Arizona Republic
By Daniel Gonzalez
May 19, 2013
The sweeping immigration-reform bill written by eight senators, including the two from Arizona, Republicans John McCain and Jeff Flake, includes a provision that would give immigrants who have been deported the chance to return legally.
The bill excludes people who have been previously deported from being able to apply for the pathway to citizenship included in the bill for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
However, the bill makes an exception for people who have been previously deported but have a spouse, parent, or child who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. They would be able to apply for a waiver that if granted would allow them to return to the U.S. legally and reunite with U.S. citizen family members.
People who re-entered the U.S. illegally after they were deported would also be able to apply for the waiver if they have a spouse, parent or child who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
Some deported Dreamers — people brought to the U.S. illegally as minors — would also be able to apply for a waiver even if they don’t have a spouse, parent or child who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, according to David Leopold, general counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Deportees granted waivers would then be able to apply for the same temporary provisional legal status as immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, putting them on the same path to permanent residency and citizenship as immigrants in the country illegally.
Under the pathway to citizenship provision crafted by the “Gang of Eight,” immigrants would apply for temporary provisional legal status and then permanent residency and eventually citizenship if they register with the government, undergo background checks, pay fines and back taxes, and learn English and American civics. They also can’t have any serious crime convictions.
It’s unclear how many people might benefit from the “right to return” provision.
The government has deported more than 2.2 million immigrants since fiscal year 2007, but since only those with spouses, parents, or children who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents would be eligible for the waivers, the number would be much smaller, probably less than 250,000 to 300,000, according to an estimate by Randy Capps, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C.
Immigrant-advocacy groups support the provision because they say it would allow families split apart by deportation to reunite in the U.S.
Opponents say the provision makes a mockery of the nation’s immigration laws by negating the punishment for having entered the country illegally or remained illegally after visas expired.
An amendment filed by U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., calls for striking the provision from the bill, and making it clear that people who have been previously deported would not be eligible to return to the country legally.
No comments:
Post a Comment