COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM
What’s In That Bill on Capitol Hill?
An Analysis by Andrew Riley, CIO’s Public Policy Director

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Want to know more about the proposed Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation? Come to CIO next Friday evening!
First Friday – May 3, 2013 at 6:00 PM
Center for Intercultural Organizing
700 N Killingsworth Street
Register Here: https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/504/personal2.asp?formid=meet&c=6242876
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When the Senate’s so-called “Gang of 8″ introduced an immigration reform bill last week, CIO’s Public Policy Director Andrew Riley began reading the 844 page proposal. He crafted this analysis—the Good, the Bad, and the Downright Dehumanizing—to offer a quick read to those who want to know what’s in the bill. “The top level message, to my mind, is this: although this act certainly moves in the right direction by offering a path to citizenship for undocumented folks and DREAMers, and moving to protect immigrants’ civil liberties, the focus on enforcement and border security is disturbing, to say the least,” explains Riley.

The law essentially does 3 things: 1) steps up internal and external immigration enforcement, 2) provides a path to legalization for (some) undocumented individuals and 3) reforms the guest worker and visa systems in a pretty radical way (including doing away with diversity visas). Of course, there are a lot of details not included here. Please attend CIO’s First Friday event next week to learn more!

The Good

Merely submitting an application for Registered Provisional Immigrant Status (RPIS, the new immigration category created to allow currently undocumented folks to establish legal presence and work authorization) or a “Blue Card” (agricultural worker status) gives individuals temporary lawful presence and allows them to keep working while their application is being processed. That’s good for workers, for families, and for all of our communities, and gives some protection from deportation. The proposed law also allows individuals who are denied RPIS to file amended applications, which allows them to correct any oversights or missing information. It also establishes clearer procedures for the federal government to work with and within border communities in culturally-competent and culturally-appropriate ways.

The proposal prohibits racial profiling in the name of immigration enforcement, and establishes an affirmative training requirement for immigration law enforcement officers on civil and human rights. CIO believes a ban on profiling and comprehensive training of this kind should be a cornerstone of immigration reform. “We appreciate the inclusion of a ban on racial profiling,” says Riley. “At the same time, the ban as written doesn’t go nearly far enough. First, it confines itself to race and ethnicity, while much of the profiling which occurs in an immigration context occurs on the basis of religion and national origin, both of which – among other categories – should be explicitly protected. Additionally, the exceptions and loopholes carved out in the ban are substantial, and may well render it ineffective in practice.”

We were pleased to see that bill includes a version of the DREAM Act which, while still restrictive (requiring folks to have had RPIS for 5 years), is a step in the right direction for DREAMers, and allows Deferred Action recipients to adjust their status.

Privacy protections have been included, which would shield applicants’ personal information and protect employers from liability with respect to immigration law. In addition, the proposal expands the U Visa program for victims of domestic or sexual violence, a vital visa program needed to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our communities.

The funding stream for eligible organizations to assist with immigration legal services will be a key provision in ensuring these new immigration procedures are implemented.

The Bad

Immigrants with RPIS can’t adjust their status until draconian enforcement mechanisms are put into place: a fence is constructed along the US-Mexico border and a new electronic employment verification system (a la E-Verify) is in place nationwide. “The bill makes laws against employing undocumented workers far more restrictive, and once again pushing us down the path of adopting a national employment verification system (E-Verify),” explains Riley. “As with so many other enforcement provisions, the E-Verify program is about punishing immigrants, not about fixing the conditions which lead to immigration.”

That, in addition to the 13-year waiting period between RPIS application and naturalization, means that this law fails to provide a clear and easy path to citizenship for immigrants already in the United States.

The requirement that individuals remain continually employed, save for short, 60-day periods, is unnecessarily onerous, especially in an economy still recovering from recession. In addition, the $1,000 fine assessed to every RPIS applicant (and the $100 assessed to blue card applicants) is similarly restrictive, as is the separate fine imposed when they apply for an adjustment of status.

Denying RPIS recipients and individuals with “Blue Card” status basic public benefits is callous, cruel, and denies individuals and families vital access to our social safety net. Similarly, denying RPIS recipients access to the Affordable Care Act runs counter to the goal of ensuring that EVERYONE has access to high-quality, affordable health care and endangers public health.

The bill entirely redesigns the system by which individuals apply for immigrant visas. The previous Diversity Visa (lottery) system has been abolished as have most classifications of permanent immigration visas, in favor of a merit-based system which assigns applicants points on the basis of their age, education level, work experience, English fluency, and a host of other factors. Immigrants are “objectively” scored. CIO believes that ending the Diversity Visa Program– which has admittedly had its problems–and replacing it with a merit-based point system will unfairly disadvantage many immigrants. Further, taking away this revenue source will likely result in higher fees on all USCIS applicants and favor immigrants with privilege over those without.

Says Riley, “By prioritizing narrow definitions of educational attainment and work within the formal labor sector, the new system creates specific challenges for low-wage workers and women, who disproportionately work in settings not recognized as ‘work’ for the purposes of merit points.”

Similarly, the bill itself doesn’t nothing to rectify the significant disparities experienced by LGBT immigrants; as we know, obtaining a partnership visa for a spouse or partner of the same sex is almost impossible in the current system, and the federal government should work to include ALL of our families, not just a few.

Finally, the bill reauthorizes the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program and “Operation Stonegarden,” thus continuing the partnership between immigration authorities and local law enforcement, which has had disastrous consequences for our communities nationwide. Police-ICE collaboration must end, in all its forms.

The Dehumanizing

The entirety of Title I of the bill is dedicated to border enforcement, the whole sum of which is to demonize immigrants, particularly those coming across the US-Mexico border. The act mandates that we spend $6.5 billion on enforcement, hire 3,500 new Border Patrol agents, begin surveilling our borders with unmanned aerial drones, confer with the Department of Defense to develop best practices around immigration enforcement, and even goes so far as to specify a quota for the Arizona area, the federal government prosecute 210 individual per DAY for immigration infractions (that amounts to almost 50,000 per year).

An overwhelming focus on enforcement both ignores the reasons why immigration without documentation occurs– among other things, a complicated visa system which disadvantages certain regions at the expense of others (Latin America and Africa vs. Europe), long immigration wait times, the exigencies war and famine, predatory economic policies, “free” trade agreements, US foreign policy, etc.–and advances an anti-immigrant narrative.

For more information on this bill, please attend CIO’s Friday Forum next week!
First Friday – May 3, 2013 at 6:00 PM
Center for Intercultural Organizing
700 N Killingsworth Street
Register Here: https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/504/personal2.asp?formid=meet&c=6242876

Dear CIO friends & family,

The current session of the Oregon Legislature is about half over for the year. We’ve been working hard to make sure that our elected officials are passing smart, fair, equitable policies, and we want to provide you an update on CIO’s priority bills. If you have any questions about these bills (or any others that you’ve heard of over the course of the year), feel free to call our Public Policy Director, Andrew Riley, at (503) 287-4117, extension 106, or email him at andrew@interculturalorganizing.org.

End Profiling Act (Senate Bill 560): SB 560 has been CIO’s top priority this year. The bill would give our communities tools to stop profiling by holding law enforcement accountable. Unfortunately, the bill didn’t receive a hearing by the Legislature’s deadline, and it won’t move forward this year. On a positive note, though, CIO and our partners generated hundreds of calls, emails, and in-person visits to elected officials in Salem, and the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Prozanski has agreed to hold an informational hearing on the bill before the session ends. Stay tuned – we’ll be asking you to join us in Salem when we finalize the date!

Tuition Equity (House Bill 2787): CIO’s second major priority this year was Tuition Equity, a bill to allow all Oregon high school graduates to pay in-state tuition at our state’s universities, regardless of their documentation status. For too long, kids were denied access to college simply because they were undocumented. Thanks to the hard work of CIO’s members and our partners, Governor Kitzhaber signed the bill into law earlier this month! Our universities are starting to put the bill into practice: check out these pages from University of Oregon and Oregon State University for more.

Data Equity (HB 2134): we’ve partnered with our friends over at the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO) to pass a bill which requires the state to collect better data on the people using our public assistance programs, like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, nutrition assistance, the Oregon Health Plan, and so on). By collecting more detailed information on race, ethnicity, language, and disability status, the state can better meet the needs of our diverse immigrant & refugee communities. The bill passed the Oregon House with unanimous support, and we’re waiting to get a hearing in the Senate Health Care Committee. We expect this bill to advance in early May.

Cultural Competency (HB 2611): since 2011, CIO has proudly joined with organizations like the Urban League of Portland, Oregon Action, and the Oregon Health Equity Alliance to ensure that all of our doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals have the expertise they need to work with people of color, immigrants, and refugees in culturally competent, culturally appropriate ways. This bill passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support, and is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Health Care Committee.

Inclusionary Zoning (HB 2890): this bill repeals a state ban on “Inclusionary Zoning,” a tool used all over the country to create more affordable, accessible housing, and to ensure that everyone in our communities has a place to live which meets the needs of their family. Unfortunately, the bill will not move forward this session, although Speaker of the House Tina Kotek has committed to working with a diverse group of organizations and advocates to address this issue in the future.

Ending Section 8 Discrimination (HB 2639): too often, individuals who have received housing assistance under the Section 8 program have a hard time finding property managers who will even consider their application to rent. This bill would help end that discrimination, and give everyone a fair shot at finding quality housing. This bill is in the Ways & Means Committee, and will likely move forward before the end of the session.

Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights (HB 2672): last, but certainly not least, CIO has endorsed a bill which would protect domestic workers, folks who work in homes as caregivers, child-care workers, etc. The bill would make it illegal to discriminate against a domestic worker or subject him/her to harassment, and would make the work that domestic workers do safer. The bill was recently referred to the House Rules Committee.

We’re also watching the Comprehensive Immigration Reform proposal which is being debated in Congress. We’ll have more information about that bill soon.

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CIO and its partner organizations are working on health equity policy in the Oregon State Legislature. Watch this video produced by Northwest Health Foundation and find out how … and why!