at the end of the six years; Specter’s bill requires departure for at least one year and then to only your home country (ok if it’s Ireland; not ok in other cases). McCain’s H5-A carries no bar against changing status during the three year terms (via marriage to an American for example); Specter’s H2C does not allow changes within the different categories of nonimmigrant classification and so, by inference, may allow change from the nonimmigrant H2C to the immigrant status of a green card holder. Both bills have waivers available for unauthorized work and unauthorized entry into the states. Both bills provide for derivative visas for spouses and children under 21. Consider what to do with one reform that provides for some balance between the competing moral and economic realities and with the other that provides for a delayed deportation order (3+3 and out). 

February 17, 2006 McCain Bill and the Workplace

The McCain bill currently is at the crucial stage where staffers for the Senators are negotiating the specifics of the bill. The staffers argue the points in contention among the Senators and do a large amount of the compromise before the Senators go public with the results.

However, one general point of consensus is that your workplace will be different than it now is. The Social Security Administration (SSA) will compile a database of workers eligible to work in the states. Employers will have to check with SSA before a new hire and will have to do this regularly, not just when they feel like it. SSA will verify identification and employment eligibility within one day. If the initial answer is negative (“nonconfirmation” in government jargon), the employer has 10 days to file for a second round of employee verification. After that the SSA issues a letter for the employer and employee to take to a local office of the SSA or DHS not later than 10 days after receipt of the second denial. Understand that employers are forbidden to fire you for fear of the excess work in this verification process. But the process is a recipe for abuse. If you are verified at the start of a job, you must thereafter be annually reverified.

February 8, 2006. Senate Action-Revised Schedule

The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin its consideration of immigration reform legislation on March 2. After that there will be weeks of deliberation, negotiation, and compromise. The original McCain bill is one of several under consideration but is the most comprehensive. The full Senate will schedule time for its deliberation. If the current schedule holds, some type of immigration bill should reach the Senate floor during the last week in March and the first week in April.

February 1, 2006 H5-A Visas

Aside from the proposed H5-B visa, the McCain immigration reform bill also proposes to create an employment-based H5-A visa. The H5-A is for those intent on performing a job other than excluded jobs in a few specified positions such as computer programmers, fashion models, scholars, athletes, entertainers, or religious officials. You will have to prove your capability to perform the job, give evidence of employment, and submit the results of a routine medical examination. There are waivers available for acts committed before May 12, 2005 that would otherwise make you ineligible for any visa. For examples, there are waivers available for unauthorized work, unauthorized entry into the United States, missed deportation hearings, and presentation of false information. If you receive an H5-A visa it is good for three years and is renewable once for a second three years. Unlike the proposed H5-B visas, the H5-A carries no bar against changing status during the three year terms of the visa.

February 1, 2006. Congressional Review of the Mc Cain Bill.

The Senate's consideration of the McCain bill has been pushed back into March- a one month change due to the Judiciary Committee's commitment to the domestic spying issue.

January 24, 2006. H5 B Visas

The McCain immigration reform bill proposes a new visa, H5-B, for immigrants without papers who lived and worked in the states before May 12, 2005 and “continuously” after that date. You must prove employment before May 12, 2005. If tax returns and social payments are not available, then satisfactory evidence can be a letter from your employer. Absent a cooperative employer, business records of your employment might be enough. Corroborate the business records with affidavits from US citizens or green card holders. These affidavits would testify to the details of your work. Any false information on these business records or affidavits would be a big mistake. Once the application is filed, you are eligible for a work authorization card (work permit) and can then continue your job with good legal status until the application is decided. Given this good legal status you can work without fear of being detained by the immigration police while the application is pending (unless there is new criminal conduct or conviction).

January 20, 2006-Update on Congressional Schedule:

This website will track the progress of current immigration reform proposals, especially the McCain Bill. On the Senate side, the Judiciary Committee plans to begin formal hearings on the McCain Bill in February, 2006 after the Alito confirmation hearings conclude. After the Committee, the bill goes to the Senate floor. The leadership is committed to schedule floor time quickly for a full Senate debate on immigration reform. That could mean February or March, 2006. On the other side of the Congress, the House Judiciary Committee approved an immigration bill in December, 2005 and the entire House approved the bill. The bill makes no mention of new visas and is focused on border protection and internal security. Of course, the House bill and any possible Senate bill would go to a Conferences of House and Senate conferees for reconciliaiton. In this process changes in the provisions are inevitable.

October 21, 2005- McCain Bill and Border Security:

The bill contains many sections on border security. The key provisions include the specifics for types of coordination among federal, state, and local police authorities regarding immigration problems. As background, Section 287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) already authorizes, but does not require, the performance of the functions of immigration officers by officers of state and local police. INA section 287(g). The authorization requires both a written agreement between the Attorney General and the relevant state or local authority and also the training of the local officials in federal immigration law. INA Section 287 (g)(2). Even without a written agreement, local officials are free to report the presence of undocumented aliens to local agents of the Attorney General.INA Section 287 (g)(9)(A)and (B). The McCain bill goes well beyond the INA statement of principles. In McCain, the language is phrased in terms of "data sharing" and combining "personnel and resource assets when practicable" (Section 121). Whatever coordination means, it does not mean that any additional authority is extended to state and local officials regarding immigration (Section 125). But the overlap in areas of coordination and those of delegation of present authority means that the extent of the jurisdiction of local police in immigration matters is once again on the bargaining table. The bill provides for the increased use of new technologies for border security purposes. For example, "unmanned aerial vehicles" are explicitly cited as a means of enhancing the detection of border violators (Section 123). There is no mention, still less discussion, of reconciling the increased need for border security with the increased encroachment of these technical solutions on the humans under their scan. These portions of the McCain bill have no cachet in certain parts of this country, particularly the Northeast, but are basic and primary in many states, including many of those without borders with Canada or Mexico.

October 18, 2005 - McCain Bill-Status Report:

Read the actual bill at http://thomas.loc.gov and then click on "bill no." and enter the number --S1033. The bill is currently in the Committee on the Judiciary in the United States Senate. No action is expected until at least January 2006 as the committee has reserved time for the hearings on nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. After the completion of the Roberts hearings, the President announced his choice for the O'Connor seat. Now there will be hearings on the nominee; these hearings are expected to last until late November. December is too short to start the hearings on immigration reform. The senior Republican on the committee mentioned yesterday that the bill would have parts on enhanced border security and parts on legalization for employers of their undocumented employees.

October 15, 2005- McCain Bill and H5B Visas:

The bill creates a new visa, H5B, for those who lived in the states before May 12, 2005 and continuously after May 12, 2005. Based on old law, you probably can take brief breaks without breaking this residency but do so at the risk of disqualifying yourself. You must not have been in the states on May 12, 2005 in some other nonimmigrant visa. Examples of nonimmigrant visas would be tourist visas or business visas. You can be granted waivers for certain types of conduct, committed before May 12, 2005, that would otherwise make you inadmissible. You can be granted waivers for unauthorized work, for unauthorized entry into the states, for receipt of a deportation order after failure to attend removal proceedings, for use of false visas, for student visa abusers, for invalid documents at time of admission, and for certain aliens previously removed. You must also establish that you were employed before May 12, 2005 and that you were employed continuously thereafter. The visa is valid for six years .- a period that cannot be shortened before you might apply for a green card.

September 6, 2005- The McCain Bill and Green Cards:

In the original version of the bill, there is a provision for changing from the new H 5 visa to legal permanent residence (green card). First you must receive the H 5 visa to qualify for this part of the bill. If you have received the H 5 then you must pay the usual fees for a green card application plus a penalty of $1,000 for each applicant 21 years of age or over. You must have worked consistently since the receipt of the H 5. You must produce your federal income tax returns or a plan, agreed to by the IRS, to pay off the monies due the government. You take the standard medical exam required of all green card applicants. You must be admissible except for the waiver examples discussed below. You sign up for the draft, the Selective Service system, if you are between the ages of 18 and 26. You have no security issues. Finally you must demonstrate a level of capacity in the use of the English language and American civics as expected for citizenship tests. This last part allows for study of these areas and will doubtless be an issue for many aliens. These provisions are taken from the first draft of the bill and are subject to revision in the legislative process.

September 4, 2005- The McCain Bill and Its Residency Requirement:

The bill requires presence in the United States on and "continuously " after May 12, 2005. What does continuously mean? Maybe this means what it says; you must have literally no break in residence. Maybe this means what it is taken to mean in other similar circumstances. A brief intermittent break of short duration may not break the "continuous" nature of your residency. For example a family tragedy or celebration requires your trip home for a few days or even weeks. If you can document the reasons for the trip by, for examples, a birth or death certificate, you may be in a good position to argue that your intent to reside in the states was not interrupted by the brief trip outside the states. In this and other circumstances keep your original documents and store extra copies at more than one location.

August 31, 2005- The McCain Bill and Waiver of Certain Prior Acts of Inadmissibility:

The proposed reform includes waivers for certain acts that otherwise bar application for a non immigrant visa. The general statements of inadmissibility are set out in Section 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 as amended. The bill would provide waivers to certain provisions of 212(a). Specifically, H 5A applicants can apply for a waiver of the sections regarding those who worked without authorization, those who were illegal entrants and immigration violators (except smugglers), those who crossed the border without valid documents, those who were previously removed, and those who are guardians of inadmissible aliens. You must apply for such a waiver and, if and when the waiver is approved, pay a penalty of $1500. The waiver applies for acts committed before the date of introduction of this bill, i.e. May 12, 2005. Most importantly, the waiver does include those who violated section 240B (d) regarding the 10 year bar against application for a green card based on marriage or a job offer for violation of the date for voluntary departure. The waiver may not be granted for those acts committed before the date of introdution of the bill and also listed in parts of 212 (a)(2)-criminal acts. Specifically, the unwaivable criminal acts include crimes of moral turpitude, multiple criminal convictions, crimes involving controlled substance trafficking ( even without a conviction), crimes involving foreign government officials who have engaged in severe violations of religious freedom, traffickers in persons, and money launderers.

July 28, 2005- Senate Hearings Begin on McCain Reform Bill.:

The comprehensive reforms initiated by Sen. John McCain (R-Az) began the legislative process today with initial hearings. The warmup demonstrated the breadth of opinion and the strength of sentiment for or against the bill. Expect a long legislative process. We will try to keep you up to date on the progresss of this legislation through the Senate and the Congress.