Immigration Amnesty
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 LATEST NEWS: The information below is part of the
proposed comprehensive immigration reform bill currently being debated in the United States senate. This legislation has not been approved yet. Click here for the latest
news.
Subscribe to the free United States Immigration Newsletter for the latest
immigration news, including detailed information regarding the proposed Immigration Amnesty.
The proposed Immigration Reform and Amnesty includes the following:
Undocumented Workers Currently in the United States:
- They could come forward immediately and receive probationary legal status.
- The Bill creates a four-year, renewable Z visa for those present within the
U.S. unlawfully before January 1, 2007.
- Undocumented immigrants may adjust status to lawful permanent residence once
they pay $5,000 in fees and fines and their head of household returns to their
home country.
- People under age 30 who were brought to the U.S. as minors could receive
their green cards after three years, rather than eight.
- Undocumented farm workers who can demonstrate they have worked 150 hours or
three years in agriculture can apply for green cards.
- No green cards for Z visa holders can be processed until “triggers” for
border security and workplace enforcement have been met, which is estimated to take 18
months.
- Processing of green cards for holders of
Z visas would begin after
clearing an existing backlog, which is expected to take 8 to 13 years.
Border Security:
- Hire 18,000 new border patrol agents.
- Erect 200 miles of vehicle barriers and 370 miles of fencing along the
U.S.-Mexico border.
- Erect 70 ground-based radar and camera towers along the southern border.
- Deploy four unmanned aerial vehicles and supporting systems.
- End the program in which illegal immigrants are released upon apprehension
(commonly know as catch and release).
- Provide for detaining up to 27,500 aliens per day on an annual basis.
- Use secure and effective identification tools to prevent unauthorized work.
Employment Verification:
- Require employers to electronically verify new employees to prove identity
and work eligibility.
- Increase penalties for unlawful hiring, employment and record keeping
violations.
Guest Worker Program (requires border security measures to be in place
first):
- Create a new temporary guest worker program with two-year “Y visas,”
initially capped at 400,000 per year with annual adjustments based on market
fluctuations.
- Workers could renew the Y visa up to three times, but would be required to
return home for a year in between each time. Those bringing dependents could
obtain only one, nonrenewable two-year visa.
- Families could accompany guest workers only if they could show proof of
medical insurance and demonstrate that their wages were 150 percent above the
poverty level.
Permanent Residence (Green Card) through the Point System:
- 380,000 visas a year would be awarded based on a point system, with about 50
percent based on employment criteria, 25 percent based on education, 15 percent
on English proficiency and 10 percent on family connections.
Other Changes to the Immigration System:
- Spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and permanent residents would be
eligible for green cards based purely on their family connections, but other
relatives such as adult children and siblings would not.
- Apply new limits to U.S. citizens seeking to bring foreign-born parents into
the country.
- Visas for parents of U.S. citizens would be capped annually at 40,000 and
those for spouses and children at 87,000.
 "The agreement we just reached is the best possible chance we will have
in years to secure our borders, bring millions of people out of the shadows and
into the sunshine of America"
May
17, 2007
Ted Kennedy -- Senator from Massachusetts
Member of the Democratic Party
LATEST NEWS
On June 29th the United States Senate killed the proposed comprehensive
immigration legislation, ending chances for President George W. Bush to pass his
immigration reform plan--a centerpiece of the president's domestic agenda.
Immigration reform supporters garnered just 46 of the 60 votes needed to
conclude debate and proceed to final passage. Sixty senators, including 37 of
Bush's fellow Republicans, voted against it. Most senators said they had no
plans to try to overhaul immigration law before the 2008 presidential election,
so it is unlikely that any major immigration bill will become law until 2009.
The biggest obstacle was to convince conservatives that the path to citizenship
for illegal aliens is not Amnesty. The bill's bitter end has a deeper meaning,
as it demonstrated that conservative Americans’ vision for US immigration reform
should not include any type of amnesty or legalization for undocumented workers.
"This vote effectively kills comprehensive immigration legislation in the 110th
Congress" - said Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren, head of a House
Judiciary subcommittee on immigration.
The measure, the biggest rewrite of U.S. immigration law since 1986, would offer
12 to 20 million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship while tightening the
border with Mexico and creating a guest-worker program to help employers fill
low-paying jobs.
President Bush, who had lobbied Republican senators to support the legislation,
acknowledged defeat, saying that - "Congress's failure to act on it is a
disappointment." The Bush administration is still interested in finding the
solution to the problem of illegal immigration, said Michael Chertoff, Bush's
homeland security secretary who helped draft the legislation. |
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