All this talk of government shutdown, defunding Obamacare and going to war with Syria has pushed immigration reform the back burner. Today, Congressman Raul Grijalva announced he was introducing a new immigration-reform proposal. The press release from Grijalva:
Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva and Filemon Vela today introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity (CIR ASAP) Act of 2013, a bill closely mirroring the 2009 version introduced by Rep. Solomon Ortiz. Grijalva and Vela co-chair the Congressional Border Caucus.
A side-by-side comparison of the CIR ASAP bill and S. 744 on key issues is available below. A more detailed explanation of the bill is available at http://1.usa.gov/18g3hO9.
“The House discussion on immigration reform hasn’t been an honest debate about good policy, it’s been a one-sided refusal to take the issue seriously,” Grijalva said. “There are millions of American families waiting every day for better laws that will keep them together, provide their children with a better future, and help our economy. The conversation they need Washington to have has been hijacked by a small group that has shown no interest in their welfare. We’re tired of hearing this is a question of triple-layer border fences and militarizing our neighborhoods for our own good. I ask my colleagues whether they’d want their own children to pass teams of armed soldiers on their way to school every day for the next decade. They should consider what they’re doing to our border communities and start negotiating fairly instead of treating this as a military exercise.”
Grijalva pointed out that Democrats have already substantially compromised since the last major immigration reform discussions took place in 2009, as evidenced by the distance between the previous CIR ASAP bill and today’s Senate immigration overhaul.
“My Republican colleagues driving this piecemeal, enforcement-only approach in the House seem to presume they can fix our immigration system if only they’re given enough bullets,” Grijalva said. “The country doesn’t feel that way, the Latino community doesn’t feel that way, and the Democratic Party doesn’t feel that way. Republicans have to stop holding their breath and making unrealistic demands. We’re no closer to a House bill than we were when the Senate approved its version months ago. It’s time for people to see there’s a more serious option on the table and for Congress to keep moving forward on immigration reform. This is not an issue that’s going away just because some people refuse to pay attention.”
“Congress must act now to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” Rep. Vela said. “Congressman Grijalva and I are proud to introduce the first comprehensive immigration reform bill in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 113th Congress. This bill provides a reasonable pathway to citizenship, invests in our ports of entry to enhance security and trade, and implements commonsense border security measures without conditioning legal residency status on border security triggers.”
According to a July Wall Street Journal poll (available at http://on.wsj.com/1aZ1FOC), “If Congress fails to enact immigration reform, 44% of Americans think Republicans would be the most to blame, while only 14% say Democrats.”
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Side-by-Side Policy Comparison
Border Surge
S. 744: Requires DHS to add at least 19,200 Border Patrol agents and mandates a total of 700 miles of fencing.
CIR ASAP: Directs Secretary of Homeland Security to develop and submit to Congress a National Strategy for Border Security. Increase the number of Customs and Border Protection Officers by not fewer than 5,000 and does not require additional fencing.
Legalization path eligibility
S.744: Immigrants who entered the United States before December 31, 2011 and have been physically present in the U.S. since that time will be eligible to apply for Registered Provisional Immigrant (RPI) status, leaving out millions of people.
CIR ASAP: Immigrants who can establish presence in the U.S. on the day of introduction will be eligible for conditional immigrant visa.
*Both paths require the applicant to pass a background check, pay any assessed tax liability, pay appropriate fees and a fine, and not to have been convicted of serious criminal activity.
Pathway to Citizenship
S. 744: RPI status would be valid for six years and after 10 years, and only if all family and employment backlogs are cleared and the border security triggers are met, these individuals will be able to apply for legal permanent residency (LPR). After 3 years of being a resident, they may apply for naturalization, making the total path to citizenship a 13-year wait.
CIR ASAP: Those who qualify would receive a conditional nonimmigrant visa which is valid for six years and will be able to naturalize under current law (up to 5 years), making the total path to citizenship about an 11-year wait.
Environmental Impacts
S. 744: Allow Homeland Security Officials to Access all Federal Lands in order to capture drug traffickers, human smugglers, and other unlawful actors attempting to cross through federally protected lands. Waives important environmental laws and regulations within 100 miles of the U.S. border.
CIR ASAP: Maintains current laws and prioritizes mitigating adverse impacts to federal, tribal, state, local and private lands, waters, wildlife and habitats by promoting cross-agency development of comprehensive monitoring and mitigation of ecological and environmental impacts of border security infrastructure and activity.
Port of Entry Infrastructure
S. 744: Provides for the establishment of a grant program to construct transportation and infrastructure improvements at southern and northern border ports of entry to facilitate safe, secure, and efficient cross-border movement of people, vehicles, and cargo. Adds 3,500 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers.
CIR ASAP: Appropriates $1,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2018 to make improvements to existing ports of entry in the United States to improve border security and for other purposes. Increase Agriculture Specialists by 1, 200 and Border Security Support Personnel at the port of entry by 350.
This article appears in Sep 19-25, 2013.
Who wrote the constitution…….? oh yeah a bunch of immigrants… immigration policies are outdated….30 years old….do you live in the 80’s well immigration policy does…. things have changed buddy. What ever Mr. Grijalva looks like has nothing to do with your “fair critique…” of course you are a paid puppet…that’s the real problem around these blogs is that most of the people “socks” sounding off get paid to spit a bunch of rhetoric to unfairly manipulate social media at the ground level….modern day micro propaganda…one day there will be a little star or asterisk…”this is a paid actor responding” because that’s really what goes on people spouting off claiming to “love the taste” “don’t support reform” “he’s fat” some commercial that is! Jim Markus you aren’t even a person…that’s probably a manufactured name…and if you are calling Mr. Grijalva fat…you probably some pimply faced dweeb or a fat slob yourself…acting like you are some hunky hulk man at the beach…funking retard…
Who wrote the constitution…….? oh yeah a bunch of immigrants… immigration policies are outdated….30 years old….do you live in the 80’s well immigration policy does…. things have changed buddy. What ever Mr. Grijalva looks like has nothing to do with your “fair critique…” of course you are a paid puppet…that’s the real problem around these blogs is that most of the people “socks” sounding off get paid to spit a bunch of rhetoric to unfairly manipulate social media at the ground level….modern day micro propaganda…one day there will be a little star or asterisk…”this is a paid actor responding” because that’s really what goes on people spouting off claiming to “love the taste” “don’t support reform” “he’s fat” some commercial that is! Jim Markus you aren’t even a person…that’s probably a manufactured name…and if you are calling Mr. Grijalva fat…you probably some pimply faced dweeb or a fat slob yourself…acting like you are some hunky hulk man at the beach…funking retard…
If Grijalva supports something, I am instinctively against it. While we share a common heritage, that is where any similarity ends.
We have a comprehensive set immigration laws in place; what we lack is enforcement. To be sure the previous administrations in Washington did a poor job of enforcing these reasonable laws, but the current White House et al., simply refuses to enforce anything that might stem the heretofore unchecked flow of illegals into our country.
I find this to be treasonous! Grijalva, Obama and their ilk are traitors to America and must be removed from power at the ballot box. Stand up America, re-take your country from those who would give it away in the name of gaining more power!
This makes much more sense than what has been discussed and put forward so far. What is troubling is it has zero chance of being enacted.
Those who want real and meaningful immigration reform must prepare for a continuing process in which we must Organize, Agitate and Educate at the grassroots level. We need feet in the street!
We have laws, just lack the will to enforce them because the LATINO community doesn’t like them. Well they can go back to their own country and enact any laws they want, the fabric of America was woven by people who wished to be AMERICAN, not any other nationality protected by our laws and availing themselves of our benefits without adopting our customs and language. The only reform I will support is to open our border ONLY to educated people who have a contribution. As a teacher of low functioning students who can NOT get jobs due to these immigrants, I see the harm this causes our own citizens.
Wrong Mr. Berry, there is nothing wrong with this nations immigration laws, besides those who suddenly feel that one race of people are exempt. I am no “paid puppet”, I m however a concerned citizen who served this nation, and am tired of corrupt politicians and their supporters who would turn this nation into a third world shithole simply for a vote. the fat slob whines about the “environment” yet refuses to accept the fact that “his” people are trashing that environment. Once again for the simple minded, there is nothing wrong with our immigration laws, just those that REFUSE to enforce them equally for all.
“Jim Markus you aren’t even a person…that’s probably a manufactured name…and if you are calling Mr. Grijalva fat…you probably some pimply faced dweeb or a fat slob yourself…acting like you are some hunky hulk man at the beach…funking retard…”
Mr. Berry, that’s rich, not to mention pure emotion with no support for your stance. “funking retard”, indeed.
The problem is NOT immigration itself. It is the lack of enforcement of our laws. What was the originally goal here? It was what to do with the 11 million illegals in this country. Like with any problem solving, you must identify the root cause of why we have 11 million people in this country. Without identifying the root cause, and fixing the root cause first, we will have 11 million people here in this country illegally again in another 10 years.
FIX THE PROBLEM FIRST!! We have a decent immigration system already that allows temporary workers, families to sponsored etc. It is the enforcement and policies like the deferred deportation program (which I believe is illegal itself) that encourages people to come here or stay here illegally.
I have yet to have people that say we need “comprehensive immigration” never identify what needs reform. The reason this is, because immigration laws are NOT the reason we have 11 million people in this country.
People also need to realize that immigration laws are based on what is best for the country and not for the ease of the people that want to come here
Before they can go forward with anything, they need to end the Anchor Baby problem first. Once that’s done, it might make sense to go forward with additional legislation.
The Senate bill doubles legal immigration while, according to the CBO, reducing illegal immigration by only 25%.
Keeping the labor market slack by doubling down on the already record-high immigration rates of the last 30 years makes no sense, unless you’re a shareholder in Marriott or Tyson Chicken.
And the 3rd amnesty in 25 years, and by far the largest, with enforcement always promised after, is not going to ‘fix’ our immigration problems.
The US-House Comprehensive Immigration bill, on September, 20th., 2013 is Good & Creative, “to reduce Illegal Immigrants, in the USA, by Promoting Human Rights, of the foreign-born Millions of Workers, in the USA, (who are already overused & exploited, more than 6 to 8+ years, in the USA-Domestic-Wages), by asking them to pay the Back-Taxes, New Taxes, Fines, Fees, Tolls, etc., etc.”, which would end the future & new illegal immigrants-pain, in to the Civilized Legal USA-Residents, “along with a Permanent Stop-End of the future & new Illegal-Immigration-flows, in to the USA, permanently, in the Coming years, with an increase of Investments in the USA-Domestic-Businesses, with an increase in the USA-Domestic-USA-Govt.-Revenue-Growths, creating, further, a millions of the USA-Jobs, for the USA-Citizens, permanently, in the coming years”!
“The US-House Comprehensive Immigration bill, on September, 20th., 2013, (written wisely & judiciously, by Mr. Raul Grijalva & Mr. Vela)”, is a very much Good & Creative, and, USA-National-Economical-Patriotic-Optimized, Middle-Ground-based USA-National-Economical-Immigration-Reform-Bill, and, which is being & set & written, honestly, “to reduce Illegal Immigrants, in the USA, by Promoting Human Rights, of the foreign-born Millions of Workers, in the USA, (who are already overused & exploited, more than 6 to 8+ years, in the USA-Domestic-Wages), by asking them to pay the Back-Taxes, New Taxes, Fines, Fees, Tolls, etc., etc.”, which would end the future & new illegal immigrants-pain, in to the Civilized Legal USA-Residents, “along with a Permanent Stop-End of the future & new Illegal-Immigration-flows, in to the USA, permanently, in the Coming years, with an increase of Investments in the USA-Domestic-Businesses, with an increase in the USA-Domestic-USA-Govt.-Revenue-Growths, creating, further, a millions of the USA-Jobs, for the USA-Citizens, permanently, in the coming years”!