The Basics of the Current State of Immigration Reform in America
A Cheat Sheet to the current Immigration Debate
The immigration debate, especially as of late, can be tremendously confusing to the casual observer. There seems to be so much news and action lately that it's difficult to find out what's happening in any coherent way. This article should help!
The current immigration debate sparked at the end of 2005 when the U.S. House of Representatives passed what is now dubbed the Sensenbrenner-King Bill, or H.R. 4437. This bill got out of the House so quickly largely in part to the political maneuvering of House Speaker and Illinois Representative Dennis Hastert. You can read about the basics of H.R. 4437 in this fact sheet (it's in .pdf form).
H.R. 4437 is the worst immigration bill imaginable: it criminalizes immigrants and seeks to make all forms of "aiding and abetting" immigrants a felony. This means priests, doctors and teachers who help undocumented immigrants all become felons. Pretty scary stuff.
When word about H.R. 4437 got out, it "kicked the sleeping giant," so to speak. First in Chicago, then in L.A., and then across the nation, immigrants began marching by the hundreds of thousands to protest the effort on the part of the House of Representatives to deny America's rich immigrant roots. The political energy created by the mega-marches around the country helped convince the U.S. Senate that the House "solution" was not going to work. Instead, they passed a vastly better (but still overly punitive in certain ways) bill now called the "Hagel/Martinez" bill, which provides a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for more than 5 years and have no criminal record. You can read more about the "Hagel/Maritnez" bill here (also in .pdf form).
Over the summer of 2006, we saw a vicious move on the House's part (Speaker Hastert being the primary actor here) to make immigrants into the political football of the current election season. The House held a series of "Immigration Hearings," faux hearings that are meant to generate support for anti-immigrant legislation, around the country and now want to capitalize on their political circus road-show. You can read a basic fact sheet about why we oppose the House hearings here (in .doc form).
Recently, in attempt to skirt their responsibility to enact real comprehensive immigration reform, Congress passed the "Fence Bill," which was signed by the President not so long ago. You can read our statement about the "Fence Bill" here.
So where are we now? Immigrants have been turned into the political football of this election season. You can see the anti-immigrant mailers that have gone out this year here.
Q: Where can I get more information about the current state of immigration reform?
A: The National Immigration Forum is a wearhouse of information about the current state of immigration reform. ICIRR also put together a list of common questions about Comprehensive Immigration Reform which you can find here.
Q: Where can I find information to dispel common myths about immigrants and immigration?
A: The National Immigration Forum has put together a great fact sheet about this here.
Q: What can I do?
A: Write Speaker Hastert! Tell him that you don't support his tactics and that we need a workable solution around Comprehensive Immigration Reform that unites families and provides a path to legalization for the undocumented.
FYI: you can get continuing updates and commentary on the immigration debate on our "Immigration Debate Blog," with ICIRR Policy Director, Fred Tsao.