OC Immigration Attorney

Top Republicans are signaling for the first time in five years that the party will get serious about immigration reform.

Immigration’s sudden rise to the top of Washington’s to-do list after years on the legislative back burner spotlights how worried Republicans are about Latinos abandoning their party. The renewed interest in tackling the issue, if sustained, would represent a fundamental shift for Republicans, who allowed conservative firebrands to set the agenda on immigration after several failed attempts to pass a bill during the Bush administration.

“It’s clear to me, if Republicans are going to have the opportunity to be in the majority, we clearly have to determine how we deal with minority and Latino voters,” said Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, who is running for the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairmanship. “In some fashion, the way we have dealt with immigration gives us a black eye. And we need to figure out how to talk about issues and pursue policies that matter to Latino, Hispanic voters.”

Obama told the Des Moines Register editorial board last month that he was confident immigration reform would get done next year. He mused at the time that Republicans, after years of Latino alienation, would need to repair their relationship with one of the fastest-growing demographic groups.

Obama is expected to pursue a broad proposal early next year, Democratic officials said Wednesday.

“It’s self-inflicted. It’s almost a suicidal tendency they have to be relegated for the next — I would say — generation as a minority party,” Rep Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said.

The stats from Tuesday’s election tell a grim tale for Republicans.

Exit polls found that Obama picked up 71 percent of the Latino vote while Republican Mitt Romney received only 27 percent — a steep drop-off from Bush’s 44 percent in 2004 and 35 in percent 2000. Those figures were in line with a 75-23 margin in an election eve poll by Latino Decisions of 5,600 Latino voters across all 50 states.

If Romney had picked up even 35 percent of the Latino vote, Tuesday’s election may have turned out differently, said Stanford University professor Gary Segura, who conducted the survey by Latino Decisions, which has done extensive polling of Hispanic voters.

“For the first time in U.S. history, the Latino vote can plausibly claim to be nationally decisive,” Segura said.

Thirty-one percent of those surveyed said they would be more likely to vote Republican if the party took a role in passing an overhaul bill with a pathway to citizenship.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83552_Page2.html#ixzz2BfNMFPgK

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

In an attempt to get some immigration legislation on the books, Obama had urged Congress to pass the Dream Act, which would give young illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children a path to citizenship if they attend college or serve in the military.

However, in June, Obama issued an executive order to allow many immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children to be exempted for two years from deportation and granted work permits if they apply to the government. The exemption also applies to children who are students and/or veterans.

Some 1.7 million people could be eligible for the program, according to estimates. Tens of thousands have applied since August.

Obama has stated that the government should focus on sending back criminals and recent arrivals rather than minors and families who are already settled in the U.S.

As for legal immigration, Obama has repeatedly said he supports legislation, backed by some business sectors, that would increase the number of highly skilled foreign workers and entrepreneurs who can enter the U.S. on special visas or apply to immigrate.

MITT ROMNEY:

In the GOP primary debates, Romney attacked his fellow Republicans when he felt they were being too soft on immigration. He has consistently said he opposes providing “amnesty” for illegal immigrants.

He also says he favors a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. He opposes education benefits to illegal immigrants and opposes offering legal status to illegal immigrants who attend college—but would do so for those who serve in the armed forces.

Romney, if elected, has said he would establish a national immigration-status verification system for employers and punish them if they hire noncitizens who do not prove their authorized status.

Romney has not specifically said he supports the immigration laws in Arizona, Alabama, but he has called Arizona “a model” for the nation on immigration And he has urged the Justice Department to drop its lawsuit against the Arizona legislation.

On legal immigration, Romney has said that he favors allowing into the country skilled and highly educated workers, who are favored by American high-tech firms and other industries. He has criticized the current annual limit (140,000) on the number of high-skilled visas—saying “it is a barrier to the kinds of immigrants the country needs to remain innovative.”

Read more about each candidate’s immigration positions here.

Republican Chuck Grassley removed a huge barrier to legislation that could speed the outdated visa system for highly skilled would be immigrants. He removed his “hold” on the proposed legislation that would ease the immense backlogs for applicants from countries like India and China, home to many highly skilled immigrants. President Obama has endorsed the bill, and ironically, so has the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives, which passed the bill last year.

The bill, termed the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, would remove per-country quotas on permanent work visas. Under the current system, countries like Iceland get allotted the same number of available visas as China.

The legislation would not add to the overall number of available green cards unfortunately. However, it would speed processing for skilled immigrants who now face waits of many years. While on temporary visas, they can’t change jobs or vote, and their spouses can’t work.

Grassley had been the holdout in the Senate (although there may be others lurking behind him) keeping the bill from moving forward. He wanted the Senate to take up legislation that he and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin have been working on for years to reform the H-1B temporary visa program.

Immigrant advocates are warning would be applicants to beware of unscrupulous notarios and attorneys offering to file work authorization documents under the newly announced Dream Deferred Action policy.
On June 15th, President Obama announced a policy shift which will allow some undocumented aliens to file for work authorization. Advocates all across the country advise that the Department of Homeland Security has not yet implemented the proposed change and any immigration “consultant” offering to help file paperwork might be trying to take advantage of you.

Immigration agents arrested about 200 people in Northern California and more than 3,100 nationwide in a 6-day sweep last week looking for immigrants who can be deported because they have a criminal record or ignored deportation orders.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents arrested 37 people in Santa Clara County, 18 in Alameda County and 16 in Contra Costa County as part of the 50-state “Operation Cross Check,” which ended on Thursday.

The arrests include legal and illegal immigrants who are deportable because of crimes they committed. Also arrested were immigration fugitives, who are people living in the country illegally who have ignored deportation orders. Agents also arrested more than 500 people who had illegally re-entered the United States after being deported.

About 90 percent of the people arrested nationwide had criminal convictions; 47 percent of all those arrested had felony convictions.

Of the 200 arrested in Northern California, half had convictions “for serious or violent crimes,” according to an ICE statement. The agency did not release the names of all those arrested or their crimes.

President Obama has repeatedly stated that he wants to focus resources on criminal aliens and fugitive aliens with outstanding deportation orders. Recently, he announced that he plans to halt deportations in several immigration courts nationwide in order to focus efforts on priority cases.

If you or a loved one is currently in immigration court proceedings in Los Angeles, contact The Nunez Firm to schedule a free consultation. Managing attorney Jay Nunez will help you better understand the options available to you.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is proposing to make it easier for illegal immigrants who are immediate family members of American citizens to apply for permanent residency, a move that could affect as many as 1 million of the estimated 11 million immigrants living here illegally.

The new rule, which the Department of Homeland Security will post for public comment Monday, would reduce the time illegal immigrants are separated from their American families while seeking legal status, immigration officials said. Currently, such immigrants must leave the country to apply for a legal visa, often leading to long stints away as they await resolution of their applications.

The proposal is the latest move by the administration to use its executive powers to revise immigration procedures without changing the law. It reflects an effort by President Obama to improve his standing among those Latino voters who feel he has not met his 2008 campaign promise to pursue comprehensive immigration reform.

The president’s push to pass the Dream Act, a law that would have created a path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants enrolled in college or enlisted in the military, was defeated in the Senate in December. No reform legislation has been under serious consideration since, yet the U.S. has deported a record number of illegal immigrants under Obama.

Many immigrants who might seek legal status do not pursue it out of fear they will not receive a “hardship waiver” of strict U.S. immigration laws: An illegal immigrant who has overstayed a visa for more than six months is barred from reentering the U.S. for three years; those who overstay more than a year are barred for 10 years.

The revised rule would allow illegal immigrants to claim that time apart from a spouse, child or parent who is a U.S. citizen would create “extreme hardship,” and would permit them to remain in the country as they apply for legal status. Once approved, applicants would be required to leave the U.S. briefly, simply to return to their native country and pick up their visa.

The change could reduce a family’s time apart to one week in some cases, officials said. The White House hopes to have the new procedures in place by the end of the year.

Keep checking ocimmigrationlawyer.com for updates on the numerous recent rule changes President Obama has proposed. If you or a loved one is considering the visa petition process, contact The Nunez Firm to schedule a free consultation.

Despite growing disappointment in his handling of immigration issues, Latino voters favor President Barack Obama by six-to-one over any of the Republican presidential hopefuls, showed a Fox News Latino poll conducted under the direction of Latin Insights and released Monday.

The national poll of likely Latino voters indicated that 73 percent of them approved of Obama’s performance in office, with over half those questioned looking favorably upon his handling of the healthcare debate and the economy, at 66 percent and 58 percent respectively.

Released on the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries in the race for the GOP nomination, the Fox News Latino poll shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 35 percent of Latino voter support, to Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s 13 percent, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s 12 percent, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s 9 percent.

But the poll shows that the overwhelming choice among likely Latino voters is President Obama. In head-to-head match-ups none of the GOP candidates would garner more than 14 percent of the Latino vote come November, the poll said.

It is widely known that the Latino Vote is becoming more crucial with every year that passes.

The President is deeply committed to fixing our broken immigration system so that it meets our 21st century national security and
economic needs. As a part of comprehensive immigration reform, the President supports legislative measures that would attract and
retain immigrants who create jobs and boost competitiveness here in the U.S., including creating a “Startup Visa,” strengthening the
H-1B program, and “stapling” green cards to the diplomas of certain foreign-born graduates in science, technology, engineering,
and math (STEM) fields. Together these actions would help attract new businesses and new investment to the U.S. and ensure that
the U.S. has the most skilled workforce in the world. In the meantime, the Obama Administration is working to make
improvements in the areas where we can make a difference.

As part of these ongoing efforts and in recognition of the one-year anniversary of the White House Startup America Initiative, the
Department of Homeland Security today announced a series of administrative reforms which will be completed in the future. These
reforms reflect the Administration’s continuing commitment to attracting and retaining highly-skilled immigrants. These efforts are
critical to continuing our economic recovery and encouraging job creation.

In last week’s State of the Union, President Obama noted that “Innovation is what America has always been about. Most new jobs
are created in start-ups and small businesses.” He also stated in his remarks in El Paso last May, “In recent years, a full 25 percent
of high-tech startups in the United States were founded by immigrants, leading to more than 200,000 jobs in America.” Echoing
this, the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness stated in its recent report, “Highly skilled immigrants create jobs, they
don’t take jobs.”

For more detailed information on the proposals.

Latinos by a 2-1 margin disapprove of how President Obama is handling deportations of illegal residents, but by an even larger margin, Latino voters favor him over Mitt Romney, according to a new survey by the Pew Hispanic Center.

The Obama administration has presided over a record number of deportations of illegal residents, a policy that has drawn extensive criticism from Latino leaders. By 59% to 27%, Latinos — citizens and noncitizens — say they disapprove of how the administration is handling the issue, according to the poll, released Wednesday.

Obama’s overall approval rating among all Latinos in the survey was 49% — a figure consistent with findings of other recent surveys and a sharp decline from his standing earlier in his administration.

In order for Obama to win in November, he will need Latinos to get out and vote as they did in 2008. I predict that President Obama will make some type of push for immigration reform between now and the election; however, I doubt Congress will support any comprehensive immigration reform bill.

On Monday, President Barack Obama will make a luncheon speech at the National Conference of La Raza’s (NCLR) annual conference in Washington, DC.  While most of the political class is mesmerized by the debt ceiling negotiations, millions of Latinos will be focused on what the president says — or doesn’t say — about comprehensive immigration reform.

The fact that he’s speaking at the NCLR conference has special meaning for Latinos and their allies.  In July of 2008, at the NCLR annual conference in San Diego, candidate Obama famously promised to make immigration reform a priority during the first year of his presidency.

In the 2008 election, Latino voters came out in record numbers to support Candidate Obama, and many Latino voters are impatiently waiting to see if President Obama will follow through on the promises he made to Latinos in 2008.

Recent polling by Latino Decisions shows that immigration is the number one issue for Latinos, topping the economy and jobs by 51 percent to 35 percent (education came in third at 18 percent).   In recent Gallup polling, Obama’s approval ratings hover at around 50 percent from a community that previously had him at  high 70s approval rating early in his presidency.  Moreover, three successive 2011 tracking polls by Latino Decisions shows that less than 50 percent of Latino voters are certain to vote for Obama in 2012 (he won 67 percent in 2008).