3 | Amnesty

Obamas immigration bill offers amnesty to criminal immigrants, money for lawyers

Read more:http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/20/obamas-immigration-law-offers-cornucopia-to-immigration-lawyers/#ixzz2OnU5X8ZbPresident Barack Obamas draft immigration plan would provide work permits and a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants who have fled police and or who await deportation in jail. It would also provide a pathway for immigrants whose convictions are subsequently vacated, and for those who have been jailed forfewerthan five years, according to the drafts supporters.The draft, which was leaked on Sunday, would also provide illegal immigrants with many new legal rights, and create a cornucopia of billing opportunities for immigration lawyers.For example, one section allows illegal immigrants who have committed crimes to stay in the country until their courtroom appeals are settled, perhaps years after their deportation was ordered.Ads by GoogleSec. 123 of the White House bill would allow immigrants to exhaust their [criminal] appeals before being removed on the basis of a criminal conviction, said a Feb. 19 tweet from Ben Winograd, an immigration lawyer in D.C. Winograd formerly worked at the American Immigration Council.Other sections of the draft bill would allow judges to provide illegals with taxpayer-funded lawyers and fine government immigration lawyers.Judge could also let illegal immigrants stay if their deportations would incur an extreme hardship to the deportee, rather than todays standard of exceptional and extremely unusual hardship, according to Winograd.The much-touted immigration rewrite is being pushed by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which helped created the immigration council.The associations 12,000 members would profit from the draft law because they would be paid to guide clients through the new complexity, and to help their clients win work visas and also their own slices of American citizenship.Ads by GoogleThe provision show that the administration is not serious about enforcing immigration laws, said Steve Camarota, the research director of the Center for Immigration Studies.The complex provisions gut the law when it comes redefine when illegal immigrants facing deportation can stay, he said.Public safety . and enforcing our immigration laws do not seem to matter, added Camarota, whose group backs reforms that would halve annual immigration to roughly 500,000 people.Obamas draft law would wipe also out all state and local rules that penalize illegal immigrants, sharply reducing the ability of voters in every state, county and city to protect their communities if federal authorities decline to enforce immigration law.The drafts details are important, partly because Obama says he will push Congress to pass his draft if legislators do not write their own law.More importantly, many of the drafts features are being pushed by immigration lawyers who are lobbying the eight senators in the so-called gang of eight. The leading senators include Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.The White Houses lawyer-friendly draft shows that it has outsourced the formation of immigration policy to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said Camarota.Selling AmnestyByBILL KELLERPublished: February 3, 2013232 Comments FACEBOOK TWITTER GOOGLE+ SAVE E-MAIL SHARE PRINT REPRINTSLets assume that President Obama and the Democrats sincerely want an immigration bill, that this is not a trick to trap Republicans into an anti-immigrant vote that will alienate Hispanic voters and secure Democratic advantage for a generation.Enlarge This ImageRelated Senators Look at Past Failures for Lessons on Immigration Overhaul(February 1, 2013)Connect With Us on TwitterFor Op-Ed, follow@nytopinionand to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow@andyrNYT.Readers CommentsReaders shared their thoughts on this article. Read All Comments (232) The Senate seems to be hospitable territory. Four Republicans including the ascendant Marco Rubio have joined four Democrats in embracing the politically difficult principles at the heart of the matter. Some advocates of immigration reform talk confidently of mustering 70 Senate votes, which would represent an astonishing reversal of fortunes for an issue that has long been mired in demagogy.The House, where many Republicans fear getting creamed by Tea Party challengers in a primary next year, is more problematic. The fear is that the House will balk or will break immigration into little pieces, pass the parts that crack down on undocumented workers and kill any effort to legalize the 11 million already here.That pessimism is natural; the House is the place where ideas go to die. But it neednt happen this time. If President Obama and Congressional leaders play their cards right, as they are doing so far, immigration reform real immigration reform can clear Congress this year.Selling the measure to the Republican House will require close attention to substance, marketing and legislative tactics.For starters, advocates wont be using the word amnesty. Personally I think its a fine word, which has traditionally meant an act of forgiveness for the sake of social harmony. But in the meanspirited Republican/Fox News lexicon, amnesty has come to mean coddling criminals. So we will all talk of a path to citizenship.The last major immigration law, signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, legalized three million undocumented immigrants. (Reagan, by the way, was comfortable calling this amnesty.) But the law failed to prevent a new illegal influx, largely because business lobbied to prevent tough sanctions on employers who hired unauthorized workers. The lure of no-questions-asked jobs drew millions of new illegal immigrants, and that invasion fed a ferocious popular backlash.This time around, Democrats should be at least as ardent about enforcement as they are about legalization of the undocumented. That is essential to winning Republican votes, but it is also the way to avoid a future cycle of anti-immigrant populism.In truth, most of what you hear from Republicans about securing our borders is a red herring. That is not the real problem. Under Obama, border policing has doubled, and deportations have ballooned to 400,000 a year with a new and prudent emphasis on deporting convicted criminals. TheMigration Policy Institute reportedin January that the government now spends more on immigration enforcement nearly $18 billion a year than on the F.B.I., the Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and all the other federal law enforcement agencies combined. Partly because of stronger enforcement but also because of lower birthrates and healthier economies south of our border the net flow of migrants from Mexico is actually zero, or even negative, according to arecent analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center. It should be easy for Obama to endorse strong language on border protection, because hes already doing it.The real weakness is internal enforcement. There is an electronic system to verify that businesses hire only workers who are legally entitled to be here, but 90 percent of employers dont use it. Both Obama and the Senate Gang of Eight call for more rigorous checks on employment, including a forgery-proof, theft-proof identification system, which is overdue.Businesses are not crazy about tougher policing of their payrolls, but they have mostly resigned themselves to the idea. And the immigration bill is certain to include some enticing compensation: for the tech sector, more visas to attract educated specialists; for the agriculture sector, an expanded program of temporary labor, which the Chamber of Commerce is negotiating with the A.F.L.-C.I.O.As for legalization, much of the debate has raged around the question of how easy it is for the undocumented to get the sweet prize of citizenship. Simply bestowing green cards on the millions seems unfair to those who have played by the rules, and sends a bad signal to others tempted to cheat. The bill now being hatched is likely to create a short path to citizenship for children, who are here through no fault of their own, and a more arduous path for adults. Grown-ups who came here by sneaking across the border or overstaying a temporary visa will have to register, submit to a background check, pay taxes and penalties, and then wait their turn behind those who applied legally.Some big-hearted folks (and some Democrats hoping to get grateful Hispanics into their voter base) will argue that we should not drag out the naturalization process for 10 years. But the important thing is that the 11 million be allowed to come out of hiding. Under the status Obama calls provisional and the Senate gang calls probationary, they will be allowed to work, travel and send their kids to school without fear of deportation while they wait to apply for green cards. No federal benefits, no vote, but no sword of Damocles either. Think of it as the path to the path. This compromise is the biggest breakthrough in many years of immigration debate, and it is the key to a consensus.AsAshley Parker pointed out in The Times, the sponsors of reform have learned important messaging lessons from their failed attempts in 2006 and 2007. They are building a consensus on principles before getting bogged down in legislative details. They are using more conciliatory language. They have brought business and labor together to work out compromises on issues like temporary workers. They have kept a hard focus on enforcement.The good news is that the anti-immigration side has no lobbying equivalent of the National Rifle Association, no group with its hands so firmly on the throats of Congress that it can override public opinion. But the bill will face a reservoir of popular fear, resentment and misunderstanding. President Obama and the indefatigable Senator Charles Schumer will work the Democratic constituencies and rally public support, but the hard sell is up to a few key Republicans who understand that this is their partys best hope of redemption with the surging Latino electorate.So far the most effective antidote to right-wing opposition has been Senator Rubio. In the days after the Gang of Eight unveiled its proposal the Floridian made the rounds of the shouting heads on the conservative media circuit, arguing the case. By the time Rubio was done,Rush Limbaugh was unconvincedbut muted, andSean Hannity, who announced after the November election that he had evolved on the issue, was calling it the most thoughtful proposal that Ive heard.Karl Rove, another Fox talker, who tried unsuccessfully to sell immigration reform when he was President George W. Bushs right arm, called the Senate principles a huge step forward. Fox pundits, perhaps mindful that their owner, Rupert Murdoch, recently came out for a path to citizenship, have avoided using the A-word to describe the latest proposals.Rubio could bolster the case for legalizing undocumented immigrants by making more of the economics. My conservative colleagueDavid Brookshas spelled out the rosiest economic case for increased immigration, including legalization of the undocumented. I would add a point made by Gordon Hanson, who studies immigration economics at the University of California, San Diego. Hanson points out that giving the 11 million undocumented immigrants provisional legal status would greatly improve the odds that their children would become educated, productive, taxpaying members of society rather than drains on the economy.Supporters of reform are moving with unusual speed, hoping to build up momentum that will carry over to the House. They aim to get a bill through the Senate this summer, leaving much of 2013 for the House to act before representatives are completely immersed in midterm electoral politics.The most important tactical decision, though, is in the hands of Speaker John Boehner. One reason the House is such a tar pit is that Boehner refuses to bring controversial bills to a vote unless he first has the approval of his Republican caucus a majority of the majority. In the recent fiscal showdown, Boehner lowered that barricade and let the bill pass with just a minority of his own party joining in. He has every reason to do it again on immigration. Boehner has read the election results a two-to-one Latino vote for Obama and he knows that if the House Republicans smother this effort, they will pay a high price.Im pretty sure that is not Obamas intent. But it is his best leverage.