New York Times (Editorial)
February 25, 2015
If
Republicans in Congress don’t relent on their quest to thwart President
Obama’s executive actions on immigration by refusing to fund the
Department of Homeland Security,
there’s only one agency in the gargantuan bureaucracy where business
would largely continue to operate as usual.
It
happens to be the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services,
which processes visa, work permit and green card applications and is the
very agency responsible
for accepting petitions for deferred action from deportation that the
Obama administration has offered to certain unauthorized immigrants.
Unlike
other parts of the department, U.S.C.I.S. is funded almost entirely by
applicant fees, rather than taxpayer dollars, making it immune to
government shutdowns.
Republicans
have warned that they will pass a bill to finance the Department of
Homeland Security only if it includes a provision that blocks Mr.
Obama’s initiatives,
which would allow certain longtime immigrants to remain in this country
and work lawfully, but would not provide a pathway toward citizenship.
Mr.
Obama has rightly threatened to veto any such legislation, arguing that
the steps the White House intends to take are the best alternative to
comprehensive immigration
reform, which Congress has failed to pass for decades.
If
the department is not funded, 30,000 people, or roughly 15 percent of
the work force, would be furloughed. Most of its employees would be
considered “essential” and
asked to show up to work even though they wouldn’t be getting paid. The
collateral damage of the stalemate are tens of thousands of families
who depend on the biweekly paychecks of these front-line workers,
including border patrol agents and airport security
screeners.
“There
are serious consequences for the working men and women of our
department if they are required to come to work and try to make ends
meet without a paycheck,” Secretary
of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said earlier this week. “For
themselves and their families.”
While
critical functions, such as law enforcement operations, would continue,
officials say the halt in funding would compromise their ability to
respond effectively to
a natural disaster and could make the country more vulnerable to
organized crime and even acts of terrorism.
At
U.S.C.I.S., there is one program that would have to be suspended:
E-Verify, the online service that allows employers to check the
employment eligibility of workers.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment