By Norka M. Schell,
Esq.
The need for immigration reform is no longer in
question. Our immigration system is broken, and the American people have called
upon the White House and Congress to fix it. How and when to fix our immigration
system are the key questions which the President and Congress must answer to
the American people.
Our previous experiences have shown that any long-term solution to the United
State's immigration problems must begin with a comprehensive approach to reform
that address all aspects of the nation's immigration system. Piecemeal reforms
have been tried, and failed. Therefore, any effective reform bill must
address the undocumented population to come out of the shadows and earn legal
status; provide fair and lawful ways for American business to hire much-needed
immigrant workers; reduce the unreasonable and counterproductive backlogs in
family-based and employment-based immigration by reforming the permanent
immigration system; and protect the national security and the rule of
law.
Of course, effective enforcement policies are critical to restoring integrity
and legitimacy to a system, but the U.S. Immigration Laws are so divorced from
our economic and social realities that to think that we will be able to revive
our economy and legality without a comprehensive reform of those laws is
naiive.
In the coming months, President Obama and the new Congress will start working
on an immigration reform bill, we expect that the White House and the
Congress will seriously consider comprehensive immigration reform this
time around.
