Part of this fractious debate is how illegal immigrants affect the economy. FAIR states loudly that legalizing immigrants would just lure more over the border illegally to take jobs from Americans, and that they would not contribute to the ailing economy. That is backwards thinking. If Americans wanted the jobs the immigrants fill each year, they would be out there working. They are not.

FAIR also thinks the low-skill, low wage workers would not be paying net contributions to taxes, which would then make the eligible for benefits, draining the economy. However, if Americans took the same jobs and got paid the same wages, what would be different about that picture?

On the other side of the fence are those more open-minded individuals who see legalizing those 11 million undocumented workers as being a boon to the economy. If you do the math, that makes sense. Apparently though, if does not make sense to others. Simply put, those immigrants would be the equivalent of, or over, $1.5 trillion added to the gross domestic product in roughly ten years. That’s a whole lot of zeros that would boost the economy. Let’s get on with it.

The more money making the rounds in the economy, the better, because creates and sustains jobs —- a win-win situation for everyone. If the U.S. does not add new workers to stimulate the economy, then the economy does not grow. While it’s not rocket science, it seems the politicians can’t do math too well, except when it comes to their pensions. Put another way, legalizing immigrants would generate more taxes, increase consumption and open doors for workers to get decent jobs, which would generate more taxes, increase consumption and so forth. You get the idea.

Wondering what happens if the nation deports large numbers of immigrants? Good question. It seems it would cost at least $2.6 trillion to the gross domestic product over a period of ten years, but that does not include the price tag on the deportation process, which is about $8,318 per person. So, in reality that number would be far larger. Which will it be then — a $1.5 trillion bonus to the economy on a steady basis or a $2.6 trillion plus deficit each year?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The next four years are crucial for President Obama. He has been given the mandate, for a second time, to do something about immigration reform. Will it happen? Who knows. The fiscal cliff and its ramifications will continue to dog the nation for the foreseeable future, so immigration reform is in the backseat, once again.

More than this fact though, is the disturbing deportation numbers. In the first three years of Obama’s initial term, deportation was an honorable thing to do, the right thing to do and the more the better, to the tune of 1.2 million deportations. The clear action of deporting so fast and so many was in clear opposition to the words of immigration reform. And today, we still have just “words,” which is a dismal prospect for millions hoping against hope that reform will happen within the next four years.

A close look at the deportation numbers for the last year reveal an interesting story. Any time they dipped, the Congressional Republicans had a hissy fit. They were aiming for 400,000 deportations a year and it looked like they would fall short, the Republicans put out a call for ICE to quickly fill the quotas. Then came the controversial Secure Communities program and a change of President.

To keep the peace, Obama let the Republicans expand the Secure Communities, even though it was full of holes, posed serious legal issues and had a nasty habit of netting innocent aliens. No one much liked the program for its quota-based mentality. Thing is, keeping deportation numbers in the stratosphere is obviously counterintuitive to what immigration reform should be and do, and that is to successfully craft a policy that automatically accomplishes a decrease in deportations.

Is change still possible? Yes, but only with everyone working in concert to make a difference. Perhaps this may come to pass this term, with the Republicans realizing that if they don’t get off the pot with regard to moving immigration reform forward, then they may face extinction as a party. If government is to work for the good of the country as a whole, then there are a lot of Republican politicians who don’t seem to get the idea that clearly. 2013 may be an interesting year.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Just recently, the Inspector General for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) revealed that the government computer program that tracks immigrants’ status mistakenly okays one-in-eight of all immigrants plugged into the system for public benefits and to work in secure areas. That might not sound like a big deal. However, the one person out of every eight who is given the green light has a deportation order against them. That’s another story altogether.

Given the acronym used for this program, SAVE, it seems rather ironic, on many levels, that the government cannot get it right. Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements is supposed to ascertain the status of applicants to make sure only those with legal immigration status are approved. Licensing bureaus, agencies that issue benefits, the state and even the federal government relies on SAVE for this reason. Perhaps more time spent on developing reliable software would be a good idea, rather than thinking up cute nicknames.

It appears that roughly only 88 percent of those given the ok by the program actually have legal immigration status when their names are run. That means the other 12 percent are lawful, but have deportation orders out on them. The reason for this monumental mess up? It appears that the databases in use by SAVE are not updated when an alien is ordered deported. They are updated when they actually leave the country, and this delay is thanks to the appeal process for such orders.

On the whole, many of those ordered deported may not have serious criminal records. However, the report details several instances where an alien that was ordered deported was approved, despite having committed multiple, serious crimes. In one case, a man convicted for homicide applied for student aid when released from jail. The SAVE program deemed him a legal permanent resident, that could apply for public benefits. Things could, and did get even more embarrassing when other instances of criminals being approved were exposed.

The long and short of this situation is that ICE and USCIS need to get together on the same song sheet.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It’s no secret that the Republicans flopped miserably in the polls. For those that understand the critical issues of the day, this was not a surprise. They dissed the largest contingent of voters they needed to win: the Hispanic bloc. What does that leave them with? It leaves them scrambling to finally do something about American immigration laws. There’s nothing like egg on one’s face to force an epiphany.

These days Republicans say they’re in the midst of planning a vote on legislation that makes things easier for immigrants with green card to bring their families to America, expands the visa system for STEM students and do something to fix the dysfunctional immigration system. With tongue in cheek, and a raised eyebrow for the actuality of any of these promises becoming reality, it is about time something happened. But then, it was time for something to happen when Obama was first elected, and look at what didn’t happen.

Now however, since the Republicans are smarting from their somewhat dismal electoral showing, one of the ways they can redeem themselves is to ensure the immigration reform issue is promptly dealt with. That means getting on the Democrat bandwagon and actually working towards a solution in concert with one another. If that concept makes you shake your head in disbelief, you’re not alone. The very thought of Democrats and Republicans working to get something as contentious as immigration reform passed boggles the mind. This isn’t to say the two parties agreeing and moving forward to achieve change is out of the question. After all, they did introduce health reform.

Now, it is rumored that Republicans are tweaking the STEM bill, the one that died the last time it was brought to a vote. That bill did not pass, as 80 percent of the House Democrats said no to getting rid of another visa program, for less educated immigrants, to offset handing out more STEM visas. They are also making noises about broadening a program allowing the spouses and kids of those with permanent residence/green card, to wait in the U.S. for their own green cards. Currently, there are roughly 322,000 children, wives and husbands in this category, and a more than a two-year wait for to families to be reunited.

While no one knows for sure what the House might dream up this time around, the good thing is that they at least seem to be willing to work to make changes. It’s a place to start.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

One of the first things the President Re-elect did in his first news conference is talk with enthusiasm and optimism about comprehensive immigration reform. While that might be nice, we have all heard that before. Then again, we didn’t hear it for most of the first term, unless it was mentioned in passing, and now, the more things change, the more they remain the same. The President says he expects a bill to be introduced in Congress after his inauguration. Oh, really?

By now, a vast majority of the American public is taking a “wait and see” attitude to whether or not immigration reform will actually become a reality. In some ways, something had better transpire, or the next four years are going to be fraught with hostility from the Latin contingent, the largest group to vote him back into power. That voter surge, over 70 percent of the Hispanic vote, was largely due to the deferred action program, which was hugely popular for young illegal immigrants looking to land temporary work permits.

This story isn’t just about numbers, though. It is about an aging electorate of younger voters who stand to double the Latin voting bloc by 2030. Those up-and-coming “kids” represent an enormous voice for the future of American politics and politicians. Those who do not recognize that may pay a heavy price later. It is suspected their existing power, and future power has managed to change the GOP’s stance on immigration. It seems, if you read the news closely, that once known immigration reform bashers, such as John McCain and Rand Paul, are now cautiously flying the immigration reform flag.

Whispers on the Hill have Republicans stating they want to breach the wall of inaction and pass a bill that does something about immigration reform, instead of just talking about it – endlessly and without any resolution in sight. It also seems that reform talks, which stalled completely two years ago, have now been kick-started with participants making encouraging noises about the passage of a reform bill.

A quick peek at immigration history shows politicians today that they can learn from the lessons laid out in the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act; legislation that allowed over 2.7 million people to get legal status, and made it a criminal act to hire illegal immigrants. The lesson in the 1986 legislation? The lesson is that it did nothing to stem illegal immigration, and therein lies the issue, which no one can seem to find a solution to, or agree on.

What’s in store for this term? Stay tuned, there may be some movement that finally makes sense. One can always hope.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It’s quite the bizarre twist when you get right down to it – an immigration system that welcomes immigrants, but yet deports them in record numbers every year. Something is wrong with that picture. Perhaps the irony is not lost on the politicians, largely because they sway to voters’ whims and wishes. Perhaps they don’t really care one way or another, because they doubt they will do anything to fix it now, or in the future.

It was pretty clear during the presidential debate that there was an enormous gap in philosophy between Obama and Romney. Despite the very real fact that America is a nation of immigrants, the two top contenders couldn’t have been further apart in their approach to handling the situation. The reality is that comprehensive immigration reform has been kicked about the football field for so long, no one really thinks than anything will happen. The only notable departure from the raucous disagreements in the House and Senate over immigration reform was the unilateral decision Obama made in implementing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

This notable departure from the “usual” government obfuscation appealed to a whole new class of illegal immigrants and oddly coincidentally a new class of voters; illegal immigrants 30 years of age or younger. Whatever the reasons Obama made the executive decision, his move gave millions of illegal immigrants deportation relief. It’s a place to start from for the next term.

What to expect in the next term? Expect more of the same, piled higher and deeper, with the more of the same being that the Democrats had the compassion to offer a temporary solution to the immigration reform question, while the Republicans wanted the immigrants to self-deport. The Republicans will likely be suggesting Obama was only trolling for votes when he introduced the deferred action program, because he did nothing until it was election time.

Who really cares about immigrant communities? Let’s see what happens over the next four years. Many think the status quo will be the usual waffling from one side of the fence to the other, depending on which way the wind blows. One thing is for sure, whether we like it or not, Obama and his party did have four years to do something, and nothing happened until the election. Will this same gridlock continue? Will the two parties ever get on the same page and actually achieve immigration reform? Anyone taking bets?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visithttp://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Even though the election is over, it is good to refresh your memory when it comes to what the two presidential candidates were offering as an enticement to vote. In particular, go back over the campaign platform for Mitt Romney and pay attention to his handling of the immigration reform issue. He kind of, sort of, maybe aimed at, sounding like he was in favor of doing things for immigrants. The reality is he was not in the past, and would not be in the future.

Take a quick look at his Spanish-language ad campaign in which he hinted he would do something in favor of immigrants by working with the Democrats to achieve solutions. Vague at best. Misleading at the worst. This man was never about finding immigrant friendly solutions. He quashed the Massachusetts DREAM Act, was adamant about not giving illegal immigrants driver’s licenses, and during his presidential campaign, came right out and said he promised to veto the federal DREAM Act. Mind you, he said a lot of things, and one wonders if he even remembers most of what he said, since it seemed to change on a daily basis.

The same Spanish ad campaign said the Republicans would fight to bring families together, for bipartisan reform, to set up a program for work visas and find permanent solutions for illegal alien youth. That is mighty tough to do when you actively oppose everything that would achieve that in the first place. Romney is on record that he would seek to end the temporary deportation reprieves for undocumented students. And yet, he still wanted these voters to put him into the highest office in the land. It didn’t work.

We need to be thankful for small mercies and for a second run at immigration reform under an individual that at least attempted to make a difference in the lives of illegal immigrant students. While the reprieve is far from permanent, it may be what is needed to open the debate on reform once more. That can only be a good thing. However, keep in mind that with as contentious as immigration reform is, slogging it through to any kind of a legislative conclusion will be a monumentally tough job.

In the final analysis, it is clear that the Republican party has consistently resisted efforts to do something with the immigration system and those caught up in it. Their best solution to the issue to date has been to suggest self-deportation – a clear signal that immigrants are welcome to take themselves back home anytime they wish. So much for human rights, the American Constitution and facing the reality that America is a sea of many different faces, and they are here to stay.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visithttp://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Consider the situation of immigration enforcement being at an all time high and how that directly impacts on U.S. food production. Don’t see the link? Ask yourself this question: how does our food get to the table? The answer? It is thanks to immigrant labor. If there are fewer immigrants, there is a food shortage. If there is a food shortage, the price of what food is available increases. Crop production drops, and the die is cast for the real possibility the nation can no longer feed itself.

In the meantime, immigration enforcement is moving ahead at a dizzying pace and the politicians are deadlocked over any kind of meaningful debate on comprehensive immigration reform. The election does not help move this issue forward either, as everyone is on standby until the House reconvenes. What is happening out in the real world?

Consider the situation of Torrey Farms, in N.Y., in business since 1803. This farm supplies nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population with vegetables. This year their production is good, but their labor supply is short. They are having a hard time finding anyone that will work in the fields, and run help wanted ads every day. They are not the only farming operation in the same boat. Americans do not want the jobs, and there are very few immigrants left to do the work. This means Canadian suppliers are nicely poised to ship vegetables, fruits and milk to the U.S.

Vegetable farmers are being forced into planting grain crops, a move that could well change the agricultural fabric on the nation as a whole. The interesting thing is that farm jobs also provide up to four ‘other’ jobs in the community. If the labor pool is reduced, it isn’t only hurting farmers, it is hurting local communities and ultimately, the whole country. So who is seeing the bigger picture? It is not the politicians. This administration has deported more than any previous one to date.

Where did common sense go? No one seems to be sure. Instead of solely focusing on bringing in highly-skilled immigrants in the sciences and technological fields, focus as well on the labor pool needed to harvest crops to feed Americans, including those highly-skilled individuals. Instead, the Obama administration is going into overdrive to conduct employer audits, but not offering any type of solution to the immigration crisis. Anyone else see the train wreck coming?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The more politics gets into the picture relating to immigration reform, the less clarity we get as a whole on the issue, which isn’t really any surprise. Consider the STEM Jobs Act, a Republican reform bill intended to grant more visas to highly-skilled immigrants. It’s on stall. It was supposed offer 55,000 visas under the Diversity Immigrant Visa program to foreign-born students with American grad degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

On the face of it, it sounds like a good idea. However, as with all things political, the Democrats had their own ideas — another alternative, which would keep the Diversity program. And that was when the whole thing hit the rails. No one, predictably, could agree on anything, and the issue was shelved. Whether it resurfaces for debate after the election is anyone’s guess. If it does, the main ingredient, a large dose of political ego, mixed with divergent opinions, will most likely focus on who want diversity over fast-tracking skilled immigrants.

The Republicans have a great number of supporters for their position, which while a nice gesture from tech lobbyists, does nothing to break up a stall in the House. At issue is a move to help the nation create jobs, spur on innovation to move the economy forward and boost our competitiveness as a nation in the STEM fields. In other words, make the U.S.A. more competitive in the global marketplace. However, Democrats seem to not like this idea, and appear to be more focused on creating mayhem, instead of mutual agreement.

Democrats point fingers at the Republicans and say with a tinge of horror in their voices that they only want to increase legal immigration for immigrants by getting rid of legal immigration for immigrants they really don’t want in the first place. It truly makes one’s head spin, but should come as no surprise that, once again, the House is divided, and in the throes of another tempest in the teapot.

What do politicians really want? They say they want comprehensive immigration reform, and then spend their days arguing piecemeal ideas, Bills, Acts and proposals. It’s no wonder immigration reform is getting nowhere rapidly. Should quickie changes take precedence over reforming the whole system? And if so, how will that impact the whole system later? Anyone have any ideas? The politicians obviously do not.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Over the course of this year’s election announcements, promises, rhetoric and so forth, nothing has been mentioned about immigration reform. In fact, the one occasion when Obama and Romney could have and should have opened up about it was when Michael Bloomberg, New York’s mayor, released a report that suggested the parties get off the pot and make immigration a serious campaign issue.

Dead silence ensued. It was eerie. It was almost like the report fell on deaf ears, and perhaps it did, or rather on ears that do not want to rock any more boats prior to being elected or re-elected. Doesn’t say much about politicians does it? It does say quite a lot about them protecting their backsides though, at the expense of the Hispanic population in limbo over what will or will not happen with comprehensive immigration reform.

Step back and take a hard look at what “is” being said about immigration reform. Note the latest remarks from the Florida Republican convention that suggested they avoided discussing this issue because it did not work for them. What about the millions of illegals in the U.S. today? Did that work for them? Does anyone else notice that this campaign is not about unifying this country, but instead is about polarizing it? Be worried, because if you are a Latino voter, you have some tough choices to make about who you think will best deal with your status. Right now, it appears neither party is in a rush to address immigration reform.

On reflection, this campaign is about only snagging votes to be into power again, but that does not mean dealing with the issue of immigration. It has always been, and will continue to be a flashpoint for many. Frankly, it needs to be a major consideration when the economy is discussed. As it stands, no one wants to address that issue, largely because the government is too busy deporting those taxpayers. Call this a “duh” moment.

Just keep in mind that even the minimal olive branch of Obama’s executive order giving permission for illegal immigrants to apply for deportation deferrals will do just one thing – get him more votes. It is not a permanent fix and does not address the serious mess the system itself is in. It needs to be overhauled. Period.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It was hard to miss the fact that the politicians at the Florida Republican convention were shamelessly wooing Hispanic voters. They handed out Spanish language signs, spoke in Spanish, and slammed Obama’s “Yes we can/ Si se puede” 2008 campaign slogan as being only words, not reality. However, when the dust settled on the convention floor, no one really realized that there was one very important item missing – immigration reform.

Not one of the speakers on tap during the convention tackled the floundering issue of comprehensive immigration reform, or mentioned Obama’s executive order staying deportations and granting work permits to DREAMERs. What did delegates think of that glaring omission? Interestingly enough, they thought it was better than the subject was “not” raised — a rather stunning point of view, considering it is one of the biggest issues in America today, aside from health care reform and the economy.

Many delegates and politicians muttered it was not a subject that worked for them, and their main goal was to get re-elected. Mulling over immigration reform was not a topic that anyone saw advancing their cause. Another stunning revelation, but perhaps, not really. Politicians are noted for avoiding issues that may blow up in their faces later, although many defended their position by indicating they felt Latinos were more worried about jobs than immigration.

An interesting perspective, given that to get a job, and not be deported for being illegal, an immigrant needs to be legal, or else. And they did not discuss immigration reform. Why? It likely has more to do with the fact that they don’t plan to deal with the issue in the next term, just like they have not really dealt with it during the term just ending. Does this bode well for Romney? That’s a toss-up question, with no obvious answer. It is unlikely it will help him snatch away too many votes from Obama, as Obama leads in the polls at 63 percent to Romney’s 28 percent.

In the dog days of campaign promises, hints and evasions, politicians hope voters will show more interest in stimulating the economy to promote more jobs. Let’s see what happens and whether or not the immigration reform debate will continue, as hot as ever. Chances are it will.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Many pundits think Obama will carry a second term, largely based on his move to give temporary legal status to undocumented youth. There are two things that stand out here: one is that the status is temporary and that this is a turning point of sorts for immigrant policy. Many suggest it was a move predicated on pure politics. It certainly was, and if advance polling is any indication, it may mean Obama will be the president for another four years.

One thing is certain in this battle of political wills. If Romney does not take up the banner of immigration reform and start talking about “real” relief, real plans for illegal immigrants, the Latino vote will go to Obama. For now, Romney is claiming he too is pro-immigration. That is hardly the case, and the Latin vote will not be fooled by smoke and mirrors.

On one side of this issue, Republicans say Latin Americans are more worried about the economy than immigration. That may be true to a certain extent, as they took a large hit in the recession. However, just because Romney now says he will improve the economy, many are wondering how he can brand Latin Americans as being akin to demons and then expect them to vote for him.

It is a given that immigration reform has always been a highly controversial issue, and each passing year, it still generates heated, passionate hyperbole, but nothing gets done. Whatever happened to welcoming immigrants? Just look to America’s rich history, and you will see foreigners were regarded in a positive light – unless there has been social or economic stress. Then, immigrants become the ilk that suck the life out of the nation socially and economically, which is a backwards way of viewing things, since immigrants work, pay taxes and contribute to their communities.

You may recall in 1994 California Governor Pete Wilson bringing in Proposition 187, banning illegal aliens from using the social services, public education and health care systems. The courts eventually bounced it as being unconstitutional, but it should be remembered it passed with a large margin. What is all this an indication of? It’s a clear sign of politicians looking for a scapegoat to blame for the social upheaval of the day, a sleight-of-hand to get the electorate’s attention diverted, because they have no real solutions to improve the economy.

And immigration reform? It is still on the back burner. Should we be surprised?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

For at least the last three years, the government has baldly stated, time and time again, that the Secure Communities program only targeted dangerous criminal aliens. Even when asked multiple times if that is truly the case, the administration has insisted they were only deporting immigrants with criminal convictions that were clearly a danger to the public.

The government good press is a lot of rubbish, largely because what they say and what they do are millions of miles apart. In reality, Secure Communities does not make a distinction between convicted dangerous felons and nonviolent people arrested for civil immigration violations. And that is a big difference. Just spend time researching the issue, and you will find, for example, that in California alone, over half of the 75,000 deportees had no criminal record, or conversely, only had misdemeanor convictions.

What really happens under this program is that the police send fingerprints of everybody they book to the FBI. There, they are checked in criminal databases. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) run the prints against immigration records, and on finding a match, put out a “detainer,” asking that the person be held for two days. No one has apparently figured out yet that there is a big difference between a drug runner and an individual driving without a license. Thus, all detainees sit in jail for at least two days, if not longer, and are either transferred to federal custody or released.

This may not seem like a big deal, but it is, because many local law enforcement agencies are short on police officers and resources. They do not see any point in filling their jails with non-dangerous arrestees, leaving no room for the “real” criminals. Additionally, this type of harassment does not help community policing relationships with the Latino contingent. Instead, it makes them even more reluctant to talk to the police.

California has found a work-around solution for this, their Trust Act, which requires police to let detainees go who have posted bail, do not face serious charges and have no previous criminal convictions. This isn’t the first state to look at ways to get around the Homeland Security detainer farce. Cook Country, Illinois, New York and the District of Columbia have similar rules. You have to wonder what the country is coming to when you have to keep making laws to circumvent other laws.

It needs to be emphasized that California’s Trust Act is not what Arizona tried to pull off with their attempt at drafting an immigration law, the one the Supreme Court rejected as being unconstitutional. However, this is really not the issue. The issue is whether or not Obama is going to fix the program or discontinue it. Right now, it looks like it should be discontinued.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visithttp://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

At this point in the election campaign, most people are viewing Obama’s decision to allow young illegal aliens under the age of 30-years-old to stay put as a sneaky election ploy to try and garner their votes.

The day the President announced his DREAM-like policy regarding young illegal aliens, he was wildly heckled by a member of the press core after saying words to the effect that these illegals are Americans in every way conceivable but not on paper. If that was the case, what is the hold up with immigration reform? If that is the case, why wait until this late in the game to do something about it? His executive order puts a stop to their deportation – for now. How this will affect immigration reform in the future is uncertain. How the House will deal with the issue after an election is another can of worms.

By and large, those who heard the announcement consider his hubris as pandering to the young Latino contingent, hoping to secure their votes when the time comes. Nonetheless, the timing of the policy change will shake up the balance of the political forces as they continue to woo voters. It is the first clearly defined move towards a policy change affecting immigrants, one that many Latino voters may well appreciate, whether they are under 30 years of age or not.

There is another reason why people are sitting up and taking notice. The policy change will put some zip back into Obama’s campaign, one that has been staggering about weakly for several weeks. Add that to the Supreme Court decision on mandatory health care being acceptable, and you may have a winner shaping up. The Latin vote is huge and still hanging out there in the wind. If it can be swayed, Obama may have a second crack at achieving immigration reform. However, he’d best ensure that second crack, should he be re-elected, actually takes on a life and does get implemented. There will be no further chances after that.

While the President’s executive order does not go as far as opening the door to citizenship, it does mean illegal aliens cannot be deported if they were brought to the country before turning 16 and are younger than 30-years-old; have lived here for five years and have no criminal record; and have earned a GED, graduated from high school or served their country overseas. It boils down to a two-year work permit with unlimited renewals as needed.

If Obama does sway the Latin vote, he has precious little time to take action and make good on his first year campaign promise. Dare we hold out hope that something might happen? Hard to say, but if it does, it will substantially change the immigration system, hopefully for the good.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Just recently, President Obama went ahead and made the unilateral choice to change U.S. deportation policy to shield young illegal aliens. In doing so, he opened a real can of worms and one of the most contentious issues in the immigration reform arena.

The reaction was swift and not very pretty. Many demanded to know if changing the policy as he did would be worth the risks it was sure to trigger in the long run. Others wanted to know if, by changing this policy now, it would hurt the long-term prospects of immigration reform. There were a lot of miffed politicians on the Hill that day, who viewed his decision as a sneaky run around the Constitution and the authority of Congress.

Thanks to the decision, certain illegal immigrants would get a renewable two-year deportation deferral and be eligible to apply for work authorization. The policy is aimed at those who came to the county before the age of 16 but are still under 30-years-old; have lived here for five years continuously; are currently in school or have graduated high school or are active-duty military; and have not been convicted of a felony or noteworthy misdemeanor.

While this sounds good, the fact is that deportations are at an all-time high. Despite the naysayers, there has been some praise for Obama’s move, with many suggesting it is classified as a historic first and singularly humanitarian move. Others wonder if it did not have more subtle motive – garnering Latino votes. No matter how this issue is regarded, or what political party is attempting to curry favor with the voters, there is the very real question of how this bullheaded move may affect the long-stalled-in-the-trenches issue of comprehensive reform.

Put another way, some pundits suspect it won’t matter why the President did what he did or whether he will pay a price for doing it in terms of the debate on the issue in the House. What they feel is that this is just another excuse to stall immigration reform even longer. Power grab? Maybe. Short-term answer for a long-term problem? Possibly. The true test is in the pudding, and it will be informative to see what happens as a result of this policy move on Obama’s part.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It’s painfully obvious by now to all and sundry that the President did not live up to his election promise of implementing immigration reform. While he is still trying to push the concept for a possible second term crack at it, Hispanic voters don’t hold out a great deal of hope on the subject. Additionally, those faced with a choice at the ballot box, may be hard pressed to get what they really want in office. It may boil down to a pick between the lesser of two evils.

Obama needs the Latin vote. It is just as simple as that. Will he get it? Hard to say, but in chasing that vote, he is also ignoring roughly 70 percent of Americans who are okay with legal immigrants, but are against amnesty and the right to become a citizen for those breaking immigration laws.  There are approximately 11 million to 36 million illegal aliens in the U.S., depending on whose statistics you read.

The sevent percent who don’t like the idea of undocumented aliens getting a free ticket to ride, insist that illegal immigrants skew the high unemployment/underemployment across the national landscape. We read in the paper, on almost a daily basis that skilled and unskilled workers, and recent college grads are going begging for work, because they feel their goals are being shuffled off to Buffalo, thanks to the high cost of government services for illegal immigrants. Their argument is that the money going to service illegals is harming the U.S. economy and robbing them of jobs.

It’s a no brainer that with at least 12 million illegal immigrants in the country, they would have an effect on the job market. In stepping back and taking a look at the complete picture though, it is evident that the real issue here is not whether Hispanic labor shuts out American workers, and it is not a question of head counting illegals either, or whether or not government services pay out funding to service them.

The real question is if Hispanics did not do the seasonal farm labor, picking, packaging and so on, who would? Some say Americans would do those jobs. The fact is Americans won’t do those jobs. If they would, they would not be available to immigrant laborers. Many employers, desperately need to hire enough workers to get their crops done for the season, despair at finding enough reliable labor in the U.S.  If they show up for work, they just don’t stay around for more than a few days. It seems the working conditions and pay is not up to their expectations.

What we have here is a group of people who are doing jobs that no one else wants to do, and in the process, since they are in the U.S. to do that job, they require various services. The money spent on them makes sense, since they are working here, and pay taxes here as well. But for the fact that Americans don’t want to work in the fields, immigrants fill those positions and make a significant contribution to putting food on American tables that wouldn’t get there otherwise.

And yet, we begrudge them services they work for. Maybe it’s time for out of work Americans who say they need jobs, to reconsider what they are willing to do to be a part of the labor force and stop complaining when someone else does the jobs they refuse to do.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The latest slightly bent fact on the campaign trail is that Obama hasn’t lived up to his promises of immigration reform since he was first elected. However, he did ‘push’ for reform. Nice, but that doesn’t quite cut it, not when his Administration has deported more illegal aliens every year than G.W. Bush. It is interesting how we got from a definite promise to implement immigration reform to ‘pushing for reform.’ While to some, that may seem like a small stretch, in reality, it is almost too big an about face to even consider respecting the person trying to peddle it.

The hard, cold fact is that nothing was actually done about immigration reform, other than talk about it, for the first two years of Obama’s presidency. He did accomplish health care reform, but in doing so, blew his time and funding on one effort. Some offer praise for that. Others offer brick-bats of criticism, pointing out that immigration reform is equally as important, if not more so, than reforming the health care system, which is still a mess to contend with, much like the immigration system. What has changed? Evidently, not too much, but the talking about it has veered from going to do it to going to push for it.

And now, campaign rhetoric in hand, the politicians are once again thumping about immigration reform, almost like they were going to do something about it. That is the impression they are attempting to create. In reality, once the government has spent all this time doing nothing, it is difficult to believe they suddenly have the urge to really do something. Perturbed voters, particularly Latinos, are none too impressed, as they see smoke and mirrors, while politicians try and curry their favor to get their vote.

There is a frightening juxtaposition between what is being said out of one side of the president’s mouth and what is actually being done. The federal programs in place today, and being expanded upon, are laser focused on deporting as many people as they can, in record numbers. The line is they are criminals. The reality is they are not criminals, but ordinary people in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and as for the DREAM Act, talk to any young Latino trying to stay in the country, and find out what the real truth is about their immigration status and chances of being deported.

In a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, Republicans are finger pointing at Obama, and loudly pointing out he has not kept his reform promises. That is downright cynical in the extreme, and not even a particularly smooth move to cover their real intentions, which involve trying to sway Latin voters. They keep saying his broken promise means he cannot be trusted. Ironic isn’t it, when you consider they were the ones that kept that promise from becoming a reality. It’s enough to point out that the Republicans blocked the DREAM Act, and then kept on putting up roadblock after roadblock in the way of immigration reform, and now they want the Latin vote.

Here is the real question that is begging for an answer: do the Republicans back immigration reform? Based on their track record to date, the answer just may be “No.” So, how will you be voting in the election?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It was only a matter of time before someone stepped back and looked at what was really going on in the government. On one hand they laud immigration reform, say they will push for it, make noises about doing it and then, nothing happens. On the other hand, they push hard for enforcement only, and that has had some nasty repercussions in many industries across the nation. Raid a dairy, a fruit farm, a vegetable producer or another business that needs many laborers and what do you get? Illegal aliens, because Americans who live here, who complain there is no work, will not do the work.

It doesn’t take too much of a stretch of imagination to understand that this almost rabid enforcement only dictum is making America’s immigration problems even worse – it that were possible, and it is. It appears that thanks to the way Congress setup E-Verify, it is wide open to fraud. For instance, more than half of the illegal workers checked in the system popped up as okay to work in the U.S. How?

The reason makes for an interesting back story. In 1986, Congress said it was illegal to hire illegal immigrants, demanded companies ask for the paperwork that said they were legal. On the surface, not a bad idea, except for the fact that a hugely busy black market was formed that marketed fake Social Security cards. Let’s face it. Where there is a will to find work to support your family, there is a way to do it, despite what the law says.

Flash forward ten years, to 1996 and E-Verify, supposedly designed to only accept legitimate Social Security numbers. Say hello to identity theft. Making E-Verify a mandatory program just made the problem worse. The simple fact is that if illegal aliens want work and intend to find it, they will find out how to do that, no matter what. The other fact that most politicians seem to be either ignoring, or hoping it will go away, is that there are numerous industries in the U.S. that need immigrant labor.

What goes around comes around. If the government continues to enforce in the same manner, and the labor markets dry up , it will only create other avenues of fraud to circumvent the system. And that accomplishes what? It doesn’t accomplish anything, except putting industries in a perilous financial situation, not being able to move their produce or product. Americans won’t do the work. So who else will? The answer is undocumented aliens, and they know the work is here and will do anything they need to do to get a job, which begs the question of why Americans don’t do the same thing, since they say they need work.

If we want to drive more workers underground into off-the-books employment, continued enforcement only will be the straw that broke the camel’s back. It will also mean about $17.3 billion in lost tax revenues over a ten year period. If the economy is bad, and legal immigration will help fix it, what’s the hold up?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It’s almost a rhetorical question to ask if Obama will discuss immigration reform while on the campaign trail. What else would he do to attempt to garner more votes? The economy is bad, the DREAM Act tanked, the health system is a mess and immigration reform is – well, it isn’t in great shape either, and honestly never has been when people started trying to fix what likely wasn’t broken in the first place.

The problem here is that people have heard Obama say he is going to do immigration reform for so long, they are sick and tired of hearing about it, and furthermore, don’t believe him. It’s a little like Peter and the Wolf. He has been heard to say he would promise he would try to accomplish immigration reform in the first year of his second term – if he gets re-elected, and, some would say, if pigs fly.

Just take a look at the record, and you can see that he started wooing the Latino voters in 2009, saying he would push for immigration reform. Both houses were filled to the rafters with Democrats then, so no excuse for not getting the show on the road. Then in 2010, Janet Napolitano said it would a priority. Anyone want to try and find out what happened between 2009 and 2010? Nothing, but words. Now two and a half years later do we have immigration reform on any level that may be considered to be meaningful? The answer is, “No.”

So what’s going on? If you pay close enough attention, you will hear stories like this one from all over the country; stories of immigration raids where it hurts the local economy in a major way. One story is about a dairy farm in Michigan that had three immigration raids, with the last raid featuring a tank and helicopter. What is going on? The farmer ended up on probation and was fined $2.7 million for hiring illegal aliens. He had to find white, American workers, a fruitless task as they did not want to do the work.

The simple truth is that very, very few American born workers are willing to do the hard work of dairy farming or even pick produce seasonally each year. The bottom line is that if the farmer in this story did not have illegal aliens doing the work, he’d be stuck between a rock and a hard place. Milk and dairy products are a billion dollar industry, and here is the federal government raiding the workers who keep the farm in business and the economy flowing. What is wrong with that picture?

Is someone going to do something about this huge gap between what the government says and then turns around and does? Let’s see what happens next.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It’s no secret that there are other immigrants living in the U.S., and some of them are here even after their B2 tourism visa expires. Does anyone recall the latest story about a Moroccan immigrant plotting to bomb the Capitol? The 29-year-old man was living in Virginia, where he had been since 1999, and where he supposedly devised a plan to blow up the White House.

For those of you wondering how this could possibly happen, the bad news is the U.S. does not have any kind of a reliable system that confirms visitors here on visas have left the country. The very thought of a mass of illegal immigrants, and possibly terrorists, still living in the U.S. once their visas have expired, makes one tense.

And to be honest, it makes many Americans very uneasy in the still bitter wake of 9/11. We all know that those with less than honest intentions have been known to take advantage of serious weaknesses in the immigration system. Unless something is done about issues like this one, history may repeat itself in yet another devastating way.

Is it time for a visa exit system? Some would argue it is. Some would argue there is no money to implement one. Both of those arguments are right, which makes this issue yet another conundrum involving the reality of what needs to be done, mixed with the reality that there are no funds (or political will) to make it happen. There is talk of biometric scanners or mandatory follow-up inspections. Who would conduct those? Most people are losing their jobs and few are hiring because of the economy, and that includes the government.

Homeland Security is making noises that they are working on an exit system, but funding is an issue and it is nowhere near being ready to deploy. This is a bit like a car sitting in mud and gravel, spinning its tires to get out and getting nowhere. A tow truck is needed to provide some oomph to move it. In this case, the government needs money to move the issue forward. Obviously it isn’t going anywhere, given the state of their finances. And so, the issue dangles, or does it?

Homeland Security says they have, in lieu of an exit system, created a biographic system that tracks visa holders through multiple databases, providing immigration officials with a picture of where people are. Sounds nice, but we all know that a data system is only as good as the input and those who run it. This kind of a system does not work the same as a biometric one, but Homeland Security says it gives them some kind of control. One wonders if they had enough money to develop the biographic system, why didn’t they sink those funds into a biometric system instead?

Standing back and taking a look at the whole picture, one is struck by the mayhem and mismanagement going on all over the world. We did not used to live in fear of airplanes hitting buildings, of people packing body bombs to take out buildings and kill people. We had a fairly normal life, where peace and tranquility were the norm, not the exception. What happened? Somewhere along the line religion and politics got mixed together and a flash point was born; a reason to kill.

Will immigration reform deal with the way the world is now? Will immigration reform take care of border security issues when drug cartels want nothing more than revenge and money? Will immigration reform turn our nation into a bunker? Will immigration reform affect our constitutional rights? Food for thought. The 21^st century isn’t shaping up to be what we’d all hoped it might be.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Last year was dismal for farmers thanks to a significant shortage of workers. This year doesn’t look to be much better, which is prompting many U.S. farmers to check out the federal foreign guest worker program. Ironically, this labor shortage is quite a concern for Washington farmers. So much so, that Washington’s agriculture director has been heard to say an uprising, like the civil rights agitation in the 60s, would likely get immigration reform on track and in place.

Like many others involved in agriculture in the U.S., the belief is that comprehensive immigration reform would solve the labor shortage in their sector. However, like others, the industry seems to realize that reform is more smoke and mirrors than genuine substance. Without a major upheaval, or major reform, agriculture goes into decline, and the whole nation, not to mention other countries that import U.S. goods, start to have food shortages and price increases. Immigration reform is not just about the U.S. It impacts the world in other ways.

Farm interests are ramping up to insist that reform needs to include some type of guest worker program that will let non-residents come to the U.S. legally and work in agriculture. The truth behind this story is that without itinerant workers to perform seasonal work, it does not get done. Americans, despite saying they need jobs, will not work in the fields for the current wages. Who else will do the work? Non-residents, and yet there is resistance to this type of solution.

Frankly, immigration reform has become a war of words, a heap of hopes and a dismal pile of broken promises and dreams. Political gurus are indicating it is highly unlikely any kind of reform will be attempted in this election. What is even more disappointing is that these same government watchers don’t see any movement in 2013 either. So where will that leave the nation? Who knows, other than in the same boat it is in right now?

Part of the prevailing problem with a worker shortage in the agricultural sector is that people do not understand that without workers, the whole industry founders. The other side of that issue is people focus on wanting secure borders, no more illegal aliens and for the illegal trafficking in drugs and guns to stop. It’s rather short-sighted to only focus on one part of the immigration problem, say border security, when the spin offs are far greater than just securing the border.

Overall, the only solution is the political will to just get immigration reform done. That is obviously lacking and in the meantime, a sluggish economy is also impeding the implementation of government programs. Two strikes and people are looking for the third, in the skeptical manner of those who have been there, done that and don’t believe or trust a thing the government says. This hardly bodes well for immigration reform being achieved.

The revolving door of immigration reform will continue to flounder until someone, somehow figures a way to pull the economy out of the toilet. Given what is going on right now, it seems unlikely these issues will be addressed anytime soon.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

No matter who you listen to, the issues are the same nationwide, but they are talked about differently, phrased differently and right to the very last vote, uniformly ignored later. Right now, the issue is not so much the economy, immigration reform, education, or health care, it is getting re-elected. In other words, don’t count on a hill of beans getting done any time soon. Frankly, don’t count on anything getting done, even after the election. Words of promise no longer seem to carry the import they once used to carry. Gone are the days when a man’s word was gold. Now a politician’s word is smoke and mirrors.

What’s going on lately with regard to immigration reform? It is hard to tell reading the news, but nonetheless, many of the candidates are going full tilt ahead to garner the Latino vote. Take Mitt Romney’s perhaps tongue-in-cheek comment about what he could do to encourage them to vote Republican. If feels if he can swing that vote, he would pretty much be the frontrunner. However, what he does, should he get there, will be the acid test.

It’s not rocket science to figure out the Latino vote is close to 9 percent of the whole electorate, and rising. Without doing the math, you just know it’s a large figure, which means their vote packs a punch. It got Obama to the White House, and it can take him out or put him back in. Of course, Obama is vying for the Latinos again as well, albeit from a somewhat leveraged position. However, he hasn’t made good on his immigration reform promises, so you can bet this election will hold some surprises, many of which may not be good.

The overall irony is that candidates, even those espousing a hard line on immigration, are trying to win favor with the Hispanic vote. Just how do you do that? Ask someone to vote for you when you voted to have them booted out of the country, put up killer border security and broke up families to deport someone? If anyone has an answer to that, it would be interesting to hear it. And the ultimate affront to Hispanic voters?

They have to listen to half baked promises from loose cannons that want them gone from the U.S. and decide whether or not to trust them. That would be a tough decision to make. Oddly, most of the politicos chasing the Latin voters don’t see that their real positions when they get to the Hill are hurting their chances of securing the very votes they need. It’s that, or they are so myopic they are missing the point, in which case, no one should vote for them.

For now, Spanish speaking voters get to listen to political ads in Spanish, with the politician even speaking Spanish to make a point. And the point is? The point is they couldn’t be bothered to make any kind of concession like that in the past, not until they wanted to run for election and land the Latin vote. The electorate is not stupid, but one wonders about politicians at times.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Every major country in the world needs to rein in their economy. The U.S. is no different. The health of that economy is typically built on the populace working and paying taxes. You get the idea. Those with top notch skills make the most, and thus pay higher taxes, leading to the conclusion that the nation needs more highly skilled people like engineers and applied technologists. Sadly, there are not as many as there could be, for two reasons.

American students are not heading into those areas, which will prompt a serious shortage of American talent to fill those positions. If you can’t fill the positions at home, you fill them from outside the country, despite the complaints that would pour in. This is quite similar to the argument that aliens are taking American jobs in the agricultural sector, when in reality Americans don’t want those jobs and won’t work them. This is why, in part, immigration is such a contentious issue, and has been for so many years.

Simply put, if American students are not applying for engineering and technology jobs in the numbers needed for the future, employers will look elsewhere. What is the solution to this conundrum? The obvious one is to encourage American students to study in the fields that will drive our nation’s future. That means more resources to hawk the necessity of such a career and how it will ultimately affect our future. If the country needs more engineering and technology graduates, they need to take action. In the meantime, to deal with the issue now, immigration reform needs to become a reality.

While most Americans tend to regard the immigration reform issue as one of securing the border and keeping out illegal immigrants, the issue has far greater ramifications than one could possibly imagine. The lack of U.S. engineers and technologists is just one of them. Again, if we can’t find what we need at home, employers turn to cross border recruitment. But also consider this, America is a nation of immigrants, some of them here illegally, that could fill engineering and technology positions if they were legal. You see the issue?

Right now, major engineering and technology companies virtually have their hands tied when it comes to hiring outside of the U.S. They find a good candidate, but getting the permission to hire them is a dog and pony show with immigration issues. The irony is that our universities train some of the top people in these fields; talent that wants to stay in the U.S. and talent that is not American born. Thanks to the mess the immigration system is in, nine times out of ten, these individuals are driven out of the country instead. How does this make sense? It doesn’t, and more people are realizing this.

Immigration lawyers have known this for years, but no one listens. Employers have known this for years, but no one listens. Immigrants have known this for years, but no one listens. Now, there are some beginning to pay attention to the message. Business leaders and well placed political advocates are pointing out that our ability to compete in the global marketplace depends on our talent. If we, as a nation, are indeed serious about making changing to resolve the lousy economic situation, we need to provide the tools to succeed to those who are working to become our future, and that means doing something about the immigration system.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

This is an interesting situation and it serves to point out that those who do not think immigration and immigration reform is an issue sometimes get a rude awakening. It is no secret that the government has been seriously pursuing immigration enforcement in a big way, racking up large numbers of deportations.

This story involves a big hit to a national chain restaurant that employed hundreds of undocumented workers. As the result of a silent raid, one where Immigration and Customs Enforcement examines a company’s records, the national chain was found to have over 500 undocumented workers. The Denver-based company also had to lay off over half of their 900 workers in Minnesota and lost countless others in Virginia and Washington.

Needless to say, this move just about halted the company, and left it in the awkward situation of having virtually no one to run their chains. The managers that they did have left were scrambling to find replacements. This became a serious issue, as qualified workers are hard to find and to be honest, despite claims that undocumented workers are taking jobs away from Americans, the fact is few Americans want restaurant or agricultural work. Where it once only took ten interviews to find a qualified worker, managers reported interviewing up to 40 candidates to find one person to fill a position.

As a net result of losing all those workers in one swoop, the head of the restaurant chain suddenly became a proponent of overhauling the immigration system. He got the message and now had one for the government, and it is simple – fix this type of situation as something needs to be done about it. Come to think of it, if you look at what those who are for reform want, it’s the very same thing – just fix what is broken and let’s get on with our lives.

One of the suggestions to fix situations where Americans don’t want the jobs, but someone has to fill the positions is a temporary guest-worker program for the agricultural sector. However, that kind of a solution does not work when employers need qualified labor 365 days a year. In this particular case, the restaurant chain expects to have 165 outlets in operation in 2012. This is an operation that will ultimately have about 30,000 workers, half of which are Latinos.

Immigration is certainly messed up. Is someone going to fix it? Who knows?
Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It likely does not come as much of a surprise that Arizona’s Sheriff Arpaio may be in hot water again. Just recently, the Department of Justice issued a report that said he had violated the Fourth Amendment and Title VI because he practiced “unconstitutional policing”. That may well be the case, however it also seems that he keeps getting elected, year after year, because of his unconstitutional approach to keeping crime down.

The major complaint in the report is that the sheriff’s department carries out the most outrageous forms of racial profiling in the nation. In fact, one of the report’s authors commented that he has never seen tactics like this go on in other jurisdictions. This is the first time though that the sheriff has been called out in such a public manner by the current Administration, which may signal a change of policy for the coming election.

Until this report, the response from Capitol Hill has been fairly low key other than launching a challenge to Arizona’s SB 1070 bill. And, until now, the current Administration has been working to expand immigration enforcement with its Secure Communities program.

What we have here is a report generated by an inquiry begun under George W. Bush, released just prior to a critical election, although it may be argued that all elections are critical. With this one however, Obama needs support from the very people he seemingly abandoned by not enacting comprehensive immigration reform – the Latino community.

Here then is an interesting question. How will this report affect Presidential candidates who backed Arpaio? Good question and only time will reveal the voting results for 2012. The major issue is support for Obama, and whether or not this will manifest itself since he did not act on his immigration reform promises. Latinos wanted instant reform, but they got nothing. Thus, this latest condemnation of Arpaio and the Administration, for stumbling ahead and opening the door for more racist practices and discrimination via enforcement, may be all the Latino voting population needs to choose a different candidate.

What we have here is the Department of Homeland Security cutting the sheriff’s access to federal immigration programs because of the report, and quiet elation that the question of immigration reform will once more have to be put back on the table. In other words, while the report slams the sheriff and Obama, it may well accomplish something good. That however, remains to be seen.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

While this might not come as any great surprise to some, others found it shocking. The man who put together Arizona’s highly inflammatory and controversial immigration law was voted out of office. This Arizona law was heavily debated, and other statutes of a similar nature are now in the courts. While this law was considered to be tough, the worst one was in Alabama and caused a big backlash that is expected to drive major changes.

These uproars over immigration reform legislation have many wondering if the heavy emphasis on decreasing illegal immigration has gone too far. It appears from the news, the rumors and the rumblings in the various states that many are not happy with the lack of federal government direction. Many think that things have run off the rails and gone overboard?

Let’s look at the latest media reports from Alabama, the state with the toughest immigration enforcement laws. Despite the fact that they stand behind their law, and think it was the right thing to do, they are now amending it due to serious criticism from business owners and residents. It appears that their laws had unintended consequences that went far beyond trying to deter illegal immigrants.

The story about what happened to a German executive would have had its moments of hilarity, but he did not find anything funny about what happened to him. He was in Alabama and driving a rental vehicle without proper identification. He only had a German ID and was on a trip to the U.S. to visit the Mercedes manufacturing plant located in the state. Prior to the new and supposedly improved law, he would only have received a ticket. Under the new law, he needed to produce a valid ID card or run the risk of being tossed in jail and thoroughly questioned about his immigration status. You can see how awkward that would be.

The awkwardness does not stop there though. The wording of the law is brutally convoluted and says that law enforcement needs proof of legal status for any transaction between a person and the state or a political subdivision of the state. Say what? So people could face criminal charges for just about anything. That is obviously something they will need to fix. The state acknowledges that they do need to fix it, which begs the question of how the law got passed in the first place with loopholes.

All eyes should be focused on the White House in the midst of this avoidable debacle. The states are passing their own laws because Washington is not properly enforcing the existing federal laws, not to mention the fact that these laws have not been replaced with anything better. So far, the prospect of these laws changing is pretty dim.

Above the din of clashing politicians is the lament of states that want some action. They are tired of running out of money and state resources being channeled to illegal immigrants. They want to serve their legal residents first. It is a good point. Just what will happen next is anyone’s guess.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Here we are, how many years past the initial proclamation that immigration reform was just around the corner, and we still have not turned the corner. Either it is a very contentious battle or someone cannot get their act together. Frankly, most people would opt for number two – someone cannot get their act together. Evidently, no matter what politicians say, their actions speak louder than their words.

They say what one part of the electorate wants to hear. Then they do what the other part of the electorate wants them to do. To say that would likely result in mixed metaphors, inaction, and stalling tactics would be a major understatement.

If you want to see whiplash in action, try listening to some of the pre-campaign rhetoric. It is truly amazing, if only it were true. For example, Newt Gingrich once said he endorsed an individual mandate for health reform. He dropped that position after the “HillaryCare” debates in the 1990s. Interestingly enough, Obama picked up that same position and ran with it. Look what we don’t have now.

Gingrich’s remarks on immigration enforcement, which summed up in its entirety goes like this: if you are in the U.S. now, with no ties to the country, go home. If you have ties, pay taxes and obey the laws, we will not forcefully boot you out. Really? Then what has been happening over the last few years that caused the government to proudly boast about its increased deportations? Have the ICE raids stopped?

Being that this is such a political issue, those remarks lit a fire. Mitt Romney said Gingrich was, in essence, trolling for more illegal immigrations. Michele Bachmann said he was advocating amnesty for everyone, and Rick Perry, who really should remain nameless for his recent series of blunders relating to the DREAM Act, said secure borders were the ticket.

Anyone know where Newt sits now? Not really, which might be just the way he wanted it to come off. After all, he really only said that the first step in immigration reform needed to start with controlling the border. Well alright then, that means securing over 11 million illegal immigrants inside the United States. What then? Newt says be discrete about applying deportation, and do not hand out blanket forgiveness.

This is actually plain old common sense. In other words, this is nothing new, and continues more of the same old policy just articulated a slightly different way. This may mean the 2012 election should elect candidates that espouse the principals of common sense. It is rather doubtful that this would work, which still leaves immigration reform up in the air.

Most illegal immigrants will eventually leave under their own steam if they’ve got the money. That is already happening in this dismal economy. And if push comes to shove, most prosecutors would rather deport the bad guys who are a threat, not the ones who make an effort to contribute to the community. And most Americans? What do they want?

From recent polls, it seems 42 percent favor a balanced approach between border enforcement and a path to legalization. On the other hand, 36 percent want to see the enforcement model – period. In other words, right down the middle and in balance is what the solution seems to be. Let’s see if that position gets elected in 2012.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

What if the Administration took a run at immigration reform and broke it down into manageable chunks? Would it eventually make the necessary changes? Those are valid questions, and they are also tough to answer. With an election looming, most of the campaign rhetoric is about electric fences, mobilization of the military and moats to keep the borders safe. Lost in the shuffle is what, if anything, the government is doing about immigration reform.

Most people assume immigration reform is actually dead, and if you spend any time reading the reports and watching TV, you would also reach that decision. The point – nothing has been done since Obama was elected that has made any difference to the immigration system, other than that border security was stepped up and deportations increased, which kind of defeats the purpose of reform.

Obama says he wants to make it easier for illegal immigrants to become American citizens, but that may well be hard to do when his enforcement team is hard at work deporting those same people so fast their heads spin. Talk about a disconnect between what Obama says and does. It makes for good media coverage, but it certainly does not get much done other than alienate the very people he swears he wants to help.

Down on the floor of the House, the new representatives are making small changes to help bring order to an immigration system that is out of control, thus helping to slowly change their anti-immigration image. The kicker though is that even though they want to introduce reform in small increments, they still want to also push hard for better border control. If this split personality scenario continues, nothing will be done which may be the whole point in the first place.

If they hope to repair the damage that has been done to the Hispanic voting population, they hardly have a chance. The damage has already been done, and the block of votes that got behind Obama the first time will not be there again. Frankly, it is not just political damage that is part of the fallout over the failure to do something about immigration reform; there is also the economic impact and upheaval to an economy that hardly needs to be bludgeoned any further.

The bottom line is what? The bottom line is that the system is not working, which should not come as a surprise to anyone. But just who is going to do something about it?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Despite presidential promises that immigration reform would be passed and things would change, what has happened instead is that the borders are even more locked down with stricter enforcement measures being put into place, and more than one million people were deported over the last three years. You could call this a classic case of saying one thing and doing another.

So what is really going on? In a word, politics is what is going on. The current U.S. Congress is primarily Republican, and they are dead set against immigration amnesty, one of the main reasons the DREAM Act never saw the light of day no matter what the House said. The composition of the administration is such that Obama is having a tough time finding someone to move his immigration reforms ahead.

Failing to find enough favor to move immigration reform forward the way it was envisioned, Obama has announced something he refers to as prosecutorial discretion. What? Ideally, this newer policy gives law enforcement the authority to decide to prosecute or not prosecute (and to what extent) the law in any given case on a case by case basis. Put another way, ICE or prosecutors can use good judgment in deciding whether they want to file deportation cases, permit a deferred action or go ahead and enforce a deportation order.

In this instance, apparently the discretion may be employed based on the guidelines spelled out in a policy memo. That is hardly a comforting thought either, as one person’s idea of discretion is rarely the same as another’s and usually nowhere near what the official line is supposed to be.

Despite the nod to go ahead and use discretion, deportations are not slowing down. A mélange of all types of illegal immigrants are being booted back across the border without regard to the families left behind or taking into account that those numbers also include people with no criminal history whatsoever.

Just what are the guidelines where discretion may come into play? The memo says low priority deportees can get their cases closed administratively and granted employment authorizations. High priority cases or criminals are to be deported. This sounded good to thousands of illegal immigrants in the midst of deportation hearings, as this choice to utilize discretion may mean their case would be dismissed. But there is no such luck. Instead, most of the requests for prosecutorial discretion have been flatly turned down. In fact, the review of 300,000 removal cases in various pilot programs has not even been started. And there are some that call this progress?

While this nod to making a difference on the grassroots level is nice, and has the potential to deal with illegals that are no threat to U.S. society with a measure of common sense, there seems to be difficulty in actually implementing it. When is the Administration going to truly do something about immigration reform, instead of nitpicking at it?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Immigration reform has been a long road to essentially nothing. In other words, there has been more talk than action and more saying than actual doing. It is not for the lack of having top-notch people working on the finer points of an immigration reform policy, nor is it because the idea is not a good one in many respects. After all, the immigration system as it stands today is badly broken and something needs to be done. But when will reform happen? This is a long, unanswered question.

And now, the same high-level people with the best of intentions to make changes to the immigration system have started resigning from their appointed posts. For instance, the former police chief of Sacramento, Arturo Venegas Jr., just recently quit trying to reform immigration laws. He is not the first person to quit, and the list includes some very well-known governors of large states.

Why are they quitting? They are quitting largely because they feel the Administration is wrong in supporting immigration enforcement policies that are making the process of revamping the system virtually impossible. It is much like trying to go uphill pushing a piano while a train is on the other side pushing back. You may get some sort of equilibrium for a short period of time, but ultimately the train will win.

Many of the people resigning from the process of fixing the immigration system hold the belief that Obama needs to suspend the Secure Communities program because it is arresting way too many wrong people. This has evidently been mentioned to the President and others on more than one occasion, with no appreciable results and no evident action.
And, when the time came for a final report on changes to the system, it did not include stricter controls for the police.

That prompted five members of the committee to quit; five members that were leaders in their fields of expertise, including policing, labor and the law. Where is this process going? That is one tough question and the five that quit could not come up with an answer that made any sense.

The Secure Communities program mandates that the FBI share fingerprint data for every individual locked up in local jails by Homeland Security. The idea behind this program is to capture illegal aliens that are dangerous criminals. What is happening instead is that illegal immigrants are being sent to jail for minor crimes. The statistics speak for themselves in this matter.

In 2010 there were 392,862 immigrants deported and 29 percent of them did not have criminal records. Put another way, 197,090 had zero convictions and 195,772 did have convictions, but how many of these convictions were for serious crimes? It seems the people being nabbed are those who may end up in a routine traffic stop or victims of a crime that had to deal with police over this incident.

Is there a backlash to this type of behavior from law enforcement and the government? Indeed there is, because now immigrant communities will no longer talk to the police to report crimes or offer tips. You only have to read the story about New York Governor Cuomo suspending that state’s participation in Secure Communities for that very reason to know it is a problem. New York’s police force had a hard time doing their job in the face of the immigrant community’s fears of being deported for no real valid reason.

Cuomo is not alone. Joining him in pulling out of the program was Illinois, along with Boston not wanting to continue to be a part of the program either. How many more states will take control of their jails and programs and say no to being in a program that goes contrary to what immigration reform is supposedly attempting to accomplish? And the bigger question – when will immigration reform ever come to pass?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

In a recent news report by the U.S. Treasury Department, it looks very much like illegal aliens are filing fraudulent child tax returns and receiving billions of dollars illegally. Figures show the amount handed out in 2010 by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was around the $4.2 billion mark. It goes without saying that this is money the economy desperately needs and begs the question of what is the government doing about this issue?

At the moment, it appears the matter is being glossed over and being held in abeyance until someone can come up with an idea to deal with the matter. Illegal aliens are using the additional child tax credit in a fraudulent manner, which was originally approved to hand out more money to taxpayers who could not claim a full tax credit for their children.

How is the system being abused? It is being abused because all wages earned, and that means even money earned illegally, is taxed. However, since illegal aliens are not able to get a valid social security number, the federal government has to track that income in some manner and collect their monies. They use what is referred to as individual taxpayer identification numbers that are given to taxpayers who cannot get a social security card.

A quick look at the figures being used by the Treasury Department show that illegal immigrants claimed $924 million in 2005 and that number has shot up to $4.2 billion in 2010. What is going on? The report points a finger at what they consider to be the problem; individual taxpayer identification numbers are handed out no matter what the applicant’s immigration status is because residents and non-residents may have a U.S. filing/reporting mandate under the IRS Code.

Generally speaking, the identification numbers are to report federal taxes – period. That means the IRS gives out the numbers to help individuals to comply with the tax laws and to account for taxes and payments for illegals who are not eligible for a social security number. The number does not allow a person to work in the U.S. or offer eligibility for Social Security benefits, but the IRS does handle claims for the additional child tax credit that those with identification numbers file.

The main problem with this setup is that the credit may be claimed even if a filer does not pay income tax, which means there is a lot of money going out for no good reason. In other words, this particular loophole has the potential to cost the federal government a lot of money that should be put towards achieving something for a nation that desperately needs to be pulled out of the downward economic spiral.

It is quite obvious that this inadvertent incentive for aliens to come and live and work in the U.S. without being authorized to so do flies directly in the face of both federal policy and law. Does one hand not know what the other one is doing? Or does the government wish to continue to hand out free money to illegal residents? More to the point, when are they going to stop giving out money to fraudsters?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Many pundits seem to think that the reason the numbers of illegals trying to come to the U.S. has dropped so precipitously is that the economy is lousy. Think about that for a minute. The economy is indeed in a royal mess and the country’s credit rating has been downgraded, which is not a good sign. Why then would people come to try and find work in this kind of atmosphere? There is hardly any demand for workers, other than the usual ones needed for seasonal work. Other areas that used to hire them have dried up, waiting for the almost dead economy to be revived, which might be a long wait.

Historically, when the economy does kick into high gear, the demand for workers increases and so does the number of undocumented aliens coming across the border to find work. Call it a symbiotic relationship or call it serendipity, but these two factors often go hand-in-hand.

Track back to 2008 when the election campaign was in full swing and immigration reform was a main part in Obama’s platform. He won by a resounding victory, thanks in part to the Latino vote, and yet, what has he done to really push immigration reform or at least the reforms he campaigned on?

So, what we have here is a strange picture – a President calling for a new movement to assist illegal aliens, and their families, and referring to that movement (whatever that might be) as a moral imperative. Supposedly, he is now aiming to administratively evade the Immigration Act to make his political dream come true, and is also trying to change the immigration laws. At this point, you are probably thinking, “Say what?”

This movement is also taking place against a backdrop of undocumented workers holding steady, a screaming debt crisis that no one seems to know how to handle, the existing government cutting benefits to its own citizens and rancorous opposition to any changes. And somewhere in all this mess are the remnants of comprehensive immigration reform. When do you think you will see that pass?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The immigration debate has been all over the map for so many years that people sometimes forget where it all started and what it is supposed to mean. Certainly the media has been full of reports on this debate, and they have covered everything possible from amnesty as a solution to increased border patrol, and even coverage about the DREAM Act to the other side with mass deportations and raids.

Has anyone ever thought that the whole debate might not be focused and that there might be another approach to this? Has anyone given any thought to what would happen financially if the U.S. continues its massive deportation program? Consider this: mass deportation forces those who depend on an undocumented illegal to use public assistance; businesses would be out of luck finding labor; and, enforcing such a huge exit would create a need for way more police than exist right now. Essentially, mass deportation does absolutely nothing to deal with the illegal alien problem.

Amnesty does not resolve the problem either. Does anyone recall the last amnesty in 1987? That round legalized an estimated two million illegal people. As a result of that program, there was an influx of millions of other aliens coming to the U.S. That is why there are now 12 million aliens in the country. Another amnesty would likely boost that number to close to 20 million, adding in all the others that came along with those who were granted amnesty. How does this take care of the border control issue? Furthermore, how does it deal with the illegal immigration that would still happen? The answer is, it does not resolve any of these issues.

This is not a problem that happened overnight, and accordingly, it is not a problem that will be solved overnight either. The way the government and others are trying to deal with this conundrum is to try and do the whole thing at once. If they choose to approach it like a lawyer preparing for a case, dealing with one issue at a time with careful deliberation and attention to each issue as it is raised, this might not be the major fiasco that it is today.

The other thing most people seem to be missing is that every part of the immigration system varies, and using one solution for the whole system just will not work. The immigration system as it stands right now is too unwieldy. This is why politicians and the general public cannot wrap their heads around the issue as a whole.

What is the bottom line? The bottom line is that there needs to be some new ideas, because there have not been any for a long time and the whole situation is bogged down in rhetoric. Rhetoric does not move our nation any closer to an immigration reform solution.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Florida seems about ready to open a can of worms over comprehensive immigration reform and it may well be interesting to watch the politicians balance on the sharp picket fence. One politico, Adam Putnam, the new commissioner of the Agriculture department, is not happy with a gangbusters approach to illegal immigration.

Putnam has actually been around long enough to have a fairly well developed opinion about CIR on the federal and state levels and he is worried that some of the latest proposals to deal with illegal immigration will end up mimicking Arizona’s hardball laws. His point of view, which is an interesting one, but perhaps a bit skewed, suggests that the adoption of a law like the one in Arizona may boomerang and damage Florida’s reputation for being the focal point of tourism and trade.

It is not a major secret that Florida is a preferred location for international R&D, investment capital and international tourism, particularly from those who hail from Latin America. In other words, if Florida does the wrong thing handling the immigration issue, they can expect to pay dearly in lost economic opportunities. Putnam feels it is best to walk softly and carry a big conciliatory stick, even though he does acknowledge that reform is necessary, but at the federal level.

On the other side of the fence, Florida Governor Rick Scott favors an Arizona-style law and he has stuck by that opinion ever since he was sworn in, early in January. Scott is not averse to seeing change at the state level, but the issue remains that only Congress is able to negotiate with foreign countries and change laws relating to student visas, work permits and border patrol questions. Therein lies the potential for a mighty political clash, stoked by the governor saying things that suggest the federal government stay out of his state.

Putnam’s larger concern is how largely unenforceable laws, which may well result in human rights violations, are going to affect agriculture; an industry that offers more than 400,000 jobs. Thus, he is a proponent of reform, but done carefully and with common sense. The last thing that Florida needs is for a law to impinge on the ability of the powers that be to hand out temporary visas for agricultural workers; a disaster in wolf’s clothing, as Americans do not want the jobs.

So, where is CIR these days? Either it is buried in a hail of bullets, hiding in immigration raids and deportations, or it is still somewhere waiting for the politicians to get with the program. It may be a long wait.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

This interesting point of view came from a man who followed the “system” to become an American citizen. He went from a student visa to a work visa to a work permit and then a green card. Within three years, he was an American citizen. He did it legally and used the existing system to get from point A to point B. He does not understand why people suggest that the immigration system is broken beyond repair and needs to be fixed.

This man’s opinion is that immigration is legally achievable, and within the system that is currently in place. Further, he feels that the system is there for a reason and that people have broken it, and now they want to government to fix it for them. It is an interesting point of view and one that may have a great deal of merit if you stop to think about it for a minute – sort of like the chicken and the egg question. Definitely food for thought.

This brings up a whole passel of questions relating to federal authority, what laws can be defended in a court of law, which laws will not fly in court, how the laws may affect various citizens and other constitutional questions. Call it a melting pot of immigration issues, flavored with the uncertainty of where a state fits into the picture.  Immigration is largely a federal concern, with states attempting to deal with their immigration problems in their own fashion and not always doing such a fine job. Think Arizona.

What is happening right now is that the federal government is not doing anything about CIR and this has forced the States to play in their own sandbox and make up immigration rules and laws as they go. The resulting dog’s breakfast of federal laws versus state laws is undeniably a complete mess, which makes the point of view that if it really “isn’t broke, don’t fix it” a very refreshing and piquant point of view.

Of course, it’s a point of view that very few others may agree with, but, perhaps it is time for some common sense to prevail – something that is undoubtedly in very short supply in the face of political agendas. Maybe it is time for another agenda; one that says we are the authors of our own misfortune and need to abide by what is in place and stop trying to bend the rules to our benefit.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

New faces in new places in the House mean 2011 will bring more stalling, more confusion and more debate from scratch over CIR. Have we been there and done that? Yes, indeed we have. But it looks like we will be going there again with the latest crop of elected representatives. House control has now gone from the Democrats to the Republicans and as a result of the flip Congress’s point of view on immigration will likely go whichever way the wind prevails, politically speaking.

Where the House and Congress were once talking about helping young immigrants here illegally become legal, they are now showing signs of wanting to debate whether or not kids born to illegal immigrants should get automatic U.S. citizenship. It is enough to give you a severe case of whiplash. Where is this going? It is likely going where the GOP would like it to go for 2012 and they are hoping to snag a large share of the Latino vote to win House and Senate majority. You might want to seriously think about that development.

Things on the agenda indicate there will be legislation to test the interpretation of the 14th Amendment; the Amendment that grants citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. There are also signs that there will be a stepped up drive to force employers into using a web-based system that still has glitches in it, to E-Verify their workers are all legal. It also looks like cities that do not do their fair share of flagging people in the country illegally and dealing with them to reduce their numbers will get federal grants curbed.

And, as you already know, the DREAM Act did not get passed. None of these signposts bode well for immigration reform. It is also looking like House Republicans will come up with legislation aimed at deporting illegals back to where they came from and trying to deter anyone else from following in their footsteps. What does this all mean?

What this all means is that those Democrats still in the Senate are going to walk a thin line between CIR and harsh enforcement measures, because they want to stay on the good side of the Latino community. With that firmly fixed in their minds, they will not be able to bring anything to the floor that packs a potential wallop, like sweeping changes to immigration laws or for that matter anything that might give legal status to those already here illegally. In other words, 2011 might very well be rife with rancorous debate and not much action. Good for the news media, bad for those who badly need immigration reform.

Tucked into all of these potential machinations is one wild card – the president, who holds veto powers. However, having said that, he has also stated he wants employers to clean up their act. Accordingly, he may be in the position of power broker to come up with a deal just like he did with health care and tax cuts. He is still aiming to get the DREAM Act done.

This may all seem like smoke and mirrors and maybe it is when you consider that there were 393,000 deportations in 2010. Hardly the right thing to be doing if the idea is to make the illegals legal. Food for thought, that’s for sure.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

All along, advocates for the DREAM Act have insisted that there be a rational, thoughtful approach to how this is handled. They suggested moderation, accommodation, acceptance and above all else, some form of movement on the political front to deal with the issue of young people who were brought to this country as babies, adolescents or toddlers. These are young people who did not chose to come here on their own, but were brought here by their families.

A lot of these young adults have chosen to go to school or even enlist in the military. Many of them are undocumented and live each day of their lives wondering when the other shoe is going to drop; when they may be caught and deported back to a place they don’t even remember as being home. This conundrum is the major rasion d’etre behind the DREAM ACT. Is there a way to allow these young adults to gain legal status and qualify for citizenship? Well, yes there is, according to the DREAM Act, which has yet to see the light of day.

Unfortunately, the DREAM Act has become, like CIR, another political football. Also like CIR, the DREAM Act seems to be, once again, on the backburner in terms of on the Hill legislation progress or lack thereof. What we have seen is that the Democrats want the Hispanic vote to stand by them, which is a difficult proposition given the lack of real progress on immigration issues.

On the other side of the fence are the Republicans, who need to make friends with the Hispanic voters. However, will their promises of reform or progress be any different than what is currently being flouted about the Hill? A good question. Likely any political promise to deal with CIR, the DREAM Act or anything else relating to immigration is doomed for rhetorical comment – period. Action seems to be missing, much to the dismay of thousands of people whose lives are in limbo thanks to the current immigration policies in force.

What we all need to realize is that the DREAM Act is not amnesty. It is a legitimate way for young Latinos to become American citizens. It is not a free ride. Immigrants have to be younger than 16 when they came to the USA and have lived here for at least 5 years. They need to have a high school diploma or GED or be going to university or other higher learning institute. They need to be of good moral character.

Those who qualify would get a 6-year conditional resident status and then may get a green card and permission to live and work in the U.S. permanently. They may attempt to apply for citizenship after they get the green card. It is hardly a free ride or amnesty, is it?

What’s going to happen to the DREAM Act? If anyone knows, it would be nice if they shared it with everyone else waiting to find out what will happen to their lives on hold.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It is interesting to note that just a short two years ago, the Hispanic population was promised, just about on bended knee, that immigration reform was coming and that the DREAM Act would be passed should Obama be elected. Of course, economic recovery was also promised, and look at where the nation is now.

Flash forward to this fall around about election time, or just prior to it. The Democrats were out stumping along the campaign trail and they wanted the electorate, in particular the Latinos, to stick it out with them. To stay with them for the duration. The duration of what? Speeches, commercials, radio and TV appearances carried pleas for voters to hang in there and make another commitment to the Obama administration. After all, they were not scary or extreme like the other guys; the other guys who would not adequately represent them in the House on the Hill. Now, that begs the question about adequate representation to date, doesn’t it?

To boil all the rhetoric down into one common theme, you’d get the same thing that was said those two short years ago, that the government would work on CIR and the DREAM Act, more jobs and a brighter economy. And just what has happened so far? It is not that the Latino voters weren’t holding out and hopeful that those promises would come true, it’s that they didn’t come true, despite the politicians being given more than adequate time to deliver on their promises.

During the session prior to the election, there was a two week window where the progress, or lack of it, was being watched very closely by Hispanic voters. The lack of progress and the dismal looking future for CIR and the Dream Act are bellwethers for how the Latin population will vote in 2012. The original campaign slogan of “Yes, we can,” has been lost somewhere along the way, leaving many to wonder if it should now be “No, we really can’t.”

Based on the election results, the future looks like it may shape up to be interesting and likely highly controversial, with politicians re-visiting Latino hot buttons dealing with CIR and the DREAM Act. If anyone is taking bets, they might want to give some thought to a whole new government on the Hill in 2012 and another uphill battle to deal with immigration reform.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Mid-term results from the election sent a clear message to the administration that mending fences is in order and shoring up support for various programs even more critical. Can this happen? It is too early to tell, but based on the rather confusing mix of other issues involved for those voting, plans for the economy, health care reform, guest worker programs and border security may be back in limbo once again. It reminds you of the saying that “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”

The interesting thing about the divisive voting in the election was that people came out not to show support for the other side, but to vote for anyone but the ones in power. The numbers at the polls were down dramatically and many kept their vote at home, as well, as a form of protest.

Across the board, many Democrats were feeling the pinch and were telling voters if the immigration problem was not resolved, things were going to be touch and go for them as a credible party. That is perhaps a bit of understatement. The issue is that no one really knows what to do about immigration reform, because it’s been flogged around the block so many times that no one has a clear view of what needs to be done or if it can still be done. Perhaps, in hindsight, they never did have a truly clear view of the magnitude of what needed to be done in the first place. Food for thought.

Now that the numbers in the House are shaky and the president will need to devote more time to garnering support for his plans for the future for CIR and health reform, to name just two, one might well ask how he can move these two things forward when he’s trying to get more support to do that. The likely answer, from the point of view of an outsider, is that things will be on stall yet again and may be on stall for the foreseeable future. Or in other words, here we go again.

Once again, the political landscape is all over the place and accomplishing anything major, such as CIR or health care reform, is going to be a major uphill battle. Be prepared for fiery rhetoric, waffling, changes of mind, cross platforms and cross purposes. It was ever thus that when politics became the main underpinning to the success or failure of major bills that could do the country a lot of good, that the final opinion would be they would agree to disagree and not move forward for the good of the country; a country who evidently doesn’t really know what it wants when it comes to CIR and health care.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Unfortunately, Americans don’t understand what comprehensive immigration reform is and honestly, it’s a good bet the politicians don’t understand what it really means either. Mostly, it seems to be a moving target whose reason for being changes depending on when an election happens.

Here are some good questions to ask with regard to CIR. Does CIR mean amnesty? Does it mean stepped up raids and deportation? Does it mean stricter border enforcement? Does is mean incarceration followed by deportation? What will the nation do with the approximately 12 million or so illegal immigrants in the country? How will this problem ever be nipped in the bud?

The answers are going to be very hard to come up with, since every person in the U.S. has a personal opinion of what CIR really is, which can range from a fair system that allows illegal immigrants to come to the country and be given status to a zero tolerance of illegal immigrants that are apprehended and shipped back home. In other words, everyone has an opinion, everyone thinks something should be done about the problem, but no one seems to have an answer to what needs to be done – still.

There are several camps on all sides of this hot button issue looking for reasonable solutions. The most common opinion that most have in the GOP is that the border needs to be secure before the country even starts to look at the larger issues involved in immigration reform.  The fact that those two issues seem diametrically opposed to each other seems to be something that a large portion of the population is missing and yet the debate over what to do continues, apparently, without a clear grasp of the issues.

Another camp makes reference to enforcing the laws that are already on the books; something that has been done for years and really isn’t a new issue. In general, this comment typically refers to the fact that companies/employers are mandated to fill out I-9 forms for all their workers in order to check their immigration status.

The purpose of these forms, if they are actually filled out, is to find out if undocumented workers are getting jobs. And therein lies another conundrum; forms that are not filled out or not filled out accurately. Don’t think that happens? It most certainly does, and in fact, there is a large underground “economy” of undocumented workers whose status is questionable. Yet they still have a job. They have jobs because Americans don’t want the kinds of jobs immigrants do – seasonal agricultural work. And that’s another can of worms.

But, back to the question of what is comprehensive immigration reform? Currently, it’s a question that really doesn’t have an answer or it has a wildly different answer depending on who you talk to about it. In either event, it’s a concept going nowhere, mores the pity.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Republicans on a committee dealing with this issue are arguing that illegal immigrants take jobs away from the unemployed. Democrats argue that if unemployed Americans wanted those agricultural jobs, they’d already be working in them. The fact that they are not sends an interesting message to the politicians who have yet to acknowledge that migrant workers are what keep the country’s produce moving.

Sometimes there are issues that are best left alone, unless the government wants to poke about and make things worse. The burning issue in relation to immigrants working in agricultural jobs is that their presence means Americans don’t have that work. While that is true on the surface, the question then becomes where are the Americans who will work this kind of job?

On one side of the fence is a group that thinks allowing low skilled guest workers to take jobs from poor whites, black and legal Hispanics is counterintuitive. On the other side of the fence is the faction that says some agricultural jobs are not a good fit for unemployed people. These days it would seem that the issue is having work and paying the bills, not whether or not the job is a good fit. If this is to say that some people don’t like toiling in the fields, then why would they think the American taxpayers should pick up their living expenses in the form of welfare?

Evidently, most of the agricultural jobs are seasonal, which means workers would have to move where the work is located. Wages are also considered to be very low for the number of hours required. Also at issue is that migrant farm laborers have fewer rights than other laborers.

These three factors are essentially a turnoff for American workers. That said, a job is a job and if someone does not have one, but there is work to be had, it’s hardly acceptable to not take work because it’s not attractive. Today’s economy dictates that people need to do what they can to get food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.

The ultimate hitch with this Rubik’s cube of a problem is that without enough migrant workers to pull the product out of the field, agricultural production could stop, growers lose crops and farms go out of business. Since the nation relies of farms for food, this would be a crisis of major proportions. Right now, the legal method to let migrant workers into America is extremely slow. Many argue that Visa reform is critical.

Workers in the fields now are under a shaky H-2A guest worker program, which is highly unreliable. This leaves employers with the choice of taking that slow route when they need workers immediately, or taking documents that look good from migrant workers who may be here illegally, or hiring Americans, if any chose to apply.

The number of workers needed to keep the wheels of agriculture turning in the U.S. is 2 million and only 5,000 visas are earmarked each year for migrant workers. Where is the remainder of workers to come from? This is the conundrum yet to be solved.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

When the DREAM Act was defeated, the president went on TV to talk about immigration reform as he knows it. He was asked if he would use administrative powers to take care of the outrageous abuses of the immigration system. This is lieu of a direct path to citizenship via a stalled CIR Bill. The answer was interesting, because Obama said it was hard to do administratively.

This was an interesting stance, as it’s fairly well known that putting a stop to mass deportations would be easy to do administratively. There isn’t a law anywhere on the books that says or directs the Department of Homeland Security to obsessively strive for record breaking deportation numbers, which is what is happening right now. The fact is if the administration wanted to stop what some regard as an obscene practice, they could. Period. Throw in an election and things inexplicably change.

What’s going on right now, in the face of a November election, is that deportation numbers are at an all time high and CIR is nowhere to be seen. In other words, nothing is being done about reform, unless it deals with enforcement.

It’s not politically correct to be seen supporting CIR, not when animosity in the country over this proposed bill is so high. Those supporting CIR may face a rough road during their campaign for re-election, which accounts for why so many politicians have seemingly changed sides and flip-flopped over this issue. The voters aren’t stupid. Many Latinos will be voting with their feet in the election by staying home or casting their ballot for the other guy.

A quick look back at this year so far shows no DREAM Act passed and no CIR. What does the government have to recommend it for re-election based on these two issues besides stepped up enforcement, which is not going over well. Dangling the carrot of passing the CIR after the election isn’t getting the response the politicians thought it would. In fact, in many states, the fate of the incumbents may lie in the balance based on their stance on CIR.

There is still no direct path to citizenship and seems that there isn’t one on its way. That does not bode well for the millions of immigrants who need to know what their status is or isn’t. Dangling a carrot in front of desperate people who are fed up with waiting isn’t a good tactic. The election may bring the nation some surprises.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

The election is just around the corner and some political pundits think the Senate may take another crack at the DREAM Act before they bail out and hit the hustings. In fact, it appears that some politicos are actually campaigning on the strength of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act; legislation that would offer residential status to specific students who came to the U.S. illegally.

While many thought this act would have been passed long before now, as it does not carry the same impact and drama as comprehensive immigration reform, it has instead languished in the voting circles in the Senate. Officially, it came within four votes of being a done deal (with the total needed being 60) to carry on forward in the Senate.

No one is quite sure what happened to those four votes, but the speculation is that this split will carry out to the campaign trail and quite possibly affect the passage of the DREAM Act in the future, simply because given the unprecedented hostility over CIR and health care reform, the government may not look the same when the election is done.

There is still a window of opportunity for the DREAM Act to pass before the chamber breaks for the fall election in November. There is a provision in the Senate that lets a bill be brought to the floor with two days notice, and this may happen at any time. Will it happen in relation to the DREAM Act? It could, but there seem to be a few other things getting in the way at the moment; like the scramble for support to make sure those currently in power are re-elected to carry on with the changes needed by the country as a whole.

But immigration is not just about the DREAM Act. The U.S. needs comprehensive immigration reform, which for the most part seems to have vanished. It certainly will not be passed this close to an election, but will it be passed when the politicians return? That will largely depend on the makeup of the House and Senate after the dust settles. In the meantime, the DREAM Act is seen as a hopeful precursor to the grand finale of a successful Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act being passed – sometime or other.

Sadly, if CIR does not make it into reality, into law, there is every reason to think that the whole process will start all over again. What a shameful waste of taxpayer’s time and money and a devastating blow to those who need immigration reform the most.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Usually, when someone promises you they are going to do something and then makes a big fuss about getting it done, people expect results. Much like a bride at the altar waiting for her groom, she expects him to show up after the promise of a wedding.

The promise of comprehensive immigration reform is slowly turning into a love affair gone sour between the administration and the Spanish-language community. That community turned out in droves (67 percent of the Hispanic vote) to elect Obama and now, the shine is off the brass ring. One only has to read the latest news to know the full extent of the disharmony brewing in the Hispanic community.

Certainly disharmony isn’t anything new when it comes to the subject of comprehensive immigration reform, but there was a lull for a period of time when the community got behind Obama and approved of his goals and choice of direction for the future of CIR. Now is a different story. There are a series of critical articles criticizing Obama for lack of action in fulfilling his promises.

The thing to remember is that the Hispanic community voted for Obama because the goal was CIR within one year. That went down the tubes when the debate got out of hand, and remains that way. In fact, the latest is even more aggressive enforcement, with nary a word said about the reformation of the system to allow illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

Unfortunately, stepped up enforcement is sending the wrong message to a community waiting for integration, not deportation and enforcement. But, that’s politics – do what works to get the votes, despite the fact that millions of people are waiting on a reform package they were promised over two years ago. It’s no wonder that today’s great debate is whether the administration has lost credibility and popularity. Most pundits would say it has lost both, which is hardly a good thing for its future. The biggest loss in popularity and credibility came when Arizona passed its infamous anti-illegal immigration law.

Here is something to ponder on for the future of the current administration: what would happen if that 67 percent of the Hispanic vote that helped elect the president takes a walk in the other direction? Consider this: the Hispanic vote could be the swing vote and is highly critical in 40 electoral contests in at least 12 states for the midterms in November. With the betrayed ruminations the Hispanic community, the midterms may be quite interesting, to say the least.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The lawsuit against the Arizona immigration law is a trigger point topic for many Americans. Some are for it because they feel the Obama administration has done nothing to promote comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). Others are against it, as they feel this type of lawsuit and the attitudes involved will be detrimental to CIR’s safe passage in the long-term. Despite all of those debates, the real question still remains: When is comprehensive immigration reform going to get passed?

The latest holdup appears to be the ever-increasing security at the border. While it seems to be almost an afterthought in speeches or other conversations lately, this topic really needs closer scrutiny, as the administration is devoting more than three-quarters of its time to enforcement.

In fact, statistics show that the U.S. is on track to deport a record number of illegal immigrants. This seems like a bit of a conundrum doesn’t it? Deport them and give them legal status when they come back. It is confusing, to say the least.

Here is something else that confuses people. If they are so quick to deport and step up border security, how does that speak to the chances of having a CIR bill passed? What is more important here, deportation or integration and an increased tax base?

The administration seems to be sending mixed signals about what its real aim is when it comes to reforming the immigration system. One thing is for sure, CIR is going nowhere fast and many illegal immigrants are going somewhere quickly. And while all of this is going on, it’s easy to wonder about some of the legal ramifications here in terms of human rights.

While deportations will be at an all time high very soon, those people who will be forced to go home number even less that those who are in limbo; the legal wasteland of asylum cases and deportation hearings that have not been heard. As of June 2010, just about 248,000 cases were pending.

Here is even grimmer news. The average time it takes to wrap up immigration cases is about 459 days – which is a year and three months. In some states, such as California, immigrants have a 640-day wait, and one location in that state indicates the backlog is at least 1,300 days.

Of course, there are other reasons why the U.S. has this enormous backup in the immigration system. Stepped up enforcement, which involves things like auditing businesses that hire immigrants; the expansion of programs like Secure Communities (police target illegal immigrants with criminal records) and illegal immigrants targeted for possible gang ties all prolong the problem. While there are certainly some bad apples among illegal immigrants, the same may be said of the American population as a whole. Just look to the prisons for verification.

In the meantime, the pressure for CIR continues to mount because people want to see the system overhauled and a clear path delineated for illegal immigrants to obtain legal status. However, in the deafening absence of political agreement, the debate and the bill’s passage is still stalled. This leaves stepped up enforcement as the politically correct alternative at the moment. Does one hand really know what the other one is doing?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The only one thing that remains a given – as far as it can be, that is – is the fact that the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act 2009 has been tabled. That should mean that the subcommittees working on it, citizenship, refugees, international law, border security and immigration, should really enact it. But Bill HR4321 languishes on the table.

Politics has once again reared its ugly head and the fate of millions of immigrants hangs in limbo, while petty differences of opinion hold up a major bill that could change the lives of those involved. The premise behind this bill is a good one, and that is, if the system can be fixed by working together to find a complete and equitable solution that keeps the border secure, enforces the law and acknowledges the mixed heritage of Americans, it would be a win-win situation for all. It would ultimately mean that immigration would be driven by what is in the best economic interests of the nation and the American worker.

This sounds fine in theory. This sounds fine in debate. This sounds fine in a bill. However, that’s as far as it’s gotten – sounding fine. No one can seem to get it implemented due to politics. To accomplish comprehensive immigration reform, the political parties need to work together to make it happen for the people who elected them. That’s not happening because no one can agree on how to make it happen without stepping on a whole lot of toes.

This has been going on for too long. No wonder things are up in the air and comprehensive immigration reform is only proceeding on the enforcement front. It’s the easiest area to do something visible in. It’s rather obvious that the only way something will give is to shove politics to the side and get comprehensive immigration reform handled.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

It’s amazing how people coin various terms when they’re trying to make a point about something. The new term, “anchor babies,” likely would never have surfaced had it not been for the call for a reassessment of the 14th Amendment. Some feel that it wrongly protects the children of undocumented immigrants.

The whole debate started to heat up after U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham described the “drop and leave” tactics that he said seems to be growing in popularity with pregnant illegal aliens. It involves the mother coming to the U.S. for one reason – to have a child there. Doing that means the baby is granted American citizenship, which is an “anchor” that parents may use later for legal residency.

The interesting thing about Graham’s remarks is that at one time he (and John McCain) was an insistent promoter of comprehensive immigration reform. He wanted to find a way to offer undocumented and illegal aliens a legal way to become citizens.

Graham and a cadre of others have suddenly shuffled their political position to attacking the citizenship clause in the Constitution. It’s a typical political move, but disturbing nonetheless. It makes one wonder why anyone would believe what a politician says and brings new meaning to that old saying that actions speak louder than words. Likely, if voters paid more attention to political action in an election year than words, our representation in government may be totally different than what it is today.

This debate, in part, centers on the practice of a country granting birthright citizenship. The U.S. is one of 33 countries that allow this, despite what many hear on the news. The practice is called jus soli.

It is now not just a term used in discussions about comprehensive immigration reform, as it’s also raising its head when it comes to terrorist organizations and well-to-do birth tourists. Some politicians and pundits are arguing that terrorists are utilizing jus soli to plant babies who will grow up to become legal American terrorists. Does this kind of dire warning ring true? This is something many people need to decide for themselves. Frankly, when it comes to pre-election shenanigans, this type of scare tactic is pretty familiar as a diversion. Yes, illegal aliens do have their babies in the U.S., but to suggest they drop and leave to sabotage the country might be somewhat of a leap.

Look to the U.S. Supreme Court as being the final arbiter in this debate. The facts can’t be changed and this is the law. The court has dealt with the wording of the 14th Amendment on numerous occasions, and the law says that for the U.S. to change a birthright citizenship policy, the 14th Amendment must be changed or past Supreme Court decisions must be overturned. This isn’t likely going to happen any time soon. So, once again, comprehensive immigration reform becomes a tempest in a teapot over an issue that’s not really relevant to the big picture. And this is likely due to the upcoming November elections.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

And just what does that ruckus mean? Students that are taking a huge risk that they might be deported are standing up to be counted over their status. The act they are advocating be passed is referred to as the DREAM Act, which refers to Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. Very simply, they want it passed since it would provide conditional permanent residency to high school grads that have lived in the U.S. for at least five years.

Those who qualified for conditional permanent residency would be able to work, go to school and/or serve in the military for anywhere up to six years. If they complete a two year bachelor’s degree or serve at least two years in the military, they would be granted lawful permanent residency. Why hasn’t this Act been passed since it’s been hanging around in various versions since 2001?

When it was first introduced, it was a political winner, or at least had the potential to be a winner and could actually stand alone, independent of the comprehensive immigration reform bill. But then, along came the Arizona immigration law fracas and the Utah list. Twice burnt politically is twice shy about pushing anything ahead dealing with immigration or immigration reform particularly if the present government wishes to be elected again. In the final analysis, the Republicans in the Senate are gun shy about voting for an Act that could look like it was offering amnesty.

The last time anything substantive was done with the DREAM Act was back in 2007, the vote then was 38 Democrats and 12 Republicans – not enough to do anything. In fact, it was widely talked about that Democrats withheld their votes because they thought the Act would affect the comprehensive immigration reform process. Frankly, at this point, just about everything, whether it’s related or not, affects comprehensive immigration reform efforts.

What’s going on? It appears those on the Hill are fighting over ideological differences: one side wanting to move forward and the other side wanting to stand still. The side that wants to stand still and not muddy the waters is the side that seems to be stalling on anything that is an Obama priority – comprehensive immigration reform is an Obama priority. It appears that the cohesiveness of the Republican Party is being fought over immigration issues. No wonder not much is happening on the Hill.
Will the DREAM Act stand on its own, away from comprehensive immigration reform? There is a chance that it may, but there needs to be the political will to do so.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

There is no doubt about it; Arizona’s new immigration law had the vast majority of the country up in arms over some of its highly controversial language. The one that inflamed people the most was the provision that police officers would be allowed to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws. Another equally obnoxious section required immigrants to carry their identification papers all the time and made it illegal for undocumented workers to seek employment in public places was also stayed until the courts get a chance to sort through these issues.

This decision came at the 11th hour, virtually minutes away from the police starting to enforce the new law. The decision was handed down by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton. Judge Bolton is a federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. This case could have gone just about every which way but loose, but for now large parts of the legislation are held up while the courts take a look at them.

The interesting question is what will happen next given the evident nationwide support for Arizona’s new law because Obama is seen to be dragging his feet over comprehensive immigration reform. Arizona grabbed the bull by the horns and did something about it and except for the federal court judge, may have succeeded.

The frightening thing is that there are so many human rights issues involved in this situation that are being ignored, have the potential to be ignored, and are just plain outright being violated. The law as the state of Arizona was intending to pass it would have been much like living in a war torn country where everyone is required to have name, rank and file order papers. Mind you, that is precisely the way Arizona views itself – under siege from illegal aliens or undocumented aliens.

So what we have here is a state that overstepped its power and authority, trampling on the toes of the federal government in its headlong rush to deal with their immigration problem. As things stand now, the police there are “not” required to find out the immigration status of people arrested or detained for other crimes. At least that is the way it “should” be, but may not be the way it actually “will” be.

Evidently, there are some counties that may just skirt this issue some and fluff things up a little and still check some people out. This is really skating on thin ice given what the judge said (in part) in her ruling. “Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked.”

It’s painfully evident that something has to give, but no one is sure just what that may be, since there is an election coming. Despite that, the administration issued orders to Congress to get off their duffs and “do” something about comprehensive immigration reform. Let’s see what happens next.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

“Just what we don’t need, is yet another excuse to ‘not’ work on getting the comprehensive immigration reform bill passed – hopefully sometime soon, or in the alternative, sometime this century. But, by the looks of things, Arizona has handed the Obama administration a real can of worms with the passage of their new illegal immigration law that lets the police stop anyone that looks suspiciously like they’re not carrying the right immigration paperwork, ” observed Sally Odell, an immigration lawyer at Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

So far, one state has gone ahead and blazed their own new trail to deal with the illegal immigration problem. This isn’t to say that others can’t and won’t follow right behind them. If that happens, the states themselves may just preempt the comprehensive immigration reform bill and leave it where it is right now – up in the air looking for a place to land.

“Take a good hard look at the recent media coverage, and you’ll see that a whole lot of communities are getting restless because nothing has been done with CIR. For example, there is a city in Nebraska voting on whether or not they should ban local businesses and landlords from hiring/renting to illegal aliens. Think about the human rights issues involved here and you’ll realize the scope of the problem that is slowly developing for the administration,” added Odell.

The hard reality of what is happening here is that more and more states, cities, towns and villages are going to want a law in place similar to Arizona’s law. And why wouldn’t they want one like that when Arizona got away with it? The response from the White House is that CIR is still a priority, and it may well be, but if someone doesn’t get off the proverbial “pot” the nation will take the reins away from them and do it on their own. This isn’t something that generally tends to make for peace, order and good government.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

Many people in the nation are keeping a watchful eye on Arizona to see what they do with their illegal immigration law touted as one of the toughest in America. If Arizona can pass that kind of a law while comprehensive immigration reform is still up in the stratosphere, then a valid question may be what will stop other states from doing the very same thing?

Just to quickly recap what Arizona’s illegal immigration law does for those who might not recall what the flap is all about: it provides wider police authority to check the residency status of “anyone” considered to be reasonably suspicious of not having the proper documents. Racial profiling comes to mind here. And, the law also mandates that legal immigrants must carry their status papers at all times.

The reason Arizona got fed up and passed this law in their state is that Congress, the supposed “authority” on comprehensive immigration reform with a bill so big it could be used as a doorstop, has done nothing to address the issue. Congress and the House are slowly circling one another during an election year and carefully doing nothing that would impact on anyone’s election campaign strategies.

“Of course, Arizona is perched on the border with Mexico and it appears the administration isn’t about to do anything about CIR anytime soon, so one may be able to appreciate their determination to take the matter into their own hands. Having said that, their particular approach to the tough question of how to handle illegal immigration lacks sensitivity and certainly rides roughshod over any human rights issues,” commented Sally Odell, an immigration lawyer at Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

Another question that a great many Americans are asking these days is whether or not the whole process of CIR, the great debate over what needs to be done and what will and won’t work, is perilously close to overkill; overkill that can and does divide communities for no really good reason. Currently, the prevailing reaction to all of the high profile rhetoric and lack of action on the hill is being slotted into the “overkill” category.

“What should happen is those who have the say in CIR – Congress and the House – need to take the bull by the horns and “do” something with it, not let it languish for yet another year or two. Frankly, white collar crime these days impacts us to a much greater extent than illegal immigration,” observed Odell.

The most troubling aspect about states who pass laws that border on being unethical, potentially abusive and constitutionally unwise is that wither one state goeth, others will follow if they don’t have direction from the White House. In the meantime, Arizona walks to the beat of a different drummer. Who else will follow that beat and what will the long-term consequences be for fairness, equality under the law and human rights issues? Perhaps more importantly, will CIR ever come to be?

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

Some places on the hill seem to think that comprehensive immigration reform will actually go ahead, or they wouldn’t be churning out more points to add to the big bill – as yet “not” passed and apparently not even in the running right now.

The chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Immigration Taskforce is still sending out encouraging letters to the president pointing out things that need to be done. Frankly, if the bill doesn’t already have some of these points in it, they have an even bigger problem than we once thought, for it’s a bit late in the game to be stating that there needs to be a route for immigrants to achieve legal status and citizenship.

How depressing that those who do wish to work to achieve changes in the immigration system need to write to their elected leader and point out that the process of reform should not be a casualty of election politics. And therein lies the real problem – the upcoming elections. What will happen to comprehensive immigration reform in the wake of an election that may change the political landscape and numbers?

Realistically speaking, if the House were serious about making changes – really serious, not just word of mouth serious – Congress would get the ball rolling and the bill passed. Mix in the prevailing political climate and this becomes a whole ‘nother can of worms. Those in “we’re about to go to election” mode are delicately avoiding the pressing reality of CIR, not wanting to upset any further apple carts. In the meantime, the bill being on the back burner does nothing for the benefit of those who are anxiously waiting for reform to get on with their lives.

For a mini-snapshot of what is “not” going on in the House and Senate lately, one only has to read online, watch TV or listen to the news to find out that the proposals are dead in the water; stalled. The House is now waiting for the Senate to get off its duff and do something.

In the meantime, the Task Force keeps churning out other principles they want to see that include protection of workers; the improvement of temp worker programs; supporting family reunification by clearing backlogs; eradicating same-sex partner discrimination; providing more alternatives to detention; actually having enforceable detention standards; supporting humane enforcement; ensuring due process reform; allowing access to higher education; and stamping out racial profiling.

While these goals are certainly worthy and need to be instituted, when will they pass? The current thinking is no one expects the House to take any action anytime soon. So, instead of having the House and the bill on “stall,” the whole nation is on stall as well. Well, most of the nation is on stall, Arizona has of course has passed one of the toughest immigration laws in the country. They aren’t waiting around for the other shoe to drop. The thing is, if Arizona can do it, so can other states, and that may be only a matter of time. What would happen to CIR then?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

There is still no firm word on when comprehensive immigration reform will be dealt with, if ever. It seems that lately there has been a merry-go-round of talks, finger pointing and interesting combinations of promises being made or not being made as the case may be. If that has you confused, join the millions of other Americans who are in the same boat and wondering what on earth is really going on.

It seems that what may be going on behind the scenes is that comprehensive immigration reform is once again, and likely always was in the first place, a political football. This observation comes from remarks made by the senator from Arizona who had engaged the president in a conversation about the pressing necessity to secure the border.

Evidently the conversation was one-on-one with Obama who indicated to Senator Kyl that if their border was secure then there would be no reason for Arizona to support comprehensive immigration reform. Now that bears repeating for its impact alone: if their border was secure then there would be no reason for Arizona to support CIR. If you’re sitting there in stunned silence pondering that remark, you’re in good company.

What that comment reveals is that the administration is quietly and not so subtly holding CIR hostage, meaning there likely won’t be a move to secure the border unless it happens to be combined with the comprehensive immigration reform package. This is just a little like being held hostage.

Will the administration admit this kind of exchange took place? Likely not. Why would they, as it certainly puts them in a bad light. What will happen next? Well, since there seems to be a situation going on where one thing (the secure border) is apparently tied to whether or not comprehensive immigration reform will be passed, one might rightfully expect to see everything put on “stall.” At that point, one has to start asking some tough questions.

For instance, will immigration reform “ever” get passed? Why does it need to be tied to border security? Whatever happened to the freedom to express an opinion and have that respected? Why is the administration playing politics with something so very vital to the very fabric of this nation? Whatever happened to legislation being passed for the good of the “people” and not the good of the politicians? And finally, who can we believe anymore about anything? Dismal state of affairs, isn’t it?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

To this point, CIR has been called many things. It has been held out to have many benefits, that it will change the course of immigration in the US and change history. Other acts have been proposed as companion pieces to the main event. One such act is the Dream Act.

The idea behind the Dream Act is that the law would allow certain illegal immigrants, brought here by their parents when they were young and educated in US schools, to become permanent residents. “Put another way, it would mean that some undocumented immigrants would become legal residents. How would that happen? The first step would be for the person to enroll in some kind of higher education – vocational school, university or an apprenticeship program,” commented Sally Odell, an immigration lawyer at Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

Another option open to individuals would be to enlist in the US military. In short, if the requirements were met, the person could apply for conditional residency in the US. If they acquired an associate’s degree (or 2 year equivalent) within 6 years of their initial petition for permanent residency, the conditional status would be changed to legal permanent resident. They have to have come into the US before turning 16 and have lived in the States for at least five years and be able to speak English.
Statistically speaking, there are approximately 65,000 students that could possibly become conditional residents every year, provided they follow the rules and regulations of whatever immigration system is in place at the time. “While this sounds good on the surface, like many large scale ideas dealing with illegal immigrants, there will likely be flaws in the execution of something like this. Succinctly put, there are way too many ifs, ands and buts involved in something like this to expect it to fly without glitches,” Odell observed.

Generally speaking, the idea behind this proposed act is the use taxpayer’s money more wisely; money being used right now to educate illegal immigrant children. If the children take further schooling or commit to the military, they would be allowed to become legal citizens and not run the risk of losing their family through deportation. “Civil liberties people would likely want to question this setup since the arrangement offers no other scenarios, and since when should people be forced into going to school or the military if they don’t want to lose their families via deportation?” added Odell.

What is the solution to this conundrum? Valid question and one that really doesn’t have a defined answer for now, largely because CIR is still up in the air and no one really knows when it will come down.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

While it may sound like a good idea on the surface, the proposed biometric security card as part of CIR is creating a major flap. Interestingly enough, it’s not just one side that opposes it, it’s both. Generally speaking, the idea behind the biometric security card is that a person’s work authorization eligibility is stored in a chip on the card.

“The data would not be stored in any central government database; something that doesn’t make a great deal of sense to a number of people. If you lose it, you have a problem. However, the issue here is privacy and civil liberties,” said Sally Odell, an immigration lawyer at Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

In some ways it’s amusing that civil liberties are touted as being important and that is why the data would not be stored centrally, because if civil liberty was a genuine issue, no one would have cards like that in the first place. “And chances are, the data ‘would’ eventually make its way to a central repository, despite what anyone says to the contrary,” observed Odell.

The general idea right now is that the government wants to make it very difficult for illegal immigrants to find work and if they had biometric security cards to hand to potential employers, the employers would, under pain of really heavy fines and/or jail terms, use the card to check their status. “If this sounds a bit like a national identity card, you’d be right, and that is how the civil liberty groups are regarding it as well. That fact is that ‘every’ US citizen would need to have one, every resident would need one and so would every immigrant,” Odell remarked.

Another “what if” to consider with these cards is the fact that they could be stolen and forged. “Can you imagine the black market price for those cards?” asked Odell. If the E-verify system is any example of what could and does go wrong with “security” systems like the proposed biometric security card, the nation would be in for a rather large version of the Gong Show.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

When it came to comprehensive immigration reform, the White House had (and still does today) its fair share of myths to battle. For instance, one of the most prevalent myths back then was that by putting an end to the waiting period for family members to get their permanent residence would wind up in 900,000 new residents every year, plus those who had already applied before the reform. To say that the staggering number of projected residents upset many would be an understatement of major proportions

The facts in this instance are that CIR (then and now) is intending to end the waiting period in 8 years. To get to that point, it means 240,000 permanent residents will be used from other categories and that 200,000 will be added each year for 8 years. Of course at the rate CIR is “not” moving, this may not come to pass anytime soon.

In 2007, people thought border security wouldn’t be enforced and that the necessity of having to hire immigrants in the US illegally wouldn’t be enforced. It’s quite clear border security “is” being enforced, perhaps even to the point of overkill and enforcement in other areas isn’t an issue either. You only have to read the newspaper about immigration raids to figure that out.

At one time Americans thought Z Visa applicants wouldn’t have to pay a sanction for entering the US illegally or for overstaying illegally. The truth today is that everyone who applies pays a sanction for each dependent beneficiary in addition to USCIS filing fees. There is usually a state filing fee as well and the price can often be as high as $2,000 for each application.

Another fairly popular myth then and now is that CIR will mean a higher tax for businesses to follow the new rules and regulations. The actual fact here is that CIR means a new verification system to check an applicant’s status. If the business uses the verification system, they will not face sanctions, as they are then following the law.

Along the same lines as the “higher taxes for business” is the myth that CIR won’t be enforced against employers who don’t follow the law. On the contrary, there are hefty sanctions in the reform package that range from $5,000 to $25,000 per infraction and per person found hired and working illegally.
As with anything you want information on, it’s best to just do the research yourself and find out what the “real” truth is and not believe what you hear.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.
Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Just when you thought things might be about to give on the Hill in regard to comprehensive immigration reform, along comes – yes – another potential delay; the mid-term elections. You have to remember that the CIR bill was introduced into the Senate in March, making it highly unlikely it would get passed before the elections. The question is floating around now about the timing, as in was it deliberate?

It may have been deliberate, but we’ll likely never really know, as the politicians keep insisting that they may have the ability to get the bill passed. Overly optimistic? Overly enthusiast? Could be both of those scenarios, but in the final analysis it will either get passed or it won’t. Right now with looming mid-term elections right around the corner, chances are it won’t; not an overly big surprise either. Who really thinks the House will be doing too much significant business when they’re facing an election?

The honest reality of this situation is that those who will be voting in the upcoming election won’t really make that much of a difference in the outcome. Why? Because they are not likely going to vote solely on the basis of immigration reform and they won’t do that because they won’t be affected that much by the current CIR proposals. Not only that, most of them won’t even really be affected by the expected modifications or revisions to come. Those voting Democrat or your independent voter isn’t out to “get” someone to listen to their side of anything. They’re just out to vote – period.

On the other hand, Republicans have more ammunition in this upcoming battle, such as illegal immigrants, foreign workers, drug cartels, border security, crime, etc. They have also been accusing the President and the Democrats of striving to legalize illegal immigrants and increase immigration because they tend to lean toward voting Democrat.

Enough of the political confusion. What are the four major cornerstones to the latest CIR proposal? They are that people will have to have biometric social security cards which would mean certain illegal workers can’t get a job. There would be increased (yes, increased even ‘more’ than now) border security and enforcement. A process would be created to admit temp workers (no one is quite sure what that process would be). There would also be a tough but fair crack at legalization for the close to 11 million illegal immigrants living in the USA.

All of this sounds great, but we’ve heard it all before, and it is still going nowhere. The real question then becomes, does it have any place to go even if the politicians did get the thing off the rails?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It was 2005 and two senators were working hard to get comprehensive immigration reform legislation into place that would ultimately legalize millions of illegal workers. It was a glorious day when that bill was introduced on the Senate floor.

Senators McCain and Kennedy backed the bill by saying there was “nothing” more important to the nation as a whole than comprehensive immigration reform. Part of their introduction speech included remarks that indicated delaying this kind of legislation was simply not acceptable. “While that was a nice touch, the House later also passed a bill referred to as H.R. 4437, which made being in the U.S. illegally a crime. Talk about a mixed message,” indicated Sally Odell, an immigration lawyer at Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

Fast forward five years later and we have what? “The Senate in Arizona passing a bill that makes being in the state illegally is a crime; a bill that lets local police investigate if they have a reasonable suspicion to think an individual is in the country illegally. Senator McCain’s response to that was he thought it was a very important step forward; a disturbing flip-flop from five years ago,” added Odell.

Local media reports also feature McCain saying he thinks that it would be OK to delay the Immigration Reform Bill because there would be no point in having reform without having secure borders. Again, another flip-flop. Add to this another ‘plan’ McCain and another senator introduced in April called the Ten Point Border Security Action plan, which, in a nutshell means the government would (if it’s approved) toss more money, guards and border patrol agents to secure the southwest border.

There are already 20,000 security personnel deployed to handle border security, and McCain now wants to add 6,000 more for mega bucks to jail illegal aliens in the US, at US taxpayers expense, instead of taking them out of the country right away. “Would the taxpayers be happy with that kind of a solution? Likely not, but this is an election year, and it explains why McCain is all over the map in his opinions,” Odell pointed out.

McCain is up for re-election and faces a tough fight against J.D. Hayworth. Hayworth lost his seat in 2006 because his anti-immigrant stance didn’t go over well with his border district voters. Now, it’s anyone’s guess who might win that state, but the battle will be an interesting one indeed.

“Stand back and also consider that the Arizona legislation comes really close to allowing law enforcement to do racial profiling and doesn’t really outline just what ‘reasonable suspicion’ is when it comes to suspecting someone is in the country illegally. It’s highly likely this particular legislation will wind up prompting civil rights lawsuits,” commented Odell.

Where will this all end up? It’s hard to tell, but the road to a resolution is evidently paved with many potholes.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

“Comprehensive immigration reform may be passed this year, and many people think it will be, but if you look at the political landscape, that’s one bet that may fail,” indicated Sally Odell, an immigration lawyer at Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida. There are far too many things happening in other places, not in the control of the House, Senate or Congress for things to have the potential to stay on the rails to completion.

For instance, in April 2010, the Senate in Arizona passed a very strict immigration law that lets local authorities demand proof of legal residency from anyone in Arizona. That bears repeating – “anyone.” A few short days later, there was a story run in a major U.S. newspaper outlining the reality of trying to live in Mexico these days just got a whole lot grimmer. Specifically, the story focused on residents in northern Mexico border towns running for their lives to places like Fort Hancock, Texas, because thousands have been killed in drug wars.

Earlier in April, another sheriff in Arizona told local ranchers to go ahead and get armed right after an area cattle rancher had been killed near the Mexico border in Cochise County. It was thought the dead man was a victim of drug violence that was slowly creeping into the U.S. “While this may be the prevailing theory of the locals in that area, there is no particular hard evidence that backs that conclusion up. Nonetheless, the ‘fear’ it ‘may’ happen is enough to drive decisions of this kind for ordinary folk, law enforcement and politicians,” added Odell.

Its incidents like these that make the passage of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill rather difficult, but yet, crucial at the same time. There are many people who feel that authorities “need” to know who is living in the country, what they’re doing there and whether or not they have drug links or gang links. The fear is that many less than desirable individuals will come into the country, people who are presently waging war to get control of the drug routes into the U.S.

While arresting people of interest may work for now, it won’t for long, because law enforcement can’t just pick and choose who they detain because they are undocumented. This merely fuels the existing tensions on the border. Given the nature of the drug war waging across the border, the U.S. wants to clamp down on border breaches because they don’t want the drug problem.

“However, having said that, Congress is about to adjourn to start hitting the campaign trail for November’s elections and comprehensive immigration reform is still up in the air. A key portion of that bill would identify illegal immigrants, have them pay a fine and then give them the chance to earn their way to legal residency,” Odell said.

With the drug wars going on, violence spreading and even more stringent legislation being passed to control illegals entering the border states, CIR becomes even more vital. While it may not be the ultimate solution to illegal immigration, it may be a start in the right direction.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

Obviously, timing on this bill is vague at best and impossible to pin down at its worst, which leaves a whole load of people up-in-arms over whether or not they will ever see the reform in their natural lifetime. The best that can be said for comprehensive immigration reform right now is that it is still being pushed in the right direction. Unfortunately, there appears to be a number of stumbling blocks, most of them human, and most of them political. One wonders what happened to the will of the people in this scenario.

Will CIR make it into the limelight in June? If the President can get the stalled wagon train moving once again, there may be the possibility that CIR would be hailed into law by the end of the year, but certainly not within the next few months. The logistics of accomplishing that would be far too daunting to manage with any great degree of skill and accord. And so the machinations continue on the Hill.

If you look back at what is going on, most of this interplay that is taking place right now makes a great deal of sense. Why would the President go forward if he doesn’t know for sure that he has the votes to accomplish what he needs? It’s too risky to take that kind of a flyer and go forward, hoping the support is there. If something were to happen, the whole process could fall apart.

Overall, in reality, it’s really unlikely the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill will ever get passed in the Senate on a party line vote. That means then that the President must aim for bipartisan support – a daunting task indeed given that immigration reform is a hot button. And so, the clock continues to tick.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

While there are still noises coming from the direction of the Hill that the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill is “going” to be pushed through this year, the actions (delays) are speaking louder than the words. It seems energy reform is a major hurdle to overcome as well and many politicians, and those who watch them for a living, are wondering if both those bills will make it into law.

Energy reform is massive, almost as massive as the Comprehensive Immigration Bill and desperately needs something done with it. However, following that line of thinking, it is likely even more critical for the Immigration Reform Bill to come into being – after all this is an election year and some votes will hinge on whether immigration reform is indeed put into action. If that means leaving the Energy Reform Bill until the next session of Congress, well, that might be what it takes to get the work done.

Right now, if you spend any time reading about the impending Comprehensive Reform Bill, you’ll likely notice that the $25 words of “moral imperative” are being tossed around when the bill is discussed. Meaning, the politicians are muttering that there is a moral imperative to get the bill moved into law. This should actually be obvious to a lot of people, but for whatever reasons – largely political in nature – the bill is “not” law despite the intentions that it would be.

Now that election year is upon us, making this kind of a decision, to go forward, will likely carry a great deal of flack with it. The potential fallout could be fatal, particularly when you consider that the Democrats didn’t have much success getting GOP support for initiatives during the recent Congressional session. And voting during an election, well, that’s another issue altogether and one that is largely out of the control of the politicians.

So, what is shaping up right now is the thunder that immigration reform will take priority over energy legislation. This may shape up to give a very odd outcome considering that the House hasn’t passed “their” immigration bill. While that might seem unusual, it isn’t given the makeup of the Democratic caucus. If you add in the fact that some leading Republicans (that liked CIR the last time it surfaced) are now pushing for beefed up border security or digging in their heels against reform, things are looking a tad dismal.

What will it be? Climate reform or comprehensive immigration reform? Anyone willing to make any bets on this?

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

In the mass of information, misinformation, disinformation and plain speculation over health care reform, the burning question remains what will happen to illegal immigrants yet to arrive in America and those that already live here? It’s a two pronged problem with seemingly very few comprehensive solutions. The biggest problem, however, appears to be the various numbers thrown out in public to make people believe one side or the other in their rush to overhaul the health care system.

It appears that the most often used number when talking about health insurance, the uninsured and illegal aliens is 47 million. The fact that the much bandied about number includes illegal immigrants seems to escape people’s notice for one reason or another. This number has been floating about since the election and prior to it. Here is another fact people seem to overlook. The Census Bureau counts residents when it does a head count, not U.S. citizens.

Counting “residents” means the numbers being used include many individuals who are “not” citizens, such as those with a green card/work visa and people who came into the U.S. illegally. When and where did the 47 million come into play? It is from a Census Bureau survey done in 2006 and it referred to illegal immigrants as “foreign born households run by a person not a citizen.” The term illegal immigrants doesn’t appear in the survey. In other words, the government is using three year old figures to try and make a point, which leaves one wondering how up-to-date the rest of their information is and why they are not using current statistics, and what else are they leaving out of the equation?

The “real” figures are those provided by the National Coalition on Healthcare and they show 46 million uninsured where 80% are naturalized citizens. Doing the math shows that roughly 9.2 million or 20% are illegal, not 47 million. Talk about confusion reigning supreme. Whether or not illegal aliens are insured or uninsured seems to be smoke and mirrors, as the proposed legislation suggests a mode of amnesty or fast tracked citizenship that would provide health care coverage and the right to vote.

Since comprehensive immigration seems to be a moving target, it opens up a total can of worms when it comes to whether or not the reform will really be put into place or whether it is going to wind up on permanent “hold.” A permanent hold wouldn’t surprise reform advocates who, through the years, have seen it all and nothing has happened but an increase in border enforcement and deportation.

Immigration attorneys are pondering these mixed messages and wondering how they will or won’t affect their ability to defend the rights of their clients. Many are concerned that not enough will be done to make the current system viable and conversely too much may be done to throw the whole structure into total disorder without any clear legal guidelines. Right now it’s a watch and wait attitude in the legal community with a clear preference for reform to provide their clients with the rights they are entitled to when they come to the U.S.

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It honestly wasn’t too much of a surprise when the President said he was putting off comprehensive immigration reform until 2010 – and perhaps much later depending on other issues needing to be dealt with, such as health reform and the lousy economy. A delay may not be crucial, it may not even make much difference to implement it next year versus this year, but it definitely makes people wonder if the nation will only get “immigration” reform in 2010 and not comprehensive immigration reform.

The nation is faced with a great number of pressing issues that need to be dealt with sooner rather than later, and two of those problems are the economy, which is in terrible shape, and energy bills. It’s no small wonder that immigration was put on the back burner, again. And that is the watch word for comprehensive immigration reform, as in here we go with delays “again,” with promises “again,” and with questions about just how widespread change will really be “again.”

With the economy taking up an unprecedented amount of time it’s clear that immigration will only get smaller changes here and there rather than a total overhaul. Many pundits even wonder how a total revamp is possible given the mess that now exists. It’s still a priority, but a lesser one than the economy. While this may make complete sense – after all how can one have immigration reform without the money to accomplish it – it does raise many fears that what is currently operating badly will remain in place and be even worse for wear with piecemeal changes.

Understandably comprehensive immigration reform is something that is crucial for the Latino community, who would rather have it now. Instead, they are now being handed more promises of things to come with the understanding that it (immigration reform) will indeed still be coming. There are echoes of fear from those on the front lines dealing with the fallout of deportation and other questionable practices, that this delay means an even stricter approach will be implemented for immigration enforcement.

Currently there appears to be no softening of ideology from the Department of Homeland Security, and the border security initiative is still plunging ahead at full speed. Indeed the government’s actions may be speaking louder than their words, as out of one side of their mouths they promote comprehensive immigration reform and on the other side allocate even more money to border enforcement. Seemingly, those two issues taken by them are at odds with the stated intentions of comprehensive reform.

How does a country insist they intend to have comprehensive, fair and equitable reform and then spend millions to step up enforcement to keep out the very people they say they wish to welcome to the United States? This is the same country that is currently still holding immigration raids and deporting hundreds of immigrants, leaving single parent households and children without two parents.

The frightening statistics show that there are at least 11 to 12 million undocumented workers in the U.S. and a solution to this conundrum is nowhere in sight. The legal ramifications of this hornet’s nest are yet another problem that immigration attorneys will have to find an equitable way to deal with in the meantime.

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There’s a whole lot going on in America today including health care and comprehensive immigration reform. It’s likely not too much of a surprise to see that both reforms are not going to happen according to the timelines first proposed. Immigration reform was to be by Labor Day 2009. That isn’t going to happen now until possibly 2010 – if then. There are many more miles to go on that package before anything concrete and workable will make its way into legislation.

Along with town hall meetings being held by U.S. Senators on comprehensive immigration reform, there are also get-togethers to discuss health care reform. This is just as urgent as immigration, and in fact has seemingly derailed immigration reform for now. There is no doubt that the stakes are very high in both of these areas, not to mention that many Americans are being militantly vocal about the proposed reforms on both fronts. This isn’t to say they don’t see the need for changes to immigration or health care, but change in any form after this long is something to be disparaged and feared.

A quick look into the rooms where immigration meetings are being held reveal that two of the largest U.S. labor unions (AFL-CIO and Change to Win) are diligently working to sell union members on the benefits of a joint statement demanding immigration reform. Things aren’t going so well, particularly when the issue of guest workers comes up.

Many local labor unions view the recent suggested changes to implement comprehensive immigration reform as taking several steps backward in the areas of employer sanctions and guest worker programs. The statement that both large labor unions want to issue calls for no new guest worker programs, insisting that employment based visas be only determined by an independent commission making use of current labor market data, and that workers would have permanent visas. This would then wipe out the guest worker programs – in theory.

On the other side of the fence is the attitude that unionized workers don’t want to back guest worker programs and would rather they didn’t exist at all. Many unions do hold that position and are staunchly against them. The intrinsic problem with the “statement” that the labor unions want everyone to get behind is that it also puts out a strong call for the government to allocate “employment” visas (temporary and permanent) and that this task should be given to an independent commission. The specter of who would control and allocate what looms large in the minds of many with concerns about immigration reform and how this would apply to immigrants in the workforce.

Even more interesting is the fact that there was at one time a guest worker program, where you had to work to stay in the country, back in the early 60s. It ended because there was no real way to monitor it. Monitoring is crucial when it comes to employers hiring an immigrant without proper work authorization. The question of sanctions then becomes fairly critical as well.

Will labor get on the same page with government to institute reforms? It’s a pertinent question and perhaps just the tip of the iceberg of the many things that need to be changed in order to see any changes in the current systems that are disintegrating.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The problem most of the members of the House have with the Department of Homeland Security(DHS) and their enforcement issues is why vote against those measures now when they may vote for comprehensive immigration reform later, which would include similar enforcement issues. That being said, someone should likely have kept a tab on which bills conflicted with others before passing them for the whole world to see.
At issue isn’t the fact that people don’t want an immigration system that actually works and restores some sanity to the legal side of the system. The problem is that in order for the changes to work there needs to be a comprehensive and rational immigration system that is able to effectively address America’s social interests, security and economic concerns.

In a nutshell what passed in the House recently just serves to point out that if the politicians don’t get their act together soon, their “amendments” will only make the system even more dysfunctional, costly and difficult; an appalling thought.

The first amendment was to make the E-Verify program, which is now voluntary, mandatory for all federal contractors. On the surface this sounds like not a bad thing to do. Run a new hire through the system and find out if they are legal. The problem is that the system isn’t ready to be let loose. Its databases aren’t accurate and it’s being misused by employers, resulting in lawful workers being denied employment. Then, there’s the horrendous cost of $22 billion to implement over a 10 year period.

Bright amendment number two was to mandate completion of hundreds of miles of border fence. This might be fine in theory, but physically it’s impossible and out of reach financially. The DHS wants virtual fencing instead and opposed this mandate. That’s a good news/bad news scenario, because either way, a border fence of some type will go up and it will either cost millions or billions and do a number on human rights.
Questionable amendment number three was the one that wanted to ban DHS from using funds to alter its social security no-match regulation. This came about because DHS wanted to use the SS no-match regulation as an enforcement tool. This would cost roughly $10 billion and cause the termination of approximately 165,000 lawful immigrants and U.S. citizen workers.

The icing on the cake amendment was authorizing employers to use E-Verify to verify their current workforce. Right now the idea is that it is to be used to only verify new hires. This proposed change would have employer’s demanding current employees cough up photo ID or be fired. Roughly 21 million U.S. citizens don’t have government issued photo ID.

To say that the recent developments in immigration reform amendments coming from the House are counterproductive and counterintuitive would be an understatement. The real burning question is how this will all ultimately come together, or will it?

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There are always two sides to every issue and such is the case with the 2010 census and whether or not the Hispanic population will participate. Currently, many favor boycotting the census to send a message that immigration reform is badly needed; something that almost goes without saying these days.

On the other side of the fence are those who point out that federal money is released to various areas based on the actual population and if various areas want services, they need to fess up and provide accurate numbers of documented and undocumented aliens. The federal money handed out to communities is usually earmarked for things like schools and other civic programs for everyone to take part in.

The message many other Hispanics want to convey is that no matter what the status is of those who live in the U.S., it is important to be counted; that if they want to see immigration reform they need to prove they are responsible citizens. Conversely, although that makes eminent sense in a dollars and “sense” way, this argument isn’t likely to cut much ice with illegal immigrants who don’t want to fill out paperwork that law enforcement could use to eventually deport them. There are already enough problems with the high number of one parent families left to make ends meet when one of the parents has been deported. Even though the Census bureau is not allowed to share any information it collects and only use it for statistical analysis, there is a very real fear that other government agencies will somehow find a way to access Census information. This attitude isn’t so difficult to understand, given how badly treated many immigrants have been over the years. They resent the government, as the undocumented communities aren’t permitted any kind of identification or legal recognition. This in essence shuts them off from the rest of society. Many people would argue that if undocumented workers/aliens want recognition or identification, then they need to register legally with the government and start paying taxes like the rest of the country does. On the other side of this issue is the shoddy history America has in handling and taking advantage of illegal aliens.

Currently, many of the undocumented aliens in the U.S. hesitate to believe anything the government tells them based on past history which is hardly conducive to good relations. Hence the adversarial approach the U.S. has taken, once again, with those who choose to enter the U.S. illegally. Enforcement and border patrols won’t stop the influx. Something that is fair and addresses people’s human rights may.While a census boycott might not be the right answer, those who are not registered might think twice about the power of their vote as a bloc when dealing with immigration issues. Hispanic power in huge numbers managed to make a significant difference in changing the face of government in 1994 after the fallout over Proposition 187.

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There are still so many fractured points of view on immigration and what to do with illegal aliens or undocumented workers that it’s truly a flight of fancy to imagine the House all being on the same song sheet when they vote on whether or not to pass it. There is media coverage daily about this politician’s opinion versus that politician’s opinion, and none of them seem to consistently stick to their views. This is extremely frustrating for a skilled immigration lawyer in Miami who goes to bat for immigrants to get through the horrendous maze of the present immigration system.

Most politicians, and indeed the average Joe and Joan America, are against illegal immigration and for legal immigration. Many feel border enforcement is the answer to keeping out illegal immigrants. However getting over the fence is seemingly a way of life. It’s how things go at the border. If it’s a six foot fence, the ladder to breach it will be six and a half feet tall.

The devil in this issue is and always has been, just precisely how do you get illegal aliens to register their presence with the U.S. government and start paying taxes? Given the way many of them have been treated over the years, what would make anyone think they’d willingly rush to government offices and admit they are here so they can start shelling out income tax? There would certainly be a number of people who would register, but there will continue to be those who prefer to enter the U.S. “other” ways because that is just human nature. Many an immigration lawyer in Miami knows this to be true.

The vast amount of money being funneled to the Department of Homeland Security to build more fortifications and boost the Border Patrol from ten thousand agents to twenty thousand agents would boggle the imagination. All this for a fence that conceivably may never be finished and certainly not within the “year.” Will Americans shell out tax dollars for sensors, light towers, directional listening devices, remote video surveillance, mobile night vision scopes and other “spy” technology that may never be used?
The tools of the border enforcement aficionados are referred to as force multipliers, meaning their presence would reduce the number of live agents needed on site. If that’s the case, then why are they voting for more money for more agents that won’t be needed because modern technology will handle the patrol? This whole issue of comprehensive immigration reform is simply rife with issues that would raise the hair on any civil libertarian’s neck. The most controversial issue that everyone seems to overlook here, including the media, is basic human rights.

While those crossing the border illegally may be working in the U.S. and not be “recognized” in the same way a U.S. citizen is, they are nonetheless entitled to human rights. It’s just that simple. So far we haven’t seen much debate on that issue, a critical one to illegal aliens and the immigration attorneys who strive to assist immigrants become part of this great nation.

What we have seen is a lot of rhetoric that sounds mighty fine in theory, but those “fine” ideas don’t necessarily have something to back them up in practice. There are no easy solutions to immigration reform; however, continuing on the road we’re traveling on now may easily wind up being a dead end.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

California has some major problems going on when it comes to dealing with their budget. After all, it’s $25 billion in the red, which is hardly something to brag about. Thanks to those dismal numbers there is a lot of scrambling going on to point fingers at someone for causing this horrendous mess. It’s much easier to choose an outside target, like undocumented workers and their “U.S. born kids” than to man up and admit they got the state into this economic bind in the first place.

Plans are now in the works to “do” something about the budget and save money somehow. That “somehow” happens to be a proposed California ballot that would cut off welfare payments to the U.S. born children of illegal aliens. At least that is what will happen if it passes. You have to ask yourself this reasonable question when faced with plans like this, and that question is whether or not cutting off welfare payments to the children will resolve the budget mess. Any immigration lawyer in Miami will tell you it won’t.

If you do the math, you’ll figure out that the welfare payments only account for about 4% of the budget deficit. Four percent won’t even touch the massive debt California is facing and who in the world thought up that idea in the first place? The politicos must know any move like that would guarantee a court challenge that would come so fast they’d experience whiplash.

It has to do with the Constitution, the 14th Amendment to be precise and if you speak to an immigration lawyer in Miami, you’ll know right away you can’t violate a constitutional right. The 14th Amendment is clear that U.S. born children are U.S. citizens and may not have their legal “rights” taken away, no matter what status their parents may or may not have.

A ballot like that would stir the pot of racism in ways we don’t even want to contemplate in the so-called progressive 21st century. Human rights are essential and when the government starts taking these away, things tend to disintegrate in a hurry. Having said that, many people may recall that in 1994 there was Proposition 187 on the ballot. What did it do? It would have cut welfare, health and educational benefits for undocumented aliens – and – their children. The more things change, the more they remain the same and thus history comes back to haunt us now. For a long time immigration lawyer in Miami it brings back memories of the court challenges then as well.

Proposition 187 didn’t last long despite the fact it was passed. It didn’t matter that virtually a majority of voters wanted it put into place. What ultimately mattered were the courts finding Proposition 187 unconstitutional. If the politicians don’t think their most recent “idea” will meet a similar death, they’ve got their head stuck in the sand. Imagine the waste of taxpayer’s money to knowingly hold a ballot that will go down to defeat later. No matter which way you cut it, U.S. citizens can’t be legally deprived of benefits because of the immigration status of their mom and dad.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

In order to understand why these changes were made, it would help to understand a bit more about the WHTI. “The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative basically says that all travelers to and from Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean and Mexico, who didn’t previously need passports, now need passports or other documents that proves who they are and their country of origin (citizenship) in order to enter and leave the U.S.,” said Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

This measure was brought into being as a joint initiative of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State after 9/11 in order to address what the U.S. viewed as a major security problem – vulnerable borders. As of June 1, 2009, U.S. citizens, including children, had to start presenting passports, etc., when coming into the U.S. by air. “Other documents may include a NEXUS card, U.S. military ID and travel orders, a passport or U.S. Merchant Marine documents,” indicated Odell.

U.S. citizens coming in by land or seaports now need WHTI compliant documents that in most cases are a U.S. passport, a trusted traveler card (NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST), a passport card or enhanced driver’s license. The idea behind NEXUS is that it is for low risk, pre-approved travelers into the U.S. and Canada. SENTRI cards allow expedited travel to approved members between the U.S. and Mexican border, and FAST refers to a truck driver card that lets drivers avoid lineups at the border.

If a person is in the category of lawful permanent resident, then after the 1st of June, 2009, if travelling by air, all residents, including children must offer a passport or other proper travel documents. “For land and sea travel they may still use Form I-551 permanent resident card,” added Odell.

If a traveler happens to be from another country and arriving by air, they must have a passport or other proper documentation. “Since these travelers hold a non-U.S. passport or visa, US-VISIT biometric procedures apply. Biometrics simply means a person’s unique physical characteristics, like fingerprints, are collected and used for automated recognition,” outlined Odell. A fingerprint cannot be forged and instantly identifies a person.

The rules and regulations are quite extensive, and for a complete understanding of how they may apply to certain individuals, it is best to consult with a highly skilled immigration attorney such as Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

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It really would be in everyone’s best interests if dual nationality couples wanting a visa for their partner to come to the U.S., filed for the I-129F petition with the assistance of a highly skilled immigration attorney. It would mean an error free process without the possible delays often likely when people attempt to file on their own. The delays are usually the result of not fully knowing or understanding current immigration rules and regulations, which seem to change daily.

If a couple still wishes to try to file on their own, it would be a good idea to be as well prepared as possible in advance of dealing with U.S. Immigration, as this will save potential difficulties later in the process. “The first thing anyone would need to know is the correct service center to file petitions. If a petition is filed in the wrong center, this has the potential to lead to delays,” indicated Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

Documentation is a major part of any petition and it must be correctly filled out or there will be even more difficulties.” Make sure all the documents that are required are submitted with the petition, as this will save Immigration from sending out a Request for Evidence,” added Odell. If everything they need is included, this speeds up the process.

“If there are documents that require translation, make sure there is a translation attached to the petition,” outlined Odell. Don’t think twice about the necessity of this, just do it, as failure to offer one may wind up receiving a request for further evidence or something called a 221G, which is a refusal by the U.S. Embassy to issue a visa without more information.

Keep in close touch with the other person so that both parties know precisely where things are in relation to the application for a visa. If there is no communication, or sporadic communication with sparse details, this will further slow the whole process down.

This should go without saying, however it seems to be an issue often enough that it needs to be mentioned. Do not under any circumstances lie to the federal government about your reasons for wanting to immigrate to the U.S. In other words, don’t apply for a tourist visa for a potential spouse and then wonder why you are not able to get married using that particular visa. Tourist visas are for people who come to visit and have no intentions of staying.

The bottom line is, that in order to make certain the proper documents are filed in a timely manner, it is best to consult with a knowledgeable immigration attorney who will make this process a lot easier than going it alone. One such knowledgeable attorney is Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

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We all know or are at least aware of the 670 miles of fencing that will go along the southern border to deflect the entry of illegal immigrants, vehicles and drugs. While we have not yet hit the complete installation of the 670 miles, it appears to be well under way with the end in sight within a year. Border Patrol officers have been increased and their numbers will be even higher over the year. In fact there are now 16,690 agents with the total to hit about 18,000 later on.

Add into this ever-increasing force Project 28 (P-28) and the combination of watchful technology and more agents should work even more effectively to deal with those trying to cross the border illegally. This system has been in place since 2007 and is responsible for apprehending over 3,500 illegal aliens.

It appears that security already in place is doing its job and the apprehension rates are beginning to decline. The question becomes, is the rate declining because of the stepped up security or because of the desperate economy the nation faces? This is an interesting question when put into the perspective of the federal government’s commitment of $775 million to enhance border security. This is largely to finance an unmanned aircraft system and support the installation of over 10,000 ground sensors.
The government is of the opinion that their crackdown has made a difference in the number of cross border apprehensions. They cite some interesting figures that indicate that may be the case. For instance, the Border Patrol indicated a 20% decline on the southern border for 2007. In 2008 the figures showed a 17% decline on the southwest border.

As further evidence of their border security success, the feds also point out remittances to the Bank of Mexico fell dramatically in the first four months of 2009 – down 2.4% from last year. This is supposed to indicate that apprehending illegal workers has made the rates drop.

While this may be an interesting theory, and there may be a nugget of truth in it, it would appear the real reason for the decline in apprehensions is fewer people are trying to go over the border, as opposed to more being caught. Why would this be?

It you spend any time online reading financial information about the economy and the recession, you will immediately know that the U.S. started showing distinct signs of being in economic distress in 2007. Think the housing market boom and things of that nature. The economy was bright and booming, but if you correctly read the signals – whatever goes up, must come down, and down the economy came.
Who in their right mind would try to illegally cross a border to find a job in an economy where those who already live there are losing their jobs, where companies are going out of business daily and where bankruptcies are higher than ever? The obvious answer to that would be not many, and this would explain the decline in border apprehensions. When the economy revives, look to the border once again.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The problem with the existing immigration system is that it is broken beyond the ability of band-aids. It really needs a good revamping from the ground up, but whether there is the political will and ability to accomplish that is the real question. In the meantime, the system limps along and does the best it can subject to the vociferous criticisms of those in the system, those who need to use the system, and those (such as immigration lawyers) who have to work with the existing system.

Comprehensive immigration reform looked like it might actually be accomplished, in bits and pieces, in 2007. You may remember the storm on the Hill about this proposed reform. Unfortunately, the serious flaws in the system are still there, as the reforms never got much further than the “table.” Oddly, the changes everyone did seem to agree upon, which were roughly 85% of the total proposed, were not passed. And so it sits on the shelf – waiting.

Is now a better time? Or better yet, is “now” the time? There are definitely still many issues that desperately need to be addressed, such as worker shortages, border security, visa policy, and worker verification systems. These problems are not going away and the longer they are left, the worse they will become.

What’s more disturbing, is the fact that since the big boys in Washington are not doing much about implementing needed reform, the powers that be in other local governments are making up the rules as they go along. While it is an attempt to “fix” the system as best as possible, it creates quite the conundrum. With ad hoc, “do it because we need it” kind of rules, it causes endless problems with constitutionality. It is also ending up with one rule or regulation contradicting another one. Obviously, these rules would be hard to apply with any degree of fairness.

It seems that many of the proposed “new” solutions may not be that effective for long standing problems. Some of the new systems contemplated have not necessarily been tested, which means any kinks or errors will need to be sorted out on the fly. And speaking of fly, one of the systems, the No Fly list, is a definite cause for concern in many respects including due process and civil liberties. It has an undeniable potential for discrimination on many levels.

Is the time now? If it is, there are still some very significant issues that need to be addressed. Whether they will be addressed at this time is anyone’s guess. We can only hope for reform, as we have hoped for it before.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

There are literally thousands of people who cross our borders daily that are ill with anything from a cold to N1H1 flu and from TB to Hepatitis. How do we stop them, either at the border or from crossing over illegally? These are the burning questions today in US immigration law. Stopping those legally crossing and turning them back won’t make much difference if they get it into their heads that they want to come to the US no matter what.

The thing is that even if a legal immigrant is denied US citizenship, there is nothing stopping them from coming into the country illegally. “And it’s darn certain that even border fences, checks, videos and other deterrents aren’t really working, even if there is the fear of getting caught,” said Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida. It doesn’t seem to matter if what they are doing is illegal; the need to provide for their families at home is a major driving factor in most cross border apprehensions.

“The problem however, lies not just with illegal or legal immigrants that are ill crossing our borders; this also extends to immigrants from third world countries. If they’re sick and immigrate to the US, how do we know they are ill until the symptoms manifest themselves?” added Odell. These types of questions always lurk in the minds of legislators, law enforcement and health officials when it comes to making decisions about the rules and regulations pertaining to immigration – from any country.

The bottom line is that there are still human rights issues at play, and whether we like it or not they need to be addressed equitably. “If we become too “exclusive” (meaning in this instance to exclude) in our immigration policies, we run the very real risk of being regarded as a country that subscribes to racial discrimination,” commented Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.
It’s a fine line to walk, and many immigration lawyers shudder to think what the future may hold.

Immigration laws definitely need far better health screening rules and procedures. No one would argue that point. Where the argument hits the fan is when politicians advocate for tighter borders (e.g. the fence between the southern states and Mexico) and even stricter border checks, etc. The real question underlying all of this great debate is: “What about human rights issues?”

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“When an immigrant from a third world country wishes to be considered for residency in the US, it’s often the case that their personal records, due to the turmoil in their home country, are incomplete,” commented Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

The problem with this, aside from the obvious lack of facts, is if the person has an existing criminal record, that’s the last thing they are going to voluntarily reveal to the authorities in the US. “Why would they want to mess up a chance at relocating to the land of opportunity, as opposed to the oppressive regime they may be currently living under?” said Odell.

Obviously, this is a problem for determining if the applicant is of “good moral character” and other specifications that need to be met prior to being approved for entry. The interesting thing is that our current immigration system was originally designed to keep out certain types of wrong doers or just plain bad people from becoming a part of America’s melting pot.

“If there are no records, or incomplete records, this means we have no way of knowing if they are violent, have taken part in criminal activities, if they have spent time in jail and if so for what crime, or any other specifics that may be used to assess the viability of their application for immigrant status in the US,” explained Odell.

To say that this has the potential to be an embarrassing political problem at some point would be fairly accurate, for if the US Immigrations officials make the mistake of assessing someone as being acceptable without proper records and something terrible happens, it’s media circus time.

The solution appears to be that European countries are working to electronically synchronize their criminal records and allow them to be viewed by those who need to know in other nations – say the United States. “This will increase the chances of fugitives being apprehended, weed out fraudulent business individuals, immediately identify career criminals, murderers and even child molesters,” outlined Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

Of course, this kind of an intelligence system would work both ways in order for our authorities to enjoy the advantages of reciprocity. While reciprocity is nice, it will need to come with a dash of discretion and the ability to interpret not only the plain, stark language of various records, but realize the motivation behind some of them and make exceptions.

For instance, in some countries, those who are oppressed and fight back are jailed and receive a criminal record for wanting to make life better for their fellow countrymen and women. This is hardly to be classified as a ” crime” in the most usually accepted sense of the word.

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Every day we read the paper, there is another story about the problems of illegal immigration or other dire news relating to this convoluted system. It’s not much wonder when the rules keep changing like a kaleidoscope, that things aren’t working all that well for either those that run this complicated system, or those that are trying to work within this archaic system.

Is the system broken? Most definitely it is and this isn’t much of a shock either when you look at the horrendous documentation to be admitted to the US as an authorized immigrant. Knowing that the system lacks something to be desired, and takes forever and a day to get through (meaning sometimes years) more immigrants are willing to take the chance of sneaking over the border and just getting on with their lives.

Speak to immigrants waiting for approval to get into the US and you’ll likely hear a whole litany of things what would make a natural citizen cringe. The rules, regulations, addendums and constant changes make trying to get legal status in the US a real hit and miss proposition. Why then are we wondering that the influx of illegal immigrants seems to be higher than it has ever been?

It’s quite obvious that immigrants want to live in the US because America truly is the land of unlimited opportunities – if you can even get approved, meet all the requirements, live an exemplary life, don’t commit a crime, learn all about the civil government and pass your citizenship test. Not asking much are we?

Unfortunately, to say that the immigration system is botched would be an understatement. Take a good look at how jammed packed the immigration courts happen to be. Qualified, decent people that would do our country credit are getting lost in a vast behemoth of a system whose good days are few and far between. In the meantime, almost 30 million people have felt the need to sneak over the border. The immigration system definitely needs to be fixed.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Over the last decade or so, there has been a significant increase in the severity of immigration paybacks if an immigrant has been convicted of a criminal offense. The problem is, it’s not just the fact that the immigrant may have been convicted, the consequences may happen anyway even if they were NOT arrested or convicted, but perhaps charged for criminal conduct.

Due to the severe nature of the immigration fallout on the other side of this equation, criminal defense attorneys need to not just reduce time in custody, but work to avoid deportation when any sentence is completed. Although attorneys in California are required to tell their immigration clients about the real aftermath of certain defense strategies, this often doesn’t happen. This of course winds up putting the immigrant behind the proverbial eight ball.

The interesting question is why immigrants don’t get a deportation defense along with their criminal defense. This most often relates to the attorney not considering that type of work to be included in criminal defense proceedings. On the other side of the coin, there are zealous criminal defense lawyers who have a special skill in attempting to mitigate possible deportation and also reducing time in custody.

If you happen to have a record of criminal conduct, make sure you are aware of the precise immigration spin-off of that record before filing an application with USCIC or traveling. By traveling or applying to USCIC, you will bring your record to the attention of the government and this could result in a rather drastic outcome.

There are a variety of areas affected by a history of criminal conduct, including your inability to now be able to say you have “good moral character,” a requirement for obtaining permission to immigrate to the US. Criminal conduct will also prevent you from being approved for naturalization, and bar you from being able to qualify for certain relief forms from deportation in immigration court.

The above sanctions may not seem too great, and admittedly, are on the lesser end of the range of consequences for criminal conduct. Be aware however that things like being charged or even accused of an aggravated felony may result in quick expulsion.

If you think you can just come back into the US after expulsion (without authorization) for this type of felony, think again, as you may face up to 20-years in federal prison if prosecuted. Lately, state attorneys are paying more attention to dealing with and prosecuting cases of this nature.

In all instances, if you have a history of criminal conduct, consult with a highly skilled immigration lawyer to find out where you stand with regard to the immigration process. Better to know that now, than find out the hard way later.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

An immigrant visa lets an individual live and work in the U.S. on a permanent basis. The non-immigrant visa is for those who only visit the country on a temporary basis; e.g. tourists, professionals, medical patients and students.

The green card is a pretty important piece of documentation for people whose greatest wish is to live and work in the United States. It’s so important, that it’s no small wonder that when people apply for a green card, they tend to make some glaring errors.

“While making mistakes is understandable, it will also tend to delay the processing of the green card application,” indicated Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida. In fact, the U.S. Immigration Services are very stringent about how the applications are filled out, to the point that they have been known to delay or deny applicants.

The most common mistakes are in submitting applications that are not completed properly, meaning they may not have the required documentation, (birth certificate, marriage license, employer verifications) etc. “In order to process the application, all the documents asked for must be attached to the application. No documents, no approval,” said Odell.

A second common mistake is unsigned immigration forms. In the excitement and rush to submit the application, many people forget to sign their paperwork. This tends to happen more commonly when an applicant is filling out information on behalf of a dependent.

This brings up one other very common error, handing in documents in another language and not providing an English translation. “Those documents don’t have to be official, just accurately represent what the original document outlines, but in a foreign language,” explained Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

Most immigration lawyers are very familiar with the error of applying in the wrong immigration category. This is just one reason why consulting a competent immigration attorney will assure people are applying in the right categories and meet the required criteria in those areas. “A good immigration attorney will also advise their client that immigration forms change frequently and it is best to pay close attention to what is being asked when applying for a green card,” added Odell.

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“Part of the problem with immigration myths is the fact that they have been perpetuated by the media who would seemingly prefer to discuss the bad and ugly side of immigration problems, without giving the same amount of air space to the good side,” said Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.
Frankly, politicians don’t help the debate much either with their partisan policies that fluctuate with every small breeze that blows through election land.

There are a wide variety of myths surrounding immigrants coming to the U.S., including one that says immigrants lower real estate values. This has no kernel of truth in it and in fact, the shape the housing market is in today is a direct result of low interest rates, very sloppy lending standards, and a craze to buy houses. “Once that warped market phenomenon hit its peak, it has been sliding into recession since then,” indicated Odell.

Another myth is that immigrants tend to bring disease to the country, particularly tuberculosis. “When dealing with this particular falsehood, it’s best to look at the World Health Organization statistics before jumping to wild conclusions,” commented Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

The fact of the matter is that Mexico only has a rate of 13 people per 100,000 as compared to immigrants from Eastern Europe, Africa, the Indian sub-continent, Namibia, Botswana, Cambodia, the Philippines and Bangladesh that often have statistics showing up to 469 people per 100,000.

We need to be aware of what we are actually dealing with when we propagate myths about immigrants and offer them the dignity and respect they deserve for hard working people. “This goes to the heart of another myth that goes something along the lines of undocumented workers wanting citizenship benefits without waiting their turn in the immigration approval process,” outlined Odell.

The facts are that most undocumented workers are earning money to send back home to care for their families. They aren’t the least bit interested in owning property, voting or even running for election. They, just like millions of other Americans, pay sales taxes, property taxes and income taxes.

Furthermore these workers don’t ask for welfare, social security or Medicare benefits. “This is hardly an indication that they are not waiting their “turn” to become legal citizens, when in fact they are virtually already half way there in actions alone and are only asking for temporary renewable work permits that let them earn a living,” explained Odell.

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The lead contender may very well be immigration policies and their lack of clarity to name just one issue. However, in order to make any changes to existing polices, whether they happen to be in the health care arena, or in immigration, something has to be done about the economy. Interestingly enough, immigration and the economy are almost indistinguishable, as one drives the other, so fixing immigration may have ramifications on the economy.

In all likelihood, the immigration issue, given that it is such a political football, will remain a highly volatile issue waiting to blow up in some manner or another. If the current state of affairs affecting immigration is any indication of things to come for the future, immigration may take on a very ugly tone, very soon. The building of a border fence to keep illegal immigrants out of the country is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of an attempted resolution to the immigration difficulties facing this country.

The largest question on the minds of most immigration attorneys is what the current administration is going to do to deal with immigration and its twin conundrum, the economy. If Obama’s current leanings are any indication, he approves of more personnel and better security to monitor any border infractions. He supported more security at the borders, which is a highly inflammatory issue in immigration circles and legally.

On the other hand, he also supports the streamlining of the immigration mish mash that we currently deal with so it would allow more people to come to our country legally. A fine goal, but what about the ever present and dismal state of the economy that will suffer if the number of immigrants in the country is reduced? Also, how does Obama’s desire to let undocumented immigrants pay a fine, learn English and be allowed the opportunity to become a legal citizen fit into the overall scheme of things?

There are no answers to any of these questions right now, not without some water under the bridge that will let the pundits analyze what is happening. Frankly, right now, the first priority of the Obama administration is the economy – period. While all that is going on, lawmakers in southern border-states are lining up a veritable potpourri of penalties for hiring unauthorized workers. Most of the proposed penalties give immigration lawyers real problems, as the foundation of all legal dealings in the United States is fairness and justice for all.

The fact that some of the proposed penalties have the potential to be somewhat less than fair is the subject of another article. However, suffice it to say, that if immigration attorneys think they are busy now, if any of the proposed penalties for dealing with unauthorized workers being hired, etc., come to pass, they are about to get even busier defending basic human rights.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The question in and around Houston is just how far are police officers supposed to go to help with immigration control? While this issue might not seem to be that important, it takes on critical importance when you consider that Houston cops also need to police the city. So, the question is then one of compromising their existing jobs and the citizenry of Houston to assist with immigration control.

Certainly this is a political issue first and foremost, but it also has the earmark of a manpower and budget issue – both areas that are difficult, if not impossible, to resolve and have everyone happy with the outcome. From the point of view of the Department of Homeland Security, their Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department exists to perform immigration duties. Part of their raison d’être also happens to be the training of local authorities on what they are to do when dealing with immigration issues.

The training would also include access to their extensive database of ICE fingerprints. The method to their madness implies that by giving access to this vast database, local police would have a leg-up in discovering and deporting people who have entered the country illegally. This is all well and good in theory, but it may not live to see the light of day, as there are no local police forces enrolled in the ICE immigration-training program. The main reason is, any trainees would need to be away from their regular police jobs for up to five weeks.

The time away is a problem manpower wise, but the most pressing issue is the fact that while the police trainees are away from their regular jobs to get ICE trained, they are still being paid by the local police jurisdiction. There are six counties surrounding Houston and not one of them has a police member enrolled to take the training courses.

What is happening here is a very gradual, and not necessarily good, blurring of the lines between federal and local responsibilities for immigration. Who is to be responsible for what? Where are the lines? What happens if they are crossed? How will manpower be mustered to serve in both capacities, when there are too few cops and not enough money to pay them?

These are all issues that will directly impact on immigrants. If things weren’t bad enough now, with the current immigration policies changing just about daily, they are about to get worse if local law enforcement starts to act on behalf of the federal government. Legal issues surrounding immigration are difficult enough as it is without further uncertainties thrown into the mix.

The bottom line is that the immigration polices of the United States really need to be clearly spelled out in a fair and equitable manner. Those who face immigration difficulties need to be aware they should seek competent legal advice from a highly trained immigration attorney to assist them with any issues they may have.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Moving to a new country with a different culture, language, customs and very different laws may be quite the experience. It might also be quite the nightmare if a new immigrant runs afoul of the law while in the U.S. Being on the wrong side of the law in one’s own country of origin is bad enough, but to be in a new country where everything is strange is just horrendous; more so if immigrants find themselves mired in a legal system that says he or she needs to put up bail money.

What this process would result in is something called an immigration bond and while it is not the easiest thing in the world to understand, it is doable with the help of a highly qualified immigration attorney such as Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

“An immigration bond is federal and immigrants are responsible for posting them if they have been detained and arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” explained Odell. This isn’t the same thing as being arrested by a local police officer. “About the only thing that is the same in this bond process is the fact that the bond tells the courts the person will show up for court,” said Odell. That is where the similarities end.

If the immigrant chooses to post a cash bond, it goes right to the ICE, not the court or the local jail. The second major difference is that someone seeking an immigration bond must get one only through a bail bond company licensed to handle immigration bonds. There aren’t a lot of these particular companies floating around, so if a person is in hot water and needs an immigration bond, they need to do the relevant research fast. “We recommend they call us for assistance, rather than run the risk of dealing with a sham company,” added Odell.

Knowing where to go to get an immigration bond is just the tip of the iceberg, getting one becomes even more complicated when the person needing one doesn’t speak the language and has to try to figure out which offices are open and when they are open for business. For this reason and a few others (such as longer processing times) the costs for getting an immigration bond are higher, “In fact, “explained Odell, “they may be as much as 15% to 20 % of the bail amount.”

Everyone needs to know their rights when it comes to legal processes, and this is even more important when it comes to immigrants trying to work their way through the system from the other side of the fence. “This is why we would encourage all immigrants who are facing legal difficulties, and require an immigration bond, to contact us. We are able to advise them of their rights and assist them with the process,” commented Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It would be safe to say that there are not many people who know what the immigration policy is for the U.S., and that would include immigration lawyers. It’s one of those things that are like a kaleidoscope; it changes with every twist and turn. For this reason alone people trying to immigrate to the U.S. should make it a point to consult with a competent immigration lawyer such as Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida, for up to the minute information.

It’s been said in the media that the immigration policies of a particular country reflect their attitudes toward immigration. Nothing could be truer when it comes to the U.S. immigration policies, which are at best confused ambivalence. On one hand we say we welcome immigrants, on the other we try to keep them out of the country with border fences. If this doesn’t send mixed messages then someone needs serious counseling.

Most immigration policies seem to be the result of political reaction to various situations. For instance, the reaction to the terrorism of 9/11 saw the borders slammed shut almost overnight. On the other hand, there are also social and economic conditions that drive immigration rules and regulations. The difficulty with any of these factors is no one is quite sure what rules apply in which situations any longer.

The face of immigration is about to change in the U.S. with the border fence erected along the United States/Mexico border. There will be more rules, more regulations and more hoops to jump through to successfully become a legal immigrant in the U.S. While the process itself may get more complicated and less human, legislators need to remember that they are still dealing with human beings who have certain rights. Treating them in an impersonal hands-off manner will do nothing to further the cause of basic human rights, nationalism or trust.

When faced with immigration issues, rather than try and run the gauntlet, seek advice from the highly trained immigration lawyers at of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It’s sad, but very true that the U.S. Immigration system has so many loopholes, glitches, corruption, ridiculous policies, and incomprehensible rules and regulations that it takes a highly experienced immigration lawyer to sort things out. Imagine how an immigrant would feel trying to figure out this complex and constantly changing system just to live in the U.S.

No wonder immigrants hope to win the lottery – and we don’t mean the regular lottery where you win money – we mean the Diversity Visa Lottery that offers 55,000 permanent residency Visas to foreigners, so long as they follow all the rules and regulations. That might be tough since those seem to change on a daily basis. Nonetheless, this Visa would give the lucky one an opportunity to become a U.S. citizen after 3 to 5 years.

The major reason why so many immigrants like to enter their names in this lottery is because it is free, as opposed to hiring an immigration lawyer, which may be necessary later during their residency in the U.S. The operative word here is free, and if anyone charges a person for entering the lottery, it is a scam. Period.

All that is required to enter the Diversity Visa Lottery is filling out a form, usually in English, and that is it. Don’t worry if you happen to have a spouse and/or children, as they would receive a Visa as well, so long as their background check comes out OK.

This is how things usually work, mind you, it may be subject to change without notice, and it would not hurt if you contacted a qualified immigration lawyer to ask questions. Better to be safe than sorry. You are usually able to fill out Visa applications from early October to early December, and you may actually do this online.

So if you need help with translation, get a friend to assist you with filling out this form. It’s pretty straightforward and you only need the basics, such as name, address, phone number, SS number, etc.

You won’t know if you have won the lottery until May of the following year and you are only contacted by snail mail, or regular post. If you were successful, your Visa would then kick in the year following that.

In other words, if you apply in 2010 and if you are chosen in that year’s drawing, you would be advised in 2011, and your Visa would take effect in 2012. Then you would get a DV 2012 card when it was issued. Nothing like taking forever and a day to find out if you get a chance to live in the U.S. In all cases when faced with questions or concerns about the U.S. immigration process, contact a highly trained immigration lawyer, and make sure you are on the right side of the law. The first consultation is usually free.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The fact that a great number of Americans seem to think illegal immigrants, or immigrants in general, are responsible for the rising crime rates is a pure myth. It has, in fact, been statistically proven that immigrants don’t affect the crime rate. We seem to be able to do that on our own without any outside help.

What do the statistics say? They indicate that violent crime has decreased roughly 34% and property crimes have decreased by about 26% during the same period of time when the illegal immigrant population increased to about 12 million people. This isn’t to say that immigrants don’t get involved in crime, but it does say that they are not the major source of increased crime rates. This is just a popular myth set into the American psyche and fanned into flames by the media.

The sad fact is that many political decisions happen to be based on myths like this one. For instance, the decision to erect a fence along the Texas/Mexico border, called the Secure Border Initiative, which is designed to keep illegal immigrants out. Unfortunately, it seems we don’t spend a lot of time looking at ourselves in the mirror and dealing with crime at home.

Speaking of myths, another one is that lower real estate values are caused by immigrants. You’ve no doubt heard expressions like, “There goes the neighborhood,” when referring to new foreign neighbors. The truth of the matter is that ups and downs in real estate value are normal, traditional and cyclical and are not tied to any group of people. What happened is interest rates were low (some say too low), bank lending got sloppy and people went hog-wild buying houses. This boom market peaked in 2006 and has been declining ever since.

Isn’t it time we took a good look at some of these prevalent myths and saw them for what they really are – just myths based on emotional responses to things people don’t know, don’t understand or don’t like. In reality, immigrants have nothing to do with higher crime, lower property values or an increased rate of disease in the U.S., nor do they take jobs that should go to U.S. workers. The fact is, that many U.S. workers are too lazy to take the jobs they are offered. It’s time we regarded immigrants as the valued citizens they really are and we should welcome them, not try to keep them out with fences.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Immigration lawyers specialize in immigration issues and are able to set the proper proceedings in motion to allow an illegal alien to attain legal status in the U.S. as a citizen. Knowing the immigration regulations in intimate detail are what Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. has been trained to do over the course of many years.

While your reason to immigrate to the U.S. may have to do with family or perhaps a job, the reasons don’t really matter if the ultimate goal is to become a legal permanent resident. If a person is living here illegally, this is another matter entirely. Either way, Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. in Miami and Orlando are able to discuss the available options, so an informed choice is possible. They are not there to judge their clients’ situation. They are there to ensure all the proper legal requirements are met for legal residency.

Getting the license that allows one to stay in the country permanently is a lot of work on the part of legal counsel. Ultimately, the best thing is to abide by the laws of the country one wants to work and live in legally. Doing this illegally is highly stressful and has ramifications no one really wants to consider – for instance deportation.

To obtain a license for permanent residency, consult with Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., as they specialize in immigration law and know how to handle any case that knocks on their door. They’re the best source of information and guidance when a person wants to become a legal U.S. resident. Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. focus on the educational component of practicing immigration law as well, and that includes offering advice on the eligibility requirements and other of the seemingly hundreds of immigration rules and regulations.

The most important thing to note, and this is just the basic facts to get started with, is that there are four immigration options available: immigration through employment, through a family member, permanent resident status as a refugee and/or seeking asylum, and immigration through a diversity lottery. Of course each method has its pros and cons. Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. in Miami and Orlando knows those pros and cons.

To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It should come as no particular surprise that the building starts for the U.S. construction section are dismal, to say the least. This recession has put a complete kibosh on a great many projects and in the process put a lot of people out of work. The people out of work in the construction sector are a fairly high number of illegal aliens who had been making a living in this sector.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t some construction work available, as there is relating to infrastructure projects and rebuilding homes in the wake of natural disasters. However, many of those in the construction workforce that hailed from Mexico have had to consider giving up and making their way back home.

This of course is an interesting short-term solution to the immigration problem currently faced by the U.S. The numbers of illegal aliens, some 12,000,000, has never been higher. It appears there is some natural attrition going on, with people leaving of their own accord. Here is an interesting question: What will happen when the economy and the construction market make a come back?

This isn’t such a far-fetched idea either, as many economists are figuring the economy will start making a come back in the last quarter of 2009 or the first quarter of 2010. Some pessimists are holding out for early 2011 in terms of the resurgence of available jobs. With such a resurgence will come an influx of illegal aliens once again, and one wonders if the illegal immigration problems will be fixed by then. There’s a good chance they will not be anywhere close to being solved.

Just because all is fairly quiet on the illegal immigration scene with many immigrants choosing to go back home, doesn’t mean the long-term problem has gone away. It’s up to the politicians to do some fixing before the situation once again becomes desperate. Erecting a fence along the border between the U.S. and Mexico isn’t a solution. It’s merely viewed as a surmountable deterrent.

To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Interesting that we thank immigrants for helping to make America what it is today, for helping to make it a great nation when they settled here, yet now we erect fences to try and keep immigrants out (The Secure Border Initiative) — but that’s another article. The point here is that immigration law and trends are based on the fluctuations in the immigration population. And of course, politics tend to play a large part in anything dealing with immigration.

Right now the biggest problem politically speaking is the estimated numbers of illegal immigrants in the U.S. – hence the reason for the erection of the fence along the Mexican/U.S. border. The numbers you hear will vary, but one estimate puts the number of illegal aliens in this nation at over 12,000,000. Of course it is not just illegal Mexicans living in the U.S., as there are immigrants from other countries.

History does have a way of repeating itself and immigration issues are certainly not something new. However, with the increasing numbers of illegal immigrants these days, the issue has taken on a new perspective, and that perspective deals with issues like incoming immigrants taking jobs that could go to other Americans. It goes far deeper than that, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

You may recall the Reagan illegal immigrant amnesty program in the 80s that allowed 3,000,000 illegal immigrants to take a course to become legal citizens of the U.S. As you likely noticed, the numbers of illegal immigrants has climbed significantly and the debate centers on how to handle this kind of influx. It’s fair to say the debate actually “rages” on, as there has been no real solution identified. Suffice it to say that a fence along the border between the U.S./Mexico won’t help this debate any.

Is there really any viable solution to the number of illegal aliens in the United States? Hard question and one that is difficult to answer. Turfing illegal aliens out when they make a significant contribution to the overall economy tends to cause a pregnant pause.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

While it might be that change is a good thing, one wonders if too much change is rather obstructive, particularly in the case of U.S. immigration law. “Immigration laws are already complex and with each change, it affects something else, like a series of dominoes toppling over,” explained Sally Odell, of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

People wishing to apply to live in the U.S. are faced with so many hurdles and constantly changing rules and regulations, it’s a wonder they don’t give up in disgust and throw in the towel. In order to deal with the changing requirements of U.S. immigration law, it is vital to consult with an attorney who knows what they are doing, is able to explain things simply, is on top of the constant changes, and who produces favorable results.

Enter Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., who has extensive experience dealing with immigration laws and all the rules and regulations. Their job, when people hire them, is to immediately get a complete overview of the situation and pay attention to all the little details. Explaining all the options open to an applicant will allow the potential immigrant to make an informed decision.

It is also the lawyer’s job to make recommendations as to the best ways to get legal status and assist with the completion and submission of all required applications. Part of submitting the forms and offering recommendations is largely dependant on keeping abreast of all the most recent changes in immigration law. “A good immigration lawyer worth their salt will have all the latest changes at hand when discussing how to proceed with their client,” outlined Odell.

Keeping on top of the changes in rules and regulations helps to avoid delays and problems down the line, as the application for immigration winds its way through the cumbersome system. “Along the way we may wind up speaking to the Department of Homeland Security or representing a person in court as well, ” sad Odell. “We aim to be prepared for all contingencies.”

The immigration lawyer will also take the lead in filing appeals and waivers, if required, and making sure the “system” is used to the client’s advantage. For these reasons, and others, it only makes sense to hire an immigration lawyer that knows the system and will go to bat for their clients in order to make their application for immigration to the U.S. become a reality.

In the final analysis, a highly qualified, expert immigration lawyer is worth their weight in gold and will make the process of dealing with the system not only bearable, but informative. When hiring an immigration lawyer, be sure to look for the kind of experience that Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. in Miami and Orlando, Florida, bring to the table.

To learn more about immigration lawyer in Miami, immigration lawyer in Orlando, immigration lawyer in Florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The plain and simple fact of the matter is, while the immigration system has undergone so many extensive changes in the past, many politicians are regarding it as something best left alone for now. On the other hand, there are others who would rather complete a massive change and be done with it.

“While changes to the immigration system are definitely needed, the problem is changing what currently exists brings a cascade of other new problems along with it,” said Sally Odell, immigration lawyer, of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. in Miami and Orlando, Florida. If immigration was kept out of the political arena, it might fare better than it has to this point; however, that may be a moot point.

Most of the present problems with the immigration system that seem to be causing the angst, deal with illegal immigration. This actually became even more of an issue after 9/11 and has resulted in many significant changes to U.S. immigration law. The difficulty appears to be that those changes were made as a reaction to a situation, not as a considered change that would blend with the existing rules and regulations.

Immigration law is so complex that the only way to make heads or tails of the process is to hire a competent and expert immigration lawyer, such as Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. “We make the process of applying for immigration a whole lot easier to understand so the people relying on us are aware of their options and are able to make informed decisions about their futures with the information we give them,” added Odell.

When faced with the challenge of applying for immigration status in the U.S., make the first phone call to a lawyer for assistance. This is one phone call that will be well-worth the time and money.

Usually the first consultation is free and the attorney will assess the merits of the situation and make recommendations based on the information provided. Despite the fact that the present immigration system is a bit of a hornet’s nest, a top-notch immigration lawyer will walk clients through it to a successful conclusion.

To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

While you may not realize this, the immigration lawyer you hire will make all the difference in the world between you being able to remain in the country, or you being deported. This is why you need an attorney who understands all the ramifications of what deportation means to you and to your family.

Fighting deportation also means an impact on your budget, as it is expensive to mount a case; however, you will need the kind of expertise only a highly qualified immigration lawyer is able to provide. Look for an attorney who is willing to work with what you have, and yes, there are many who will gladly assist you in circumstances like this because they do understand what you are going through.

There are usually four steps followed during a deportation hearing, with the first one being a Notice to Appear. The Notice of Hearing, the Master Calendar Hearing, and then an individual hearing will typically follow the Notice to Appear. It is quite the process and usually begins with a recommendation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Once ICE has become involved, their Chief Counsel sends out the Notice to Appear. This notice tells the recipient that ICE intends to have them removed from the U.S. Information on the hearing is normally in this first notice. Don’t wait until just before the hearing to contact an expert in immigrations law. Do this the moment you get that letter and take the letter to the lawyer you have chosen.

The next notice, the Notice of Hearing, simply repeats all the pertinent information about when and where the hearing is located. The Master Calendar Hearing is the one where you will be assigned a time to find out why ICE wants you out of the country. Now if this isn’t a travesty of justice, we don’t know what is. Making a person wait until later to find out why they have been recommended for deportation shows a certain lack of sensitivity, not to mention possible human rights issues involved.

If you have come this far in the deportation process without an attorney, then make sure you hire one now, before your individual hearing takes place. This should not be faced alone as you will not have the legal knowledge to dispute any possible accusations or charges ICE may level against you. This is where your immigration attorney will earn their keep, by speaking up for you and getting to the bottom of the reasons cited for your recommended deportation.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in Miami, immigration lawyer in Orlando, immigration lawyer in Florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.