Thread: Immigration actions and proposals

Immigration actions and proposals

Immigration proposals

January 27, 2018

Carolyn Lochhead



Status of certain immigration actions and proposals in Washington, D.C.:



DACA: About 690,000 young people were enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals as of September, when President Trump canceled the program and gave Congress six months to replace it. About 790,000 people received benefits at some point. Set to expire March 5, a federal judge has ordered its continuation. The administration is accepting applications for renewals and appealing the ruling.




Temporary Protected Status: The administration has begun to terminate several humanitarian programs that grant temporary legal status to 327,000 people from countries stricken by violence or disasters, such as Haiti, El Salvador and Honduras. Some date back many years. The El Salvador program was a response to an earthquake in 2001.



Pending legislation and proposals



White House plan: It would provide DACA eligibles, whether enrolled or not, a 10- to 12-year path to citizenship. The administration’s plan also seeks to strengthen immigration enforcement and create a $25 billion “trust fund” for a wall on the southern border to Mexico. It would limit future family-based visas to spouses and young children, eliminating siblings, adult children and parents. That part would apply to future applications, allowing a large backlog of pending visa applications, estimated at 4 million, to be filled.
The proposal would also terminate the diversity visa lottery, which provides 50,000 visas a year to people from countries that send relatively few emigrants to the United States. It would reallocate diversity visas to reduce backlogs for immigrant spouses and minor children and skilled-worker categories.



Dream Act: Introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in 2001, it would provide a path to citizenship for “Dreamers” who entered the country without authorization before age 18. It would allow Temporary Protected Status recipients to apply. An estimated 3.6 million people would gain legal status.



Securing America’s Future Act: Sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the act would provide three-year renewable status to DACA enrollees and no citizenship. It would be restricted to those currently under age 31, covering 614,900 people. It would also require employers to use E-Verify to screen workers for immigration status and criminalize illegal presence to target visa overstays. It would terminate extended-family visas and diversity visa lottery.



USA Act: Sponsored by Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Pete Aguilar, D-Fontana (San Bernardino County), it would provide a path to citizenship for the estimated 1.7 million young immigrants and toughen the border along Mexico through electronic surveillance. Its 53 co-sponsors include Reps. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock (Stanislaus County), and David Valadao, R-Hanford (Kings County).



Raise Act: Sponsored by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Dave Perdue, R-Ga., it would terminate current and future extended-family visas, except those who are one year away from obtaining a visa. Parents could enter the country on temporary visas but be barred from any public benefit. It would cap refugee admissions at 50,000 and eliminate the diversity visa. Immigration would be shifted to a point system based on an offer of a high-paying job, education, English proficiency, “extraordinary achievement,” and an ability to invest at least $1.35 million in the U.S. It would cut legal immigration by an estimated 50 percent.


https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics...s-12531051.php

HOW ABOUT "OPERATION RETURN TO SENDER" ACT???