White House eases path to residency for some illegal immigrants
White House eases path to residency for some illegal immigrants
latimes.com
By Brian Bennett
January 2, 2013, 9:28 a.m.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration eased the way Wednesday for illegal immigrants who are immediate relatives of American citizens to apply for permanent residency, a change that could affect as many as 1 million of the estimated 11 million immigrants unlawfully in the U.S.
A new rule issued by the Department of Homeland Security aims to reduce the time illegal immigrants are separated from their American families while seeking legal status, immigration officials said.
Beginning March 4, when the changes go into effect, illegal immigrants who can demonstrate that time apart from an American spouse, child or parent would create “extreme hardship,” can start the application process for a legal visa without leaving the U.S.
Once approved, applicants would be required to leave the U.S. briefly in order to return to their native country and pick up their visa.
The change is the latest move by the administration to use its executive powers to revise immigration procedures without Congress passing a law. In August, the Obama administration launched a program to halt the deportation of young people brought to the U.S. unlawfully as children.
The new procedures could reduce a family's time apart to one week in some cases, officials said. In recent years a few relatives of U.S. citizens have been killed in foreign countries while waiting for their applications to be resolved.
“The law is designed to avoid extreme hardship to U.S. citizens, which is precisely what this rule achieves,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in a statement. “The change will have a significant impact on American families by greatly reducing the time family members are separated from those they rely upon,” he said.
Until now, many immigrants who might seek legal status do not pursue it out of fear they will not receive a "hardship waiver" of strict U.S. immigration laws: An illegal immigrant who has overstayed a visa for more than six months is barred from reentering the U.S. for three years; those who overstay more than a year are barred for 10 years.
The new rule allows those relatives to apply for the waiver without first leaving the U.S.
White House eases path to residency for some illegal immigrants - latimes.com
Obama unilaterally rewrites immigration law again
January 3, 2013 | 12:41 pm | Modified: January 3, 2013 at 12:50 pm
Joel Gehrke
Washington Examiner
President Obama issued a rule yesterday through the Department of Homeland Security to put illegal immigrants who have United States citizens in their immediate families on the fast track to permanent legal status.
“This final rule facilitates the legal immigration process and reduces the amount of time that U.S. citizens are separated from their immediate relatives who are in the process of obtaining an immigrant visa,” DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement.
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which Bill Clinton signed in 1996 in order to deter illegal immigration, requires illegal immigrants who have overstayed their visa to leave the country while applying for a new one. “Someone who has overstayed a visa for more than six months is barred from reentering the U.S. for three years; those who overstay more than a year are barred for 10 years,” the Los Angeles Times explained yesterday.
“The final rule establishes a process that allows certain individuals to apply for a provisional unlawful presence waiver before they depart the United States to attend immigrant visa interviews in their countries of origin,” DHS explained. This change would allow people to live in the United States while pursuing an immigrant visa, although they would still have to return to their original country to pick up that visa.
“The change will have a significant impact on American families by greatly reducing the time family members are separated from those they rely upon,” United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
Even if the policy could have bipartisan support, the unilateral nature of the maneuver could complicate negotiations over changing immigration law.
“If Obama continues to force his preferred policies on the country without discussion or legislation, and simply on the basis of his personal agenda, he is unlikely to find willing partners when it comes time for significant immigration action,” a Senate Republican aide told The Washington Examiner.
Last year, the president also announced that DHS would not enforce immigration laws for people who would have qualified for the DREAM Act if it had been passed by Congress.
When the rule was proposed last year, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, faulted Obama for unilaterally changing immigration policy without congressional approval.
“This proposal from the Obama administration comes with no surprise considering their abuse of administrative powers,” Smith, the House Judiciary Committee chairman in the 112th Congress, said in a January statement. “President Obama has already granted backdoor amnesty to potentially millions of illegal immigrants without a vote of Congress. It seems President Obama plays by his own rules to push unpopular policies on the American people.”
Smith acknowledged that such waivers have always been obtainable, but the waiver was not designed to be used on a large scale. The Los Angeles Times says this new rule could affect up to 1 million people, adding that “sources said that the administration might expand the changes to include relatives of lawful permanent residents.”
Obama unilaterally rewrites immigration law again | WashingtonExaminer.com
New Waiver Shields Sponsored Illegal Aliens From Penalties
Published on Monday, 07 January 2013 14:09
Written by Jessica Vaughan
Center for Immigration Studies
http://www.rightsidenews.com/images/...ity/Waiver.png
In the latest installment of the Obama administration's "amnesty by executive decree" scheme, DHS has announced the Waivercreation of a new waiver that will enable an unknown number of illegal aliens who have married U.S. citizens or who have moved here illegally to join naturalized family members to avoid penalties enacted by Congress in the mid-1990s.
The so-called Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers have been described by administration officials and the press as a measure to help families. What's wrong with that? Several things; this move is bad policy and bad principles.
Since 1996, those who have lived here illegally for more than six months are supposed to be barred from return for up to ten years, if they leave the country. Congress created a waiver to this bar if it would cause "extreme hardship" to an American citizen.
In addition, illegal aliens are not allowed to adjust to green card status from within the United States. Just like other sponsored immigrants, they have to apply for a visa in their home country, where they are expected to prove identity and credibility, demonstrate that they will not be dependent on social services, get a medical clearance from an approved local doctor, and pass a basic background check.
Illegal aliens who marry U.S. citizens and other legal residents, or who have illegally joined family members with legal status, face a tough choice (that results from their original choice to violate immigration laws): either continue to live here illegally (with little chance of deportation unless you commit a crime) or return home to legalize and face a possible bar to re-entry. When applicants choose to go the legal route, if they are found by the consular officer to be otherwise eligible for the green card, about 80 percent of the time they will receive the "extreme hardship" waiver for their prior illegal presence, although it usually takes several weeks for processing.
Of course, the media never discuss the people who get the waivers, but there have been a lot of sob stories about the minority of illegal alien applicants who could not demonstrate enough hardship and had to wait out the bar in their home country (or continue living here illegally).
There is some legitimate debate about whether the bar is effective in deterring illegal immigration, whether those who are related to U.S. citizens should get more of a break, and whether those who broke immigration laws should be excused from that and allowed to jump in line ahead of those who follow the rules. But Congress wrote the law, and only Congress has the authority to change it. Any change would be a compromise that tries to address all legitimate concerns.
Here are some of the other problems I see with the new waiver:
*These re-entry waivers will be granted before any government official has a chance to determine if the applicant is even eligible to actually receive a green card. Under the current system, if an applicant is found to be ineligible, whether for fraud, medical, or national security reasons, they are already out of the country, and we have one less illegal resident.
*In the name of efficiency, USCIS has set it up so that all the new waiver applications will be processed in one office here in the United States, not by those more unpredictable officers overseas, who are felt to have an inconvenient tendency to apply the law. There will be no interviews, which would enable the adjudicators to assess the applicant's credibility and claims, although USCIS says it will do a fingerprint-based automated background check to identify known terrorists and violent felons. I picture an officer in a room with a desk, a large conveyor belt with applications, and a rubber stamp that says "Approved!" Denials require the signature of several distant supervisors, and the likely forfeiture of future promotions, bonuses, parking spots, junkets, and office holiday parties.
*There is already an enormous amount of fraud in the marriage visa category, which brought in about 450,000 spouses and children in 2011, representing nearly half of total legal immigration. Most of the marriage visa fraud involves U.S. citizens, because there is no waiting list, and perhaps also because illegal aliens can qualify for a waiver of their illegal presence. This removes one more hurdle for the marriage fraudster.
*USCIS has announced that anyone denied a provisional waiver (or ultimately the green card) will be "prioritized for enforcement," which is their way of saying, "no one will try to deport them." People will be allowed to apply for the waiver as many times as necessary to gain approval.
*Those approved for provisional waivers will not be issued work or travel permits – thank goodness for small favors. However, USCIS said it will be "up to others" to decide if they can receive driver's licenses, Social Security numbers, and other benefits that would enable them to get a job or public services. We can be sure that some states will lose no time in offering benefits.
*USCIS has no idea how many people might apply for this benefit, which means it has no idea if it has the resources and staff to process them.
*For now, the provisional waivers are available only to those applying as spouses or parents of U.S. citizens. But if all goes well, by the administration's standards, next year this program will be extended to illegal aliens applying in other categories -- even though the law does not provide for such a waiver.
New Waiver Shields Sponsored Illegal Aliens From Penalties
