Re the Case of Huck Gee

I’ve been reading about the case of Huck Gee (http://savehuck.com) facing deportation for selling a small quantity of marijuana many years ago. Here are my thoughts.

Huck Gee is facing the wrath of the immigration authorities due to a 1996 change in the immigration laws enacted by Congress and signed by then President Bill Clinton. Known as the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA), made it harder for permanent residents convicted of certain crimes, even those who had rehabilitated from being forgiven for their offenses.

Fortunately for Mr. Gee, he may be able to beat the rap. While the law forbids an immigration judge from granting relief from deportation for anyone convicted of what the law calls an "aggravated felony" (and in the bizarro world of immigration law, even some misdemeanors are considered aggravated felonies), Gee’s having plead guilty to his crime before the law was passed in 1996 may save him.

Selling drugs, even a small amount is an aggravated felony. Gee’s out is found in the U.S. Supreme Court case INS v. St. Cyr, 121 S.Ct. 2271, 2293 (2001). In St. Cyr, the court held that a permanent resident who had PLEAD GUILTY (as opposed to having been convicted after trial) can apply for what is known as "212(c) relief. The 212(c) law allowed individuals with certain criminal records avoid deportation if they have been here legally seven years or more. Congress repealed 212(c) in 1996. However, the Supreme Court in St. Cyr restored 212(c) for permanent residents who plead guilty before Congress repealed the law. The theory was that a person pleading guilty with 212(c) relief still existed may have done so thinking that he or she could have beat the deportation charge.

While I must be cautious since all I know about the case is what I have read on Gee’s blog, given his many years without a criminal conviction and his obvious rehabilitation, Gee has a good chance of staying here and if he wants, to get U.S. citizenship. As he points out, this will be a lengthy process, and given the costs of lawyers these days, an expensive one. Still, expect to see him around.

Iowa State Legislature on the Right Track

The Des Moines Register website reports today on some interesting things happening in the Iowa state legislature regarding immigration.

A member of the "New Iowans Committee" was quoted saying "the Legislature must realize that helping kids learn English may be one of the best things we can do to create a high-wage economy for the Iowa worker of tomorrow." I am happy to see them on the right track.

Read more here:
"Legislative committee wrestles with immigration"

Pointed Barbed Wire, Still Missing the Point

A blogger over at the California Conservative writes today lauding the purported end of the so-called "catch and release" policy on the California-Mexico border. What the author and others with this stance neglect to mention is that as long as there is a market demand for this type of labor, we will still have thousands of people attempting to immigrate. It’s true that unlawful immigration is bad for immigrants and bad for our country. But enforcement as a solution is a dead end so long as the the difference between what a worker can earn abroad is so much lower than he or she can earn here.

A better solution, given the growing need for low-skilled labor here, is an orderly program for immigrant labor. This would go much farther to curbing our immigration "problem" than the solution that the California Conservative suggests in his allusion to the "landmines, barbed wire, armed guards, and concrete wall[s]" of communist Berlin. I don't know about you, but a country with that type of border policy is not one in which I'd want to live.

Read more here:
"U.S. To End 'Catch and Release' at Mexican Border"

More on Immigration Reform

The debate in Congress over immigration reform is intensifying. The Republican Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania, is circulating his proposal for immigration reform. Unlike President George Bush’s first immigration reform proposal, Spector’s plan rejects contains no "path to permanent residence" for undocumented workers. And, Spector rejects another important feature of the Bush plan: the right of undocumented workers here to change to temporary worker status without leaving the United States. Under Spector’s plan, the USCIS would require undocumented workers to return to their home countries before to apply for a visa before returning to the United States as temporary workers.

Would undocumented workers in the United States participate in a program like Spector’s? Not a chance. U.S. consulates abroad are notoriously arbitrary when considering visa applications. Few workers will want to risk getting denied a visa, then being stuck abroad.

Immigration reform will be much talked about prior to the 2006 Congressional elections but it is unlikely that an immigration reform bill will pass Congress until at least 2007. President Bush appears to be backing down from supporting a path to permanent residence for undocumented workers. Without a permanent residence provision, immigrant communities, including the Mexican community, which Bush is trying to court, will oppose the legislation, viewing it as a plan to exploit immigrant labor. A temporary worker plan where workers must return home, as proposed by Senator Spector is so unworkable, that both immigrants and the business community will likely oppose it. Finally, many in the Republican party oppose any plan that gives any benefit to undocumented workers until improved enforcement is in place, the so-called "two phase" approach to immigration reform.

More to come.

More H-1B visas?

For another good article on Congressional efforts to increase the number of visas available for H-1B temporary professional workers, go to http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1530589,00050001.htm.

Thoughts on the Green Card Lottery

The DV-2007, Diversity Visa lottery, known also as the green card lottery, is a creature of Congressional efforts to whiten-up the color of immigration to the United States. The first lottery in the modern series, was known as the "Irish Lottery," because the law leaned so much to granting visas to Irish nationals. At that time, many people - including myself - were sympathetic to Irish concerns about immigration. The Irish economy had tanked, unemployment there was over-the-top, and large numbers of undocumented Irish were suffering under the same exploitation faced by other immigrants. Then, advocates for these other, also suffering immigrants, forced Congress to broaden the eligibility rules to include natives of most countries. Excluded now are only natives of countries whose natives received more than 50,000 immigrant visas in the five years prior.

I opposed the Irish lottery and those that followed. I’m pleased that many of my readers will get green cards under the program. But the green card lottery is a poor substitute for liberalizing the rules for lawful immigration. The lottery tells the world that the United States has thrown up its hands in desperation about who deserves the privilege of immigrating to the United States. We can do better.

More H-1B visas?

Congress is considering increasing the number of H-1B visas. Because of the yearly cap, no visas in this category will be available until October 2006. Now's the time for employers to implore their congressional representatives to increase the cap. For info on contacting your representative regarding immigration reform and any other issue that concerns you, try the League of Women Voters "Take Action" website, http://takeaction.lwv.org/lwv/dbq/officials/.

Immigration Reform

Senate Majority Leader Frist and friends announced a push for immigration reform next year. So that means some form of temporary or permanent worker program for undocumented immigrants, right? Not! Immigration reform is unlikely until after the 2006 congressional elections. Even then, legalization of undocumented workers will be tough to get. Unless the economy picks up drastically or the Congress changes radically, legalization is just too controversial to get majority support from Congress. Genuine reform will take a while. The 1986 amnesty was based on legislation first introduced in 1974.

Fee Alert/Interesting Documentary

Fees Are Higher Now

USCIS fees went up today. From now on, send in appications and petitions only with the new fees. For more info, go to the USCIS website, http://uscis.gov/.

PBS Documentary

Check out the last episode of the PBS series on immigrants. I've found them a little slow, but interesting nonetheless. For more info go to http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/.