Immigration Law and Immigration Reform:

Why you need an Immigration Lawyer Now.

There has been much in the press lately about immigration law and immigration reform. In fact, there are so many laws recently enacted or under consideration on the federal, state and local level that only lawyers engaged in the practice of immigration law have a clear picture of exactly what is actually in place regarding active law in the community where you live.

Texas Law

In Texas for example, several communities have enacted or attempted to enact various forms of landlord tenant legislation or regulations to monitor and track the legal residency status of tenants in rental communities. Some of these regulations have been challenged and brought down while others have succeeded. In many other places regulations have been put in place or have been attempted to monitor and track the legal residency status of grade school, middle school and high school students and their families. There are now numerous regulations and guidelines for college student loans and grants and still many more which attempt to regulate the hiring practices of all types of employers as it regards the legal residency status of employees. There are ramifications for weddings, permits and professional licensing and these vary geographically all across the U.S.

Anyone who has questions about how these rules and regulations affect them and their families can no longer rely on their community of friends and family to provide safe guidance. Only a licensed legal professional who specializes in immigration law can help sort through the piles of rules, regulations and laws that govern each specific instance where an immigrant may come in contact with the legal entities that regulate and monitor virtually every aspect of life in the United States. If you are a legal resident, these are issues which you don't need to be concerned about in most cases unless you are a landlord or employer. However, anyone who is not a legal resident will find their lives filled with challenges on a daily basis that can cost them their livelihood, home or their freedom.

Legal Resident

If you are not a legal resident of the United States the smartest option for you is to find a trustworthy immigration law attorney with whom you can confide from time to time. You don't need to pay them a retainer for services unless you actually need their assistance. However, it is best to be prepared in the event that you do.

You should not engage in any work activity that you think may put you in jeopardy of breaking any US immigration law without first consulting a legal authority that can help clarify your position and advise you on the best course of action.

Immigration reform

In today's turbulent times of immigration reform, many people are under scrutiny that never had their integrity challenged in the past. Your best course of action to avoid problems and possible deportation is to find a good immigration attorney you can trust to be on your side whenever you need assistance understanding current immigration law and immigration reform efforts in your own local area.

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Immigration Reform and Control Act and the Effect on the Labor Market

The immigration laws, passed in the twentieth century, that shaped the inflow of people from other countries started with measures to deal strictly with numbers, and not work-related skills. Two laws were enacted in the 1920's that imposed quotas on people entering the United States from other countries. They were the Emergency Quota Act of 1917, and the Immigration Act of 1924. The former, passed by Woodrow Wilson and an overwhelming majority in Congress, barred entry of "undesirables" including those with mental illnesses and those under sixteen years of age who were illiterate. That law also introduced a reading text as a condition of citizenship.

The Bracero Program of 1942, passed into law by Franklin Roosevelt, was a migrant worker program, allow workers from Latin America entrance into the United States for agricultural work, only. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, added deportation to those suspected of being a Communist sympathizer. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was the first law to do away with quotas based on national origin, and to favor those with family already in the country. This law also did away with the those entering under the Bracero Program, and created the first wave of illegal immigrants from Latin America, due to the inability to enter under the migrant worker program.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act, or IRCA, was setup to deal with the influx of illegal workers who began to enter the United States larger after the repeal of the migrant worker program. The law stated that employers who knowingly hired illegal workers would be held liable. The law also established the I-9 form as a means of verifying status for working eligibility.

The immediate impact that the passage of the IRCA had on hiring practices was negligible. Employers continued hiring practices with those of unknown status, and the I-9 forms were not aggressively enforced. There was a move to the hiring of subcontractors as opposed to direct hiring. This allowed the employer to not have to deal with the status of the workers. Rather, the subcontracting firm was responsible for legal status of its workers. The laborer suffered a decrease in wages, as subcontractors held a portion of the worker's pay to cover overhead expenses.

The reform act known as IRCA is still in force, today. Little is being done to verify the information supplied on the I-9 forms. When a worker is suspected of not having legal status, the enforcement is largely imposed upon the laborer, and not on the employer. There is need of reform of the immigration laws to come into line with practice, or for stricter enforcement of statues currently in place. Having one set of laws, and a separate practice for enforcement is not a good way to control immigration.

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Bucking Congress, President Pushes Immigration Reform Through Exercises of Executive Discretion

With immigration reform stalled in Congress, the Obama Administration has taken to implementing reform through piece-meal exercise of executive discretion. While the humanitarian intent of the President's actions is laudable, the manner by which he has implemented reform raises numerous questions.

Movement toward reform began in June of 2011, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency charged with seeking the removal or deportation of illegal aliens, issued a memorandum with guidelines for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Much like how a police officer has the discretion not to arrest everyone the officer sees breaking the law, ICE's various Chief Counsel offices have the discretion, as the prosecutors of immigration enforcement, to choose which cases it will pursue through the Immigration Courts for removal.

Through the memorandum, ICE announced that it would concentrate its enforcement resources on certain aliens, such as those with a criminal record, while other aliens guilty only of illegal presence, could apply to the Chief Counsel's offices to dismiss their case.

Critics of the President charged that he was seeking amnesty of illegal immigrants, without congressional approval. In practice, many immigration attorneys have charged that the Chief Counsel's offices have not gone far enough, tending to offer prosecutorial discretion in only those cases where the Government was likely to lose in court.

A year later, in June of 2012, Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for certain aliens who were brought to the United States before their 16th birthday, and who have either been schooled in the United States or honorably discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces.

Deferred action is merely a promise that the Government will not seek the deportation of an alien who is otherwise removable from the United States. Advocates note that DACA is only a half-measure, since it confers no legal status, and is not a path to permanent residency or citizenship. Indeed, under the DACA program, recipients must re-apply every two years. Nonetheless, the Government is authorized to grant employment authorization to successful applicants.

Critics charge that having failed to push the DREAM Act through Congress, which would have granted a path to permanent residency and citizenship along roughly the same lines as the DACA program, the President is circumventing the Constitution to implement many of the DREAM Act's provisions.

Most recently, on September 27, 2012, in a letter to U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler, Napolitano announced that ICE would consider long-term same-sex partners to be U.S. "relatives" for the purpose of deciding whether to grant prosecutorial discretion. Whether an illegal alien in removal proceeding has a U.S. relative, such as a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse or child, is a positive factor ICE considers in deciding whether to exercise prosecutorial discretion.

This latest policy announcement is probably where the Administration is most susceptible to the charge of overreaching. With the Defense of Marriage Act still the law of the land, the U.S. Government is prohibited from granted green cards to foreign-born spouses of U.S. citizens or permanent residents, even if the couple were married in a state or country where same-sex marriage is legal. The move lends credence to the argument that the Obama Administration will ignore the Constitution when convenient to pander to certain constituencies. It also creates a sort of schizophrenia where the U.S. Government will recognize same-sex partners as relatives for some immigration purposes, but not for others.

The patchwork of immigration reform has been less than satisfying for some immigration advocates. Because the reforms are based on acts of executive discretion, and not on the passage of any law, the reforms are susceptible to change or even termination at the whim of the Administration. If Obama were to lose the election, there is also the question of whether a Romney Administration would continue with the programs, or use the information gathered to push for the removal of those who received discretionary relief. The reforms, then, fail to provide a permanent solution to the very aliens they help. In some instances, the reforms have been implemented unevenly.

True, meaningful reform must come from Congress, where it will have the force of law. However, with much disagreement over how to approach the presence of so many undocumented aliens in the United States, such reform is not likely to come soon.

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