New Blog Address

Finally our new website is completed - I will not continue to blog on blogger and invite you to join my blog on: http://www.visa-pros.com/blog/
I will post updates and useful information there.
Cheers!
Karen

HOW DOES THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN EFFECT U.S. IMMIGRATION SERVICES?

The government shutdown has created some confusion in the immigration community. Certain governmental services that are an essential part of my work as an immigration attorney have either shut down or began operating on a limited basis. Until Congress gets it together and passes a new budget, this will become the operating status quo for my industry. Below is a quick list of governmental resources and a brief description of how the shutdown affects them. 

EOIR: Only Immigration Court functions that support the detained caseload will continue, but other functions are suspended. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is processing emergency stay requests as well as detained cases only, including case appeals, motions, federal court remands, and bonds. For all our non-detained clients, cases will not be heard and moved to future hearing dates.

ICE:  ICE detention and enforcement operations will continue as it is considered an essential function. However ICE chief counsel trial attorneys will work only on detained docket during the shutdown. The ICE Community and Detainee Helpline will remain operational.

USCIS: All USCIS offices worldwide are open and individuals should report to interviews and appointments as scheduled. Since USCIS is supported by filing fees and not congressional appropriations it is not affected at all by the shutdown. However, its E-Verify program is not working during the shutdown. 

Customs and Border Protection operations are considered to be essential functions and would not be disrupted. However, if there are staffing cuts, it is possible that there would be some delays in processing applications presented at the U.S. border and at border crossings. There may also be delays in waiver adjudication.

Department of State functions will be delayed although most services will remain open. Travel plans for State Department personnel will mostly be put on hold, as will all new employment offers. The State Department has not released exact numbers of furloughs, but in previous shutdowns, furloughs were felt more heavily at the department's headquarters in Washington than at posts overseas.

Consular operations will continue which means that people would be able to get visas (and passports) in the U.S. and abroad at consular sites but these services could be heavily delayed. The shutdown of ancillary consular operations, including building support and the employment of local personnel, may impact the delivery of visa services, resulting in cancellation of visa appointments or delays in the processing of visa applications. In past shutdowns, visa processing was slowed down significantly and they only processed "life and death" situations. However now many of the visas are fee-supported so they promise not to delay visa processing. So short answer is nobody knows how they will be affected so foreign nationals should be prepared for delays in consular visa processing and, where feasible, may want to consider postponing travel outside the United States if a new visa would be required to reenter the United States if not absolutely necessary.

Passports: Passport processing will be delayed as many offices are inside buildings that will be shut down.

CIS Ombudsman: The CIS Ombudsman's Office will be closed and will not be accepting any inquiries through their online case intake system.

OFLC functions are not "excepted" from a shutdown and its employees would be placed in furlough status should a lapse in appropriated funds occur. Consequently, the OFLC will neither accept nor process any applications or related materials (such as audit responses), it receives, including Labor Condition Applications, Applications for Prevailing Wage Determination, Applications for Temporary Employment Certification, or Applications for Permanent Employment Certification. As of now, OFLC's web site, including the iCERT Visa Portal System and the PERM system, are inoperative and unable to process any cases. PERM applications that need to be filed due to expiring recruitment or the need to preserve H-1B AC21 eligibility could presumably be filed by mail if necessary. There is a problem for H-1B extensions that cannot be filed without the LCA - USCIS has been contacted about this issue by AILA to allow filing without the LCA for now. 

DHS: Due to the lapse in federal funding, DHS’ website will not be actively managed.

DHS OIG: The majority of DHS OIG staff has been furloughed due to the lapse in appropriations.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform: The shut down will create even more of a delay for the immigration reform cause as Congress will completely shift gears to address their inept bargaining tactics instead of addressing this key piece of legislation. However, the nationwide immigration event, known as the March for Immigrant Dignity and Respect will still continue as planned on October 5. To learn more, please click here.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform’s Second Wind

I was encouraged to learn this week that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is introducing legislation to combine the comprehensive bill that passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in May with a bipartisan border-security bill from the House Homeland Security Committee. Both bills received bipartisan support but not enough support from the GOP leadership to bring it to the House floor for a vote. To answer this bureaucratic stalling, Pelosi has announced her strategy to bring comprehensive immigration reform back into the spotlight with her mash-up of the year’s most well-supported, bipartisan attempts at immigration reform.

Whether or not her bill will win any favors with the GOP leadership is dubious – to be honest, I don’t think it was really her end goal. I think her goal is much more strategic. Immigration reform is such a heated debate, it’s unlikely any singular proposed bill will win over the GOP leadership at this time and I trust she and her aides recognize that. It is more likely that her strategy is to smoke out the GOP leadership. From this point, the GOP can either reveal themselves as unwilling to act on immigration reform by continuing to keep all immigration reform bills off the floor or they can call one of these bills to a vote. Either way, the conversation on reform can shift to one of action or inaction by the GOP.

The most immediate benefit of her strategy is that it will renew news coverage for immigration reform. Pelosi's bill will debut (tentatively) on Oct.5th, which is now National Day of Action. On this day, rallies and marches for immigration reform will take place nationwide – in over 40 U.S. cities – to demand comprehensive immigration reform.The need for comprehensive immigration reform is real. Families across the nation are suffering and have suffered due to politics and inaction by our representatives.With the spotlight back on immigration reform, it is Pelosi’s hope, and mine as well, that Congress will take action and pass something comprehensive reform. The good news is that the GOP has promised to make immigration reform a priority. But until something other than border patrol measures gets to the House floor for a vote, I'd be cautious to believe them.

CIR WINNING

The American people are speaking and they’re saying “yes” to immigration reform. From both sides of the aisle, and all parts of the political spectrum, the left, the right, and the center are all coming out and registering their voices in support of immigration reform.  

Congressmen are actually listening as immigration advocates count 23 Republican members of Congress who have publicly come out in support of not just immigration reform for legal immigrants but a path to citizenship for current undocumented immigrants.

The Atlantic published a great article last week boldly exclaiming that Immigration reformers are winning in August. But despite the show of numbers for immigration reform, Roy Beck, executive director of the anti-immigration group NumbersUSA remains unconvinced that immigration reform will happen. He asserts that protests, rallies and shows of numbers do not necessarily correspond to votes in Congress. I have to say Beck is right – but only to a point. He is right when he says that our work is not done. Until a comprehensive immigration reform bill is signed into law, we can only be "winning" but we have not won. Even still, it is encouraging to see less and less people show up to anti-immigration rallies – like the sort Beck organizes, Turnout is so low that major anti-immigrant rallies have to be cut back and events have to be cancelled due to low participation. To this setback, Beck argues that his side does not need to come out in numbers in the same way as reform advocates since anti-reform advocates have the House in their pocket. Beck and his like minded supporters count on the House rejecting the Senate bill, which is the most immediate way comprehensive reform could be signed into law. 

The great thing about this fight for comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) is that even if the House rejects the Senate bill forthright – the call for CIR  is becoming so loud - the House cannot possibly disregard this call to action. In fact, the House is under increasing pressure to pass something immigration related as their first order of business, And like Beck, I have trust in the political process because at the end of the day, it is in their best interest as politicians to take note of the changing tide of public opinion - which is shown by show of numbers. After all, the same people most likely to be involved in the political process now are most likely going to stay involved during re-election time. 

BLURRED LINES

The need for a more distinct line between the role of local law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement  (ICE) agents is becoming more and more apparent. Pressure from advocacy groups to more strictly define the role of local law enforcement as their duties relate to undocumented immigrants is garnering some hopeful results with Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Cook County, Il, and Newark, NJ passing legislation to significantly limit the reach of ICE.

A recent civil rights lawsuit in New Orleans has brought attention to the unconstitutional practice of “excessive and unlawful custody” local police forces have taken to assist ICE beyond their duty to prevent crime and punish criminals. The New York Times reports that New Orleans Sherriff Marlin Gusman complied with an ICE request to detain two undocumented immigrants until ICE could come and take them  into custody. These two men were jailed at the time for minor offenses but were jailed for an additional 90+ days without a federal charge because of this ICE hold. The explicit limit for detaining someone for ICE is 48 hours – after which, the men should have been released. These men’s constitutional rights were clearly violated and in response to their case’s victory, New Orleans has opted to limit the role local law enforcement will play in future ICE detention cases.

California, recognizing this trend, is now considering a bill that would limit the role of local law enforcement in feeding inmates to ICE. Criminals charged for serious offenses such as felonies, would still be turned over for deportation, but others in jail for minor offenses would not be held on ICE’s behalf beyond the 48 hour maximum. I hope this legislation passes in California and I hope more legislation like this will surface soon in other states. Even an undocumented immigrant should not be detained for prolonged periods of time just because they are in the country without status if they are not criminals or if they only have minor offenses such as traffic offenses, which is most often the case. It’s a cruel and unusual punishment. Think about someone detained for90 days in jail for jaywalking. The punishment does not fit the crime.

We want local police officers to prioritize their efforts in a way that will make our communities safer and not to become an extension of ICE. 

PIECEMEAL APPROACH BY THE HOUSE MAY HASTEN DREAMERS’ LEGALIZATION AT COST OF COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

There is some good news to report this week on the immigration front:

The Huffington Post reported yesterday that 400,562 young people or 72% of the estimated total eligible for DACA, have applied and been approved for deferred action since it was approved last August.

In response to overwhelming public support for aiding the Dreamers, 2 House Republicans who voted against the DREAM Act in 2010 are working on a Dream Act-like bill, called the Kids Act that would legalize, not just defer the deportation of Dreamers.

Due to wide public support and the President’s action the case to legalize Dreamers is a done deal as it seems like Congress will be able to come together for their cause. The issue now is to make the case to legalize their parents which is a much tougher case to make. There is still a long road ahead for comprehensive immigration reform but as the case for Dreamers show, civic action and public support can play a substantial role in influencing policy makers.

As a recent Washington Post article notes, there is a danger in the Houses’ piecemeal approach to immigration reform as it could be possible that the GOP concession to legalizing Dreamers will come at a cost of killing attempts at comprehensive immigration reform for the remaining 11 million undocumented immigrants. This is why this strategy is problematic. We need comprehensive immigration reform and to strike while the iron is hot as there is great public support for it now.

CONGRESS’ RECESS BRINGS GREAT IMMIGRATION REFORM LOBBYING OPPORTUNITIES

The New York Times reports that immigration advocates see Congress’s 5-week summer recess as a crucial window to lobby the House to hold a vote for the comprehensive immigration bill that is currently tabled there. Should the House pursue its piecemeal approach to immigration reform, advocates fear issues like increasing border security will take precedence and leave the issue of a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. unresolved for a much longer time or leave the issue completely unresolved. This is unacceptable as deportations are increasing at a record pace every day.

Since a path to citizenship is included in the Senate’s comprehensive bill, immigration reform advocates are moving forward to launch several campaigns to get the House to vote on the Senate’s bill. One campaign that was both poignant and topical involved sending cantaloupes to more than 200 House members, with a note that said “This cantaloupe was picked by immigrants in California. You gave Steve King a vote. Give us a vote for citizenship.” In a speech last week, Steve King (R-IA), stereotyped immigrants as drug runners who taped marijuana to their calves making them the “size of cantaloupes.” This is not the first time that he made bigoted remarks.

Advocates also mentioned that if the Senate’s comprehensive bill were to be voted on in the House today, there would be enough bipartisan support to pass the bill. Therefore, advocates believe efforts to rally enough outcry from key constituent groups and the accompanying media coverage over the next 5 weeks can help pressure House GOP members and its leadership to act on this bill.

I want to encourage everyone to contact their Congress members in the month of August to support immigration reform, whether by calling their Washington D.C. office, local offices, writing letters or visiting with them if possible. Please do this as we need a final push to get the immigration reform bill passed!

HEAVY REPUBLICAN DONORS WROTE A LETTER TO CONGRESS TO SUPPORT IMMIGRATION REFORM

The New York Times reports that over 100 big name donors to the Republican Party have written a letter to Republican members of the House urging them to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

The letter says: "Immigrants are often entrepreneurial, family-minded and guided by faith. These are Republican values. Immigrants play key roles at every level of the American economy. From high-skill workers to seasonal laborers, from big-city neighborhoods to small-town main streets, immigrants help drive our economic growth. These are Republican issues. Republicans ought to be welcoming immigrants and be seen as doing so."

The effort was organized by Carlos Gutierrez, who was secretary of commerce under President George W. Bush and was a founder of a “super PAC,” Republicans for Immigration Reform.

It's great to start having pressure on these politicians from within. If they are all afraid to lose their seats maybe losing some donors for their re-election campaign will force them to do the right thing for this country and support immigration reform.

REP GUTIERREZ EXPLAINS HOW IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL GETS OUT OF THE HOUSE

In a very lengthy interview and opinion, the Washington Post talks to Rep. Gutierrez (D-IL), one of the influential House members on the immigration reform bill.
In short, Rep. Gutierrez explains that E-Verify is here to stay, and will be a part of a final bill. More enforcement for everyone.
He is optimistic about the passage of some form of DREAM Act with a pathway to citizenship for people who arrived here as children, even though it did not pass Congress in 2010.
Interesting read on one politician's take on the issue.

BOEHNER OPTIMISTIC ON IMMIGRATION BILL?

Who knew?
The New York Times blog wrote an op-ed piece on how House Speaker Boehner is all of a sudden optimistic about immigration reform. If that is really true - great!
On the other hand he does not want to pass anything close to the Senate bill - which sends a signal that he would not be supportive of reform. Perhaps if the House votes in favor of some immigration reform, however partial, it will advance somewhere in conference committee.

IMMIGRANTS ARE DRIVING THE HOUSING RECOVERY

CNN reports that the influx of immigrants into the United States has boosted the American economy by driving the housing market recovery.
U.S. Census Data suggests that immigrants have contributed approximately $3.7 trillion to the U.S. housing market. When there are more immigrants coming into the nation or a neighborhood, there is a higher demand for housing, which essentially renews local housing markets.
When immigrants stimulate neighborhoods, the local community prospers which in turn attracts U.S. native to it as well.
Because many immigrants look towards neighborhoods with low-cost housing, they are able to spur growth in once declining neighborhoods.
Immigration is good for the housing market recovery and economy as a whole.

NAPOLITANO RESIGNING

Surprising news this morning. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, one of the longest serving members of the President's Cabinet, announced this morning that she is resigning as of early September to accept a position as the head of the University of California system. No word yet on replacements. Conceivably, this could make it a little easier to negotiate an immigration reform bill as Secretary Napolitano has - unfairly in our view - been labeled as soft on immigration enforcement and has been the frequent target of criticism from Republicans.
It may also make it much more difficult for reform to pass the House, giving them the perfect excuse not to act because they do not know who will lead the agency.

WHERE DOES REFORM GO FROM HERE?

A general pessimism has settled over the pro-immigration community after the House GOP caucus failed to endorse a comprehensive Senate-ish approach to immigration reform after meeting to talk about dealing with immigration this year. But I’d argue that the news is a bit or a mix.
House Republican Leaders issued the following statement after the caucus meeting today:
Today House Republicans affirmed that rather than take up the flawed legislation rushed through the Senate, House committees will continue their work on a step-by-step, common-sense approach to fixing what has long been a broken system. The American people want our border secured, our laws enforced, and the problems in our immigration system fixed to strengthen our economy. But they don’t trust a Democratic-controlled Washington, and they’re alarmed by the president’s ongoing insistence on enacting a single, massive, Obamacare-like bill rather than pursuing a step-by-step, common-sense approach to actually fix the problem. The president has also demonstrated he is willing to unilaterally delay or ignore significant portions of laws he himself has signed, raising concerns among Americans that this administration cannot be trusted to deliver on its promises to secure the border and enforce laws as part of a single, massive bill like the one passed by the Senate.
So we know that the leadership is not a fan of a comprehensive bill and wants individual bills. And they emphasized that they want border security measures before a legalization program starts.
Other statements that emerged today from people like Raul Labrador and Daryl Issa made it sound like a legalization program is not off the table, but there should not be a special path to citizenship with the exception of DREAMers.
So while many are assuming immigration reform is dead, I can see the House – after the August recess – considering a legalization bill that would create a legal status similar to the RPI status in the Senate bill but which would not begin until after various border security triggers are met. There would only be a special path to citizenship for DREAMers but others could eventually get green cards through existing green card categories after more triggers are hit.
The question would then be whether Democrats would consider such a plan or simply ignore the House. Politically, the Democrats can do nothing and reap major rewards down the road since no matter what GOP members may be saying, the WILL be blamed for this failure and they will eventually lose the House when gerrymandering can no longer disguise demographic realities. On the other hand, Democrats could take a deal like this and wait until they've retaken the House to get a better program. And they WILL retake the House. Even if an immigration bill passes, the GOP's handling of the issue has effectively branded them as the anti-immigrant party and that is suicidal in 21st century America.

USCIS ISSUES Q&A TO ACCEPT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE FILINGS

USCIS just issued a Questions and Answers following SCOTUS' ruling that DOMA was unconstitutional. USCIS says that same-sex married couples may file a Form I-130 to petition for a spouse and can no longer  be automatically denied as a result of the same-sex nature of the marriage.
If the couple was married in a U.S. state that recognizes same-sex marriage, or in a foreign jurisdiction that allows it, even though they are living in a state that does not recognizes same-sex marriage the couple can still file the petition. In evaluating the petition, as a general matter, USCIS looks to the law of the place where the marriage took place when determining whether it is valid for immigration law purposes.

ISSA'S SKILLS ACT PASSES HOUSE JUDICIARY

Great news!
The House Judiciary Committee has just passed the Supplying Knowledge Based Immigrants and Lifting Levels of STEM Visa Act (SKILLS Act), sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) along with 20 co-sponsors.
The SKILLS Act would nearly triple the H-1B cap and also increase employment-based green card numbers and add 4,000 immigrant visas for health care occupations, including nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and other allied health care workers who work in rural or undeserved areas.
Unlike the current situation where these employees are subject to 6-7 year backlogs in the EB-3 category, these additional  immigrant visas are immediately available and not subject to retrogression.
This is the first step toward a House comprehensive immigration bill like the one passed in the Senate. However, the House is expected to debate the Senate bill and change many of its provisions. The House may administratively decide to have several smaller bills, rather than one large immigration bill. We hopefully await and see.

The Essential Economy

Please read this great op-ed on immigration reform by my friend Todd Stein:

Immigration Reform: AJC.Com

The Essential Economy

By

Sam Zamarripa and Todd Stein

Immigration reform is vital to America’s economy. That simple reality is driving four Republican senators, some of whom are the most conservative members of Congress, to champion the immigration reform bill now being debated on the floor of the US Senate.
Sen. Marco Rubio recently wrote that an immigration reform bill that includes bringing millions of undocumented aliens out of the underground economy “will improve the labor market, increase entrepreneurship and create jobs, leading to a net increase in economic growth.”
For Georgia, the economic stakes are high because of what immigration reform could do to sustain and boost Georgia’s “Essential Economy,” defined by a recent report by Georgia Tech’s Innovation Services Group as the goods and services that are essential to our way of life and that have to be produced right here in Georgia.
A significant percentage of the approximately 440,000 people in the state illegally makeup the workforce that drives Georgia’s essential economy.
That workforce includes the men and women on the frontlines of Georgia’s agriculture industry, harvesting crops, picking produce, and staffing the state’s many poultry plants. It also includes the hotel maids and restaurant workers, the backbone of the hospitality sector that makes Georgia an attractive place to visit or to start or relocate a business.
The essential economy workforce is made up of truck drivers, warehouse personnel and construction workers who have turned manufacturing, logistics, and trade into three of Georgia’s most promising prospects for long-term economic growth. And it includes landscapers as well as nursing home attendants and personal care assistants who are in increasing demand as the state’s population ages.
According to the Georgia Tech report, the essential economy contributed $49 billion in 2010 to Georgia’s gross domestic product and its workforce contributed more than $110 million in sales tax revenue through purchases of goods and services in 2011. Despite the national recession that began in 2008, the essential economy has remained a steady and often times growing part of the economies in Georgia’s 159 counties for the past nine years.
These numbers illustrate that the future of Georgia’s economy depends on sustaining and growing the essential economy, which in turn, creates the foundation for all the jobs in the aspirational economy – the high-skilled, high-wage jobs that Georgia continuously tries to create and attract.
The alternatives to immigration reform – maintaining the status quo or trying to deport the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally – are both impractical and potentially disastrous for the state’s economy.
The status quo does not work in part because Georgia’s population, like the rest of the country is aging. More than 60 percent of the state’s population will be more than 60 years old by 2030, according to the Department of Human Services.
As Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican pushing immigration reform, recently explained, “Unless there is another baby boom in America, the only way to bring new workers into the country is through legal immigration – hi-tech, low-tech, and everything in between. We will be cutting our throat economically if we don’t improve our immigration system to have more legal immigration.”
As for deportation, which Sen. Rubio explains is not a practical solution, many of Georgia’s business leaders can tell you that it is the worst thing we do could to the essential economy. Georgia learned that lesson with House Bill 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011. After the state legislature passed that law, approximately 40 percent of the state’s agriculture labor needs went unmet as unpicked crops rotted in the field, costing Georgia businesses more than $140 million.
 Republicans championing immigration reform in the Senate have been instrumental in identifying bipartisan solutions to challenging issues like improving border security and addressing the inadequacies and dysfunction of our current immigration system. But they have also kept their focus on the issue Americans say they care the most about – improving the nation’s economy.
One of the best ways we can achieve a stronger economy in Georgia is to support bi-partisan immigration reform in Washington that gives business owners and their employees certainty about their futures, and ensures that our essential economy has what it needs most to thrive – a robust and vibrant workforce.

Sam Zamarripa, a former Georgia state senator, is founder and co-president of  The Essential Economy Council.  Todd Stein, who served as majority counsel on the  U.S . Senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs, is a lawyer with Kitchens New Cleghorn LLC and a lecturer at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech.

7-11 FRANCHISEES ALLEGE IMMIGRANT FRAUD

Federal agents seized the franchise rights of 14 Seven-Eleven stores and announced criminal charges against 9 people responsible for bringing undocumented immigrants from Pakistan and the Philippines to work in these stores, paying them a fraction of required wages for working up to 100 hours per week or more and putting them in employer housing from which they could not escape.
The allegations state that these owners earned $180 Million in this scheme, with stores located in New York City, Virginia and other places. The feds say they used identities and social security numbers of legal U.S. residents for this, as a way to avoid detection for over 10 years.
If true, horrible and ugly indeed. It is sad to see how immigrants could be brutally exploited by unscrupulous people.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM?

Courtesy of Greg Siskind: It was a good day for immigration reform. 15 Republicans joined a solid block of every Democrat to pass a cloture vote 67-27 for the Hoeven-Corker substitute immigration bill - a key test vote on immigration reform. Today's vote s a pretty good indicator of what will happen on Thursday on the final vote in the Senate on the immigration bill. Six Senators couldn't make the vote because of flight delays. Two were definite Democrat votes meaning that 70 votes is a real possibility.

I mentioned earlier that I was able to watch the proceedings from the Senate gallery. Though I've made dozens of trips to DC over the years to work on immigration issues, this was actually my first time in the gallery for one of the two chambers in the Capitol. The atmosphere was somewhat party-like as the Senators gathered for a vote that turned out to be more lopsided than many would have initially imagined.

It's a pretty sure bet that the final vote on a Senate bill will come on Thursday. But there could still be more amendment votes. Senator Corker told reporters this afternoon that a deal for 10 amendments to be offered by each side might be considered. No word yet on which amendments might make the cut. Things are moving on the House side as well. The House Judiciary Committee is set to mark up the E-Verify and high-skilled worker bills. Those bills and the other enforcement bills that have already passed. This week we could also see the much-awaited House bipartisan bill (written by the Gang of 7) finally be introduced. It's writers clam to be finished with negotiating the framework.Whether that bill will be considered is still not known. Speaker Boehner says he would like a bill passed on the floor by the end of July. That would then lead to the House and Senate setting up a conference committee to try and hammer out a compromise. So there are many steps remaining before the bill would make its way to the President's desk for his signature.

ALL GEORGIA COMPANIES WITH 11 EMPLOYEES OR MORE MUST E-VERIFY ON JULY 1

Pursuant to HB87, as of July 1, Georgia companies with 11 employees or more will be required to enroll in E-Verify, the federal online system to determine the immigration status of newly hired workers, in order to maintain their business license in the state.
Larger companies with over 100 employees were already required to participate as of last year, but as of next week all companies, other than the smallest with 10 employees or less, will have to participate in E-Verify.
This will not help to curb illegal immigration as proponents of HB87 would argue, but that now law in Georgia.

CBO SAYS IMMIGRATION REFORM WOULD CUT BUDGET DEFICITS

The Congressional Budget Office or CBO, issued an analysis of the Senate bill S. 744 Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, saying that immigration reform as suggested in the bill would have a positive impact on the federal budget, and pay for itself .
The CBO estimates that the bill would increase the population of the U.S. by 10.4 million people and increase federal direct spending by $262 billion over the next decade, but revenue would jump by $459 billion because of additional collections of income taxes and payroll taxes due to an increase in the legal work force in the U.S. That means the bill would decrease federal budge deficits by $197 billion over this 10-year period. Beyond 2023, immigration reform would increase the number of people eligible for federal benefits such as Social Security and Medicare. But CBO expects the additional revenues generated by additional workers in the U.S. would outpace this extra spending. It projects that immigration reform would reduce federal deficits by $700 billion over the 2024-2033 period.
This is good news because it is clear that the arguments against the bill  are not economically viable.