Viewing entries tagged with 'NC'
Top 10 fixes No. 6 – Apply Child Status Protection Act to aged-out children as it was intended
This is about the Child Status Protection Act, and why our courts, consulates, and the US Citizenship & Immigration Service need to start applying the law as it was intended to protect certain children’s rights in the immigration process. This blog entry is NOT about the “Dream Act” or about creating new visa categories for undocumented children.
Stop blaming the recession on immigrants
As the economy struggles in recession, an old debate becomes new: the question of immigrants' impact on the U.S. economy.
Top Ten Immigration Fixes -- 10
In 1996, a new Republican Congress decided to take a stab at reforming our immigration system. The centerpiece of this misguided legislation (which President Clinton signed during his reelection campaign) was the introduction of a concept called “unlawful presence.” Every day a person is in the United States beyond the expiration of their authorized stay counts as one day of unlawful presence. Generally, if a person has 180 days of unlawful presence and then leaves the United States voluntarily, he or she cannot return for three years; if a person has a year or more of unlawful presence and then leaves the United States, he or she cannot return for ten years. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(B). The unintended consequence of the “unlawful presence” bar is that it discourages illegal aliens from leaving. Many of these individuals have the ability to legalize their status through family members or employers but fear leaving to apply for the visa. So they stay. Furthermore, the ultimate irony is that if they are later caught and deported, the penalty is … a ten year bar - the exact same bar they would receive if they tried to do the right thing and leave voluntarily. The logical conclusion of any person unlawfully in the United States over a year is to stay until caught. Regardless of whether you want to build a fence around the USA or open the floodgates, none of us should encourage illegal immigration. Elimination of the unlawful presence bars encourages legal immigration and provides an avenue for people here without authorization but otherwise eligible for legalization to apply in their home countries.
