The Aguirre Law Firm

HERE ARE KEY TERMS OF THE IMMIGRATION PROPOSAL….
‘‘Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act’’.

Is there amnesty and/or a “path to citizenship”?

Yes. If you’re an undocumented immigrant who arrived in the United States before Dec. 31, 2011, haven’t committed a felony (or three misdemeanors), hold a job, and pay a $500 fine and back taxes, then you will immediately gain the status of “registered provisional,” allowing an individual to legally stay in the United States without risk of deportation. Registered provisionals wouldn’t be able to get any means-tested public benefits. If you’ve already been deported, you’re eligible to apply to re-enter if your parent or child is a citizen or permanent resident, or if you are DREAMer and were deported as a minor (see next section).

After six years, you’d have to renew the status, which is dependent on maintaining a steady work history, having a clean criminal record, and paying another $500 fine.

Four years after that (10 years after initially attaining “registered provisional” status), you could apply for permanent residency (aka a Green Card). That step requires showing constant work history, constant presence in the United States, continuous tax payments, clean criminal record, and knowledge of English and civics, as well as paying another $1,000 fine.
Three years after that you’d be eligible to become a citizen. So the recognition-to-citizenship process takes a total of 13 years and requires $2,000 in fines from each adult affected.

Would anyone get a faster path?

Also yes. DREAMers — or those who entered illegally before age 16, graduated from high school, and have been in the United States for at least five years — would have a quicker path. They would be able to apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship immediately thereafter, provided they serve two years in the military or complete at least two years of college.
Agricultural workers also would get a chance at Green Cards after five years, but would not be immediately eligible for citizenship, unlike DREAMers.

More Details can be found: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/16/the-senate-immigration-bill-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

After months of negotiations, a bipartisan group of eight Senators has drafted a blueprint that would sharply transform the nation’s current immigration laws.

The bill provides a path to citizenship for the nation’s approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants as long as they entered the country before December 31, 2011. Undocumented immigrants without serious criminal convictions have one year — though that may be extended — to apply for Registered Provisional Immigrant Status (RPI). This would allow them to be in this country legally, work for any employer and travel outside of the United States.

The costs to apply for RPI status are a $500 fine, assessed taxes and application fees. After six years in RPI status, another $500 fee will be applicable. A significant aspect of this bill is that an applicant’s spouse and children can be sponsored at the same time under the same application.

After 10 years, a person with RPI status will be eligible for a green card provided they have worked regularly, paid taxes, learned English and civics, and paid a $1,000 penalty. After three years with a green card, they can apply for citizenship.
Dreamers can get their green cards in 5 years, and will be eligible for citizenship immediately after that. Under a new AgJOBS Act, undocumented farm workers who have been working in the U.S. would be eligible for an Agricultural Card, and if they pay taxes and a $400 fine, they and their spouses and minor children can adjust to legal permanent resident status.

The bill addresses the issue of families who have been separated through deportation. Undocumented immigrants who had been deported for non-criminal reasons but who had been in the U.S. before the end of 2011 can reapply to re-enter and apply for RPI status, if they are the spouse of or parent to a child who is a U.S. citizen or legal resident, or a Dreamer eligible for the DREAM Act.

http://nbclatino.com/2013/04/16/senate-immigration-bill-revealed-a-path-to-citizenship-shift-to-employment-based-visas/

More Information- 10 things you need to know about the Senate immigration bill
http://nbclatino.com/2013/04/16/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-senate-immigration-bill/

What should you be doing to prepare for potential immigration reform?

1. Do NOT pay anyone to get in line for immigration reform; hold your paper work or open a file on your behalf to get a head start! Ethically, an Immigration attorney cannot retain a case for some form of relief until it has been passed or approved by the Immigration Service.

2. Request a valid identification as a consular Id or passport from the consulate from your country of origin within the U.S.

3. Start gathering and saving all proof for the years that you have lived in the United States. Make sure all documents have your name and the date. Examples of documents: pay check stubs, income taxes, doctor/dentist receipts, rental agreements or receipts, school records(transcipts), vehicle registrations, insurance documents, letters addressed to you with a dated postal stamp, bank statements

4. Get any criminal documents if you have ever been arrested and take care of all unpaid traffic ticket or outstanding warrants of arrest.

5. Save, save, save! Congress is suggesting heavy fines payable to the Immigration Service as part of Immigration Reform. The fine may be between $500 – $1000, plus an application fee will apply.

The rally today takes place as the momentum for an immigration reform bill keeps building. The latest information is that the Senate Gang of Eight could introduce legislation in the next few days, possibly the beginning of next week.

While some of the rally’s biggest organizers are Latino groups such as Casa de Maryland, the speaker lineup is composed of diverse groups, pointing to immigration as not solely a “Latino” issue. Asian-American legislators and leaders will participate and speak, and the keynote speaker will be African American civil rights leader Ben Jealous, who heads the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

“This is a valid and prudent tactic, to have other faces and voices up front,” says Antonio Gonzalez, of the William C. Velazquez Institute. “The truth is while the main beneficiaries of legalization might be Latinos and Asians, in a broader sense it’s really about our economy, and everyone benefits from the boost of millions of underground workers coming to the surface,” he adds.

“The majority of immigrants are good and hard-working, like it has always been,” says Machado. “There was a time when signs said ‘Irish Need Not Apply.’ So I’m here to help make a difference,” says the attorney.

http://nbclatino.com/2013/04/10/thousands-gathering-for-immigration-rally-and-pushing-for-change/

The “gang of eight” senators working on a comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes a pathway to citizenship could present the legislation by the end of this week, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday on “Face the Nation.”

Joined by his friend and fellow “gang” member Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Schumer said the staffs of the four Republican and four Democratic senators “are in a room working 12 hours a day, taking all the agreements that we’ve come to over the last three months, and turning them into legislative language, specific legislative language.”

“All of us have said that there will be no agreement until the eight of us agree to a big, specific bill, but hopefully we can get that done by the end of the week,” Schumer said. “There have been kerfuffles along the way, but each one of those thus far has been settled.”

This is the beginning of the process, not the end of it,” McCain said. “The Judiciary Committee will act. There will be amendments. There will be debate. Then it will go to the floor of the Senate. There will be plenty of time for discussion and debate.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57578317/gang-of-eight-hoping-for-immigration-bill-this-week-schumer-says/?utm_source=AILA+Mailing&utm_campaign=b9dfcf2ede-AILA8_4_8_13&utm_medium=email

Federal authorities have agreed to establish new policies governing the conduct of immigration officers during raids, including restrictions on how and when agents can enter private homes. “No longer will ICE agents have free rein to invade the homes of immigrants, especially Latino immigrants, and be as abusive as they want without any worry that they might be reprimanded.”

According to the settlement, immigration agents without a warrant needing consent to enter a private residence will now have to seek permission in a language spoken by the resident “whenever feasible.” Agents must also get consent from residents to enter the yards and other private outside areas adjoining their homes, the settlement said.

Under the settlement, agents are forbidden from conducting protective sweeps through the homes without “a reasonable, articulable suspicion of danger.”

The rules are included in a settlement that was approved by a Federal District Court judge on Thursday, concluding a six-year-old class-action lawsuit.

Senators agree on path to legal status for illegal immigrants
Senators crafting a bipartisan overhaul of immigration laws agree on a path to legal status, aides say, but other hurdles remain.

WASHINGTON — Eight senators who have spent weeks trying to write a bipartisan bill to overhaul immigration laws have privately agreed on the most contentious part of the draft — how to offer legal status to the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants.

The group’s current draft is largely in line with President Obama’s call to set a pathway to earned citizenship as part of a broader immigration reform package, as well as with recent efforts by prominent Republican lawmakers to resolve an issue that hurt GOP candidates in November’s election.

Though the draft is a long way from becoming law, immigration advocates expressed guarded optimism about a possible breakthrough.

Nine months ago, people would have thought you were nuts to say that four Republicans and four Democrats were working on a way to legalize 11 million people,” said Angela Kelley, an immigration expert at the Center for American Progress, a think tank with close ties to the White House. “It’s a Rubik’s Cube, but more sides are matching in color than ever before. That’s significant.”

Still undecided is how long illegal immigrants would need to wait before they could apply for permanent resident status and eventually become citizens. The delay for a green card probably would be 10 years or longer, the aides said.

Also unresolved are such politically charged topics as how many visas to issue to high-tech specialists and other guest workers; how to keep track of when visitors leave the country; and how to pay for more Border Patrol officers, fencing and other security measures in an era of shrinking budgets, the aides said.

In an effort to resolve the issue, negotiators from the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have worked with Senate staffers to set a formula so the number of visas for both high-tech and low-skilled workers can fluctuate. They have agreed that the tally would move up or down based on job demand, unemployment rates and other data.

“We’re really trying to fill in the details,” said Ana Avendano, an AFL-CIO negotiator.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immigration-hurdles-20130311,0,4603683.story