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Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Monday, July 22, 2013

Immigration Overhaul Languishes; Not Boehner's Top Priority

Los Angeles Times
By Lisa Moscaro
July 21, 2013

House Speaker John A. Boehner said Sunday that fixing the nation’s fiscal problems, not its immigration laws, was his top priority, as the most comprehensive proposal in a generation to overhaul the immigration system languishes in the Republican-controlled House.

Republicans are unlikely to approve any immigration-related bills before they leave Washington at the end of the month for the August recess. Many top GOP leaders, however, believe addressing the issue is vital to the party’s ability to remain relevant among voters, including the growing Latino electorate. And influential business leaders and religious groups aligned with Republicans are prepared to turn up the heat in public campaigns to prod them to act.

Boehner, however, has appeared unswayed by the political momentum behind the bipartisan Senate bill, and even after talking last week with President Obama he instead wants the House to take its time.

The speaker also dismissed critics who have said this Congress has been among the most unproductive in years and defended the House’s decision to hold dozens of votes to repeal the nation’s 2010 healthcare law — bills that are almost certain never to become law.

“We should not be judged on how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws that we repeal,” he said.

At the same time, Boehner said he remained “optimistic” Congress could deal with the nation’s fiscal problems and “do something to fix our fiscal situation.”

Legislation to fund the government and avoid a federal shutdown will be at the top of the agenda when lawmakers return in the fall from the August recess. Funding for federal operations expires Sept. 30.

The speaker has struggled to lead his often unruly majority and declined Sunday to get in front of them on the centerpiece of the bipartisan Senate-passed  immigration bill – the 13-year path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants living in the country without legal status. Many GOP House members have few minority voters in their districts and do not see the issue as a priority.

“If I come out and say I'm for this and I'm for that, all I'm doing is making my job harder,” Boehner said.

Supporters of the immigration overhaul said the Republican leader’s decision to slow-walk the issue comes at political risk to the party. “The Republicans have a decision to make: They can stay out of touch and in denial or they can get this done,” Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) said recently.

This week, a House committee is set to debate a more limited pathway to citizenship for immigrants brought to the country as minors – a proposal Democrats and immigration advocates oppose as insufficient.

The “Kids Act,” being formed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), gives Republicans a way to ease into the idea of legalizing those who are in the country illegally without embracing the broader path that most Republicans still oppose. The bill promises to be substantially different from the Dream Act – legislation included in the Senate bill that gives young immigrants an expedited citizenship path if they attend college or join the military.

Boehner embraced Cantor’s proposal as a matter of “fairness” last week – saying youths without legal status should not be punished because their parents entered the country illegally or stayed on expired visas.

But many of the "Dreamers," young people who could benefit by the act, said they are not willing to leave their parents in legal limbo at a time when the Senate bill provides a broader path for almost all immigrants in the country to become legal.

“The ‘Kids Act’ is just childish games by House Republicans,” Cesar Vargas, director of a coalition that advocates for young immigrants, said recently. “It pits Dreamers against our families.”

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com

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