The Coming Immigration #$%* Storm
Not being sure of the details, there is more than a little speculation in this post, but given my almost 35 years of experience working with immigration issues in the job training and public assistance and recently personal front there is a need for immigration reform.
This may be the second public policy area where changes supported by President Obama will not make him any long lasting friends. The ACA being the first.
The legislation in immigration is very complicated and written for political and purposes that often have nothing to do with an immigration policy. Economic refugees are not political refugees but in some places and times it really is a distinction without a real difference. And with little thought about immigration as jobs move from place to place.
A lot of immigration laws should have sunset provisions where they no longer apply after certain periods of time it certainly has some practical applications in the field of immigration
Another area where some sensitivity needs to be demonstrated is the borders and points of entry for immigrants. Not everybody and every place experiences immigration in the same way and the impact of immigration is different on the border when compared to say for example: Iowa.
One possible administrative proposal would be to allow the parents of children born in the United States to obtain work authorization documents and allow them to work legally in this country. Many folks from other countries have been here so long both in and out of status that they have family members that are United States citizens. It is estimated that almost 5,000,000 folks already in the country would broadly qualify for work permits if this were allowed. This has been the case for a long time and while Congress dithers about details these folks can come out of the shadows work, get driver's licenses, get insurance and do what they have been doing but with some assurance that as long as they stay out of trouble, the folks from ICE won't come rounding them up arbitrarily.
This may be the second public policy area where changes supported by President Obama will not make him any long lasting friends. The ACA being the first.
The legislation in immigration is very complicated and written for political and purposes that often have nothing to do with an immigration policy. Economic refugees are not political refugees but in some places and times it really is a distinction without a real difference. And with little thought about immigration as jobs move from place to place.
A lot of immigration laws should have sunset provisions where they no longer apply after certain periods of time it certainly has some practical applications in the field of immigration
Another area where some sensitivity needs to be demonstrated is the borders and points of entry for immigrants. Not everybody and every place experiences immigration in the same way and the impact of immigration is different on the border when compared to say for example: Iowa.
One possible administrative proposal would be to allow the parents of children born in the United States to obtain work authorization documents and allow them to work legally in this country. Many folks from other countries have been here so long both in and out of status that they have family members that are United States citizens. It is estimated that almost 5,000,000 folks already in the country would broadly qualify for work permits if this were allowed. This has been the case for a long time and while Congress dithers about details these folks can come out of the shadows work, get driver's licenses, get insurance and do what they have been doing but with some assurance that as long as they stay out of trouble, the folks from ICE won't come rounding them up arbitrarily.
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