May 14, 2007 is the target date for immigration reform debate."

By Christopher Adams
Attorney at Law

latest proposals that are negotiated behind-the-scenes may create a new visa called "Z" visa that would allow many illegal immigrants now in the country to continue working in the country legally.
Some Senators and administrative officials are suggesting the requirement of a 13-year time frame between the time an illegal immigrant gets this new "Z" Visa to the time he or she become citizen. In addition to a payment of a penalty of $8, 000.00.
They are also debating with administrative officials the possibility of curtailing the usual priority of family reunification.

Almost everyone was optimistic that the chances of passing an immigration reform was brighter this year after Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007.

Congress was hesitant to start an immigration reform for the last four months or so. Key Senators and House Representatives were struggling for months and negotiating behind-the-scenes with each other to no avail. Many are trying not to disclose the details. As a result to this inaction, the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev, has decided that if no compromise or breakthrough on immigration reform is reached soon, then May 14, 2007 will be the target date for the immigration debate, the day to get things started. Thus, a meaningful debate will follow for about two weeks. That means that two weeks before Memorial Day will be devoted to an immigration bill that could increase the number of temporary guest workers, help immigrant families reunite and legalize the estimated 12 million immigrants here illegally.

Probably, or even most likely, the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev will introduce the measure or the bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee last year.

For the wartime President Bush, scoring on an immigration reform would be at least a huge victory in the domestic scene before he leaves the White House in January 2009.

The early Bush proposal called for many measures. Among those measures, two are very significant: 1) a guest-worker program - which simply means to bring about hundreds of thousands of workers to the USA. 2) a conditional legalization for undocumented workers who learn English, pay fines, and maintain steady employment.

Later, the administrative officials tried to negotiate and change the fines up to $10,000.00 and sometimes to $20,000.00.

Back to the White House proposal, it follows that legal immigrants would lose their right to sponsor adult children and siblings to the country. They will still keep the right to bring their spouses and minor children. Their rights to sponsor parents would be tremendously curtailed.

The nation is aware that to deport, or at least try to deport, about 12 million undocumented immigrants, presently in the country, is an arduous and burdensome task, if not impossible. Any mass deportation of this caliber is almost not feasible.

For a bill to pass the Senate, 51 votes are needed. However to overcome the risk of a filibuster, a majority of 60 votes may be necessary.

This is for the Senate, but what about the House? It is well known that Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., have co-sponsored a bill and this bill is somehow fair and reasonable to the undocumented immigrants. The Gutierrez-Flake bill, called the STRIVE Act, could be the platform for Senate and House debate. Democrats and Republicans are split on how many more (or less) foreign workers should be allowed into the country. The Gutierrez-Flake bill would allow up to 400,000 unskilled guest workers annually to enter the US legally.

The White House has proposed that such workers would come for two-year stints and pay $1,500 for their permits, then have to return home for six months.

However, for a reason I do not know, the House of Representatives choose inaction. Members of the House want the Senate to go first. In other words, you do it first. If you succeed, then I will do it. If you do not succeed, then I am not going to burn my toes.

Republicans are trying to emphasize on employment and Democrats are favoring family reunification. Republican want to limit the amount of family members and give preference to skilled workers sponsored by employers. Democrats advance more family sponsorship. Thus a compromise is far from being reached. As Senator Kennedy stated last week "it would be a huge mistake to expand employment-based immigration at the expense of our historic tradition of family-based immigration." Bush has mentioned that "I will work with both Republicans and Democrats to get a bill to my desk before the summer is out, hopefully."

One of the positive signs is that some of the same GOP conservatives who already had opposed the previous bill, and Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona is one of them, have got together with the White House to write a new proposal. They also reached to Senator Kennedy to bargain with them to find a deal most Democrats could like.

The almost bad news are that Democratic negotiators, such as Sen. Kennedy, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo. and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J, have signaled they may consider provisions that they had already rejected last year. One of those provisions is forcing undocumented immigrants to leave the country before gaining legal status.

But where is Senator McCain? He is one of the most Senators committed to a fair immigration reform. Unfortunately the Democrats claim that he just abandoned his efforts, a fact his office has recently rejected. I still think that he is doing the behind-the-scene work.

Five months ago, I cheered when Democrats took over the House and the Senate. I was confident that the issue of millions of undocumented workers could land a sort of resolution. However, I grimly discovered that my optimism somehow is fading. if no bill got through Congress this year, then the passage of a bill in the election year 2008 would be arduous, if not almost impossible. However, there is a good chance with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his target date for a two-week debate starting on May 14,2007.

My law office is near the Congress. So close that if a senator sneezes, I catch cold.

I will be monitoring the situation closely and report in my next article.

Attorney Christopher Adams will shade some light in a form of “questions & answers” on immigration statistics for the year 2005 concerning our Moroccan community in the USA. The numbers in this article are derived from the U.S. Government.