Are you looking for Resources on S. 744: Senate Immigration Bill?
This week, the Senate passed a landmark immigration reform bill by a 68-32 vote. Immigration reform is NOT yet a done deal–we now have to fight to pass immigration reform through the House of Representatives, then conference the two bills together. But the Senate bill–while it is a compromise full of unnecessary and overstrict border measures–is full of provisions that would substantially improve the lives of immigrants. Here’s a short list of some of them:
- Path to citizenship for vast majority of the 11 million!!!
- While in RPI status, immigrants can work, travel and live without fear of deportation
- Reunification of many families separated by deportation
- 5 year path to citizenship for Dreamers
- DACA recipients will have RPI status expedited
- Farm workers will get a ‘blue card’ and will be on a 5 year path to citizenship
- Expedited path for those already here in a temporary status (TPS/DED)
- Families that have spent years, even decades waiting for their turn in line will finally be reunited
- Spouses and children of LPRs would be considered immediate family members and therefore would no longer be subject to arbitrary visa caps.
- Allows DREAMers to become citizens through military service
- Immigrants on the path to citizenship can pay fees in installments
- Individuals with final removal orders may be eligible for RPI status
- Beacons for those toiling at the border
- New temporary worker programs that protects immigrant workers and American labor force
- All workers, including RPIs, will be treated equally by the tax system and eligible for tax credits
- Spouses of H-1B holders will now be able to work
- Immigration Judges will have some flexibility to consider individual factors when making decisions
- Children and the mentally disabled will be eligible for court appointed counsel in immigration proceedings
- Removal of filing deadline for asylum seekers
- Encourages immigrant integration through more targeted programs and foundations to help legal immigrants become citizens
- Inclusion of POWER Act, bolsters legal remedies to immigrant workers who are fired in violation of labor laws
- Strict limits on solitary confinement in immigration detention facilities
- Provides immigration status to certain battered spouses and children
- Prohibit ICE from conducting raids/arrests outside schools, churches, hospitals and other “sensitive locations”
- Makes it substantially easier for both LPRs and non-LPRs to qualify for cancellation of removal, and removes the cap on the number of cancellations that DOJ/DHS can grant in a year.
- Protects the ability of W visaholders (essential workers) to change jobs.
- Ensures access to affordable housing for battered immigrants.
- Encourages alternatives to immigration detention
- More protections for workers recruited abroad
- Stricter penalties for notario fraud
- Requires a use-of-force policy among all DHS agencies
- Future work-visa holders will be able to self-petition for green cards rather than relying on employers to decide whether they can call America home for good
