tags: , , America’s Voice Research on Immigration Reform

Highlights: Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act

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Updated September 30, 2010 | Download PDF

Highlights of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act

  • Requires undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as of September 30, 2010 to register with the government, learn English, and pay fines and taxes on their way to becoming American citizens (the Lawful Prospective Immigrant (LPI) program)

  • Implements certain enforcement “triggers” and immigration backlog reduction measures before LPI visa holders can transition from temporary status to permanent residency

  • Incorporates the DREAM Act, AgJOBS, and the Uniting American Families Act

  • Updates the family-based immigration system so that close relatives can be together; supports immigrant integration programs

  • Promotes effective and accountable enforcement by requiring DHS to track temporary visa holders and impose sanctions on countries whose citizens fail to comply; expanding penalties for passport and immigration fraud, gang activity, and other acts; implementing humane detention standards and secure alternatives to detention; working with border communities, and the governments of Mexico and Canada, to fight crime; and re-stating federal control over immigration enforcement

  • Ensures that employers can no longer hire undocumented workers, by requiring them to participate in a national work authorization verification system within five years and creating tamper-proof, fraud-resistant social security and work authorization cards

  • Prioritizes workers’ rights by implementing protections in the employment authorization system and employment-based visa programs (H-2A, H-2B, H-2C, H-1B, L-1)

  • Establishes a Standing Commission on Immigration, Labor Markets, and National interest to evaluate labor and economic conditions and set quotas based on labor need, not politics

  • Creates the structure for a new nonimmigrant visa program (H-2C), with portability and a path to permanent residency, that addresses gaps in existing worker programs that have led to undocumented migration and undermined labor rights