The good, bad and even the ugly – of immigration plan

By Allen Wernick

From the Daily News

The debate over immigration reform has begun in earnest. The proposal by the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” U.S. Senators for comprehensive reform was a great step toward justice for undocumented immigrants. Obama has signed on, and some say he supports a more immigrant-friendly approach. Let’s look at what’s good, bad and ugly about the proposals.

The Good – Finally, a path to U.S. citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Millions will benefit. They will undergo a criminal background check, pay their taxes, pay a fine and learn English. Undocumented immigrants will get “probationary” legal status with employment authorization. Then, at some point, they will qualify for permanent residence and eventually U.S. citizenship.

Also good is the ‘Gang’s’ proposal for a special, faster path to citizenship for Dreamers – undocumented youth. It will be modeled on President Obama’s program for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, benefitting children who came to the United States before age 16. Dreamers will get permanent residence, a green card, in just two years if they meet college education or military service requirements.

The proposals envision reducing backlogs for family and employment-based immigrants. These reforms will diminish the need for immigrants to come here unlawfully. Most undocumented immigrants come here to work or to join family members. Quota backlogs mean waits of a few years to decades before immigrants can get permanent legal status. As I have long argued, quotas make no sense. They cause confusion and frustration for family immigrants. As for employers, if they can prove that they cannot find a qualified U.S. worker to do a particular job, what sense does it make for them to wait years for a foreign worker to get permanent residence?

Finally, in “The Good” category, some say President Obama wants immigration reform to include petitioning for same-sex spouses. That will be a tough one to win. But the Supreme Court may nullify barriers to same-sex spousal petitioning this year. What Congress does on the issue may become irrelevant.

The Bad – “The Bad” I refer to provisions that benefit neither the country nor immigrants but will likely be part of any compromise. Immigrants won’t like them, but they may have to live with them if they want the “The Good” parts of immigration reform.

The Bad starts with harsher penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers and requiring that all employers use the USCIS electronic verification system, E-Verify. Civil libertarians rightly criticize E-Verify as requiring a national information database of all individuals residing in the United States. That’s something most Americans find distasteful. However, to get immigration reform, advocates will need to accept E-Verify as part of the package.

And what’s with this plan for more unmanned drones patrolling the border? Unlawful border crossings are at the lowest point in more than a decade. Deportations are up. What more do restrictionists want? Yet like E-Verify, increased border control efforts will necessarily be part of any reform.

Finally, The Bad includes an exit verification program for non-immigrants. The idea is that visitors and other non-immigrants will be required to register their departure. If they don’t, immigration enforcement will assume they are still here and go after them. Given that millions of non-immigrants come here every year, carrying out the entry-exit program will be a nightmare. Still, expect to see it in whatever bill passes Congress.

The Ugly – Most troubling of the Gang of Eight proposals is the suggestion that probationary residents will be allowed to apply for permanent status only after “enforcement measures” have been completed. The plan is to have a committee decide when that goal has been reached. This “trigger” feature leaves open the possibility that the probationary residents will never get green cards, never qualify for U.S. citizenship. It ensures that the contentious debate over immigration will continue for years to come. For legalization to be successful, it must be simple and straightforward. The Gang of Eight trigger fails this test. President Obama is said to oppose the trigger. The trigger will be one of the most hotly contested provisions of immigration legislation.

Finally, the Senators want to punish undocumented immigrants by making them “get to the back of the line” for visas. Under this plan, no probationary resident will get a green card until everyone who has a petition pending gets his or her green card. That might not be so bad if Congress substantially increases the quota and reduces the backlog. As the system works now, some family-based immigrants will wait 24 years or longer to get green cards. Does anyone think making millions of undocumented immigrants wait 24 years to get a green card, then five more to get U.S. citizenship, makes any sense?

Allan Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New York’s Citizenship Now! project.