Unlike gun control, abortion or gay marriage, Immigration is not a for or against issue. Both Democrats and Republicans want to reforms Immigration, they just want different things.
The Republicans want business immigration, and the Democrats want to help the illegal Hispanic population. And both sides are tied to their voting blocks. Democrats think that they can get the Hispanic votes, and the Republicans think they can get the business owner votes. However there are Hispanics who vote Republican and the business using the most number of Employment based visas, the Computer Industry in Silicon Valley, largely vote Democrat. Both sides need to compromise to get Comprehensive Immigration done.
The Senate Schumer-McCain bill has four broad categories:
1. Establish a hard path of citizenship to the 11 million illegal immigrants
2. Somehow prioritize Immigration to recognize how the American economy will grow by retaining the brightest and the best
3. Create an effective Employment verification system
4. Admit future workers to meet America’s needs, ie protect the borders for future influx of illegal immigrants.
These are broad goals. The debate will be in the details. Would immigration be prioritized by the education of the workers? Would country specific quotas be removed?
President Obama has said that more visas would be added to one time to move the lines. Right now Bachelor Degree holders from India, legal residents , have to wait in line for 10.5 years, while Master’s Degree holders have to wait for 8.5 years before they get their Immigration. It simply wont be fair for Dreamers with a basic high school education ( and most dreamers have only a high school education) to jump in front of them.
Yet unlike the Indians and Chinese, Mexicans hold more political clout. And Obama and the Democrats seem more focused on painting a bright life for dreamers rather than the Indian and Chinese legal residents with Bachelors degrees or higher. The media highlight the one or two dreamers who have college degrees. But there are no statistics as to how many people have college degrees versus a mere high school degree in DACA applications.
The same unfairness will be in the gay and lesbian couples. If someone can get their visa for having a straight partner, why should a gay or lesbian couple be denied the same right? And will the religious right go for equality in benefits, even if DOMA is struck down?
Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, or Houston Immigration Attorney Annie Banerjee, for more information
