1 - So here are my thoughts on the White House immigration plan.
2 - Sticks to the four areas we anticipated - border, DACA, lottery and family immigration. But a few measures that go beyond, particularly on border.
3 - on border, the WH wants a $25 trust fund for the border wall system, ports of entry and northern border improvements and enhancements.
4 - Appropriating more $$ for hiring new DHS personnel, ICE attorneys, immigration judges.
5 - Vague reference to ending "catch and release" and closing loopholes. That is really unclear and "loopholes" often is a mean way of saying due process.
6 - Detention and removal of criminal aliens. That is how it works now so not sure what the change is.
7 - "prompt removal of border crossers regardless of country of origin." I'm guessing this is talking about asylum seekers. Again, not clear what they have in mind.
8 - Deter visa overstays with expedited removal. This has been super controversial when it was referenced in the executive order. Idea is to make anyone removable with no chance to show an immigration judge that they have a defense. Very unamerican.
9 - Immigration court reforms to improve efficiency and prevent fraud and abuse. This, again, is usually code for taking away due process rights. They need to get specific. Probably unacceptable.
10 - DACA - Oddly, pretty much in line with Durbin-Graham. Yay!
11 - 10 year citizenship path for DACA; 12 years for people not currently in DACA. WH says 1.8 million would be eligible so guessing this includes kids and people too old for DACA, but who entered as kids and who were over 31 when DACA started.
12 - Revocable status for criminal conduct, public safety, national security and PUBLIC CHARGE. This last part is a clear poison pill. Anyone who loses their job is instantly deportable.
13 - "Protect the Nuclear Family" - i.e. screw the nuclear family.
14 - would limit family sponsorship to spouses and minor children of citizens and permanent residents. This means US citizens could not sponsor parents for green cards. A HUGE poison pill.
15 - The ability to have grandma and grandpa come live with the family is pretty much a cultural norm everywhere on the planet except family-loving America.
16 - I've had many cases over the years where an elderly parent immigrates to the US because there is no one left at home to care for them and the child doesn't want to throw them in a nursing home. Nice that Stephen Miller wants to take that away.
Family 2B (adult kids of green card holders) and Family 4th (siblings of US citizens) also barred.I don't know about you, but I'm pretty close with my siblings and my adult kids.Nice that we want to ensure kids & siblings can never live in the same country with their US relatives
Sorry, that was 17.
18 - Would allow people in line to process through to conclusion. Nice. Except - idiots - parents are immediate relatives so there is no backlog for them. None of them are coming.
19 - Lottery. It's killed. Not a surprise and, as I've written before, there are better ways to use those numbers in my opinion. The numbers are allocated to family and high skilled categories.
20 - This is actually a pretty fair way to allocate the numbers in my view, though I know many will disagree.
21 -It's terrible that people wait decades for green cards because of their being born in the wrong country. I've never liked how a lottery winner can skate right to the front of the line ahead of backlogged folks.
22 - I know the Congressional Black Caucus will not like this idea, but a lot of family backlogged folks are from diversity countries and we can figure out other ways to promote immigration from those countries.
23 - I did like the Durbin Graham idea on allocating lottery numbers for TPS folks. That's not here. Those folks need to be taken care of. Also long term renewable work cards for parents of Dreamers in exchange for not being able to sponsor not here either.
24 - Also, what happens to the numbers from the eliminated categories. Allocated elsewhere? Doubt it. This is a way to slash legal immigration numbers, something that is not supported by most Americans and the Democrats need to hold the line.
25 - BTW - We've got a one page document with a lot of cryptic language. Some good news. Lots of poison pills. The question is what is negotiable? It's DOA if it's not. But I suspect it could be.
26 - That's the end of the thread. I'm happy to answer questions, but just note that there is not a lot of meat on this bone.
