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Latino Festival, October 5-6 Maritime Park |
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Actualización: Reforma Migratoria 2013
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Update: Immigration Reform 2013 Stan P. Walker, Immigration Attorney, Southern Star Immigration The first, and arguably the easiest step to immigration reform happened late last month. The immigration reform bill proposed by the “Gang of Eight” made it past the Senate Judiciary Committee and is on its way to the Senate Floor. Debate should start next week. While the bill underwent some minor changes, it largely remained intact as originally proposed. All Democrats and 3 Republicans on the committee voted in favor of it, and the bill should come up for a full Senate vote near the end of June. So far, it still seems likely that the bill will be approved by the Senate, but the House is a different story. There have, however, been some recent, positive developments. The House prefers to try and fix our immigration system piece by piece, and wants to start with border security. The problem with a piecemeal attack on our broken immigration system is that tweaking the system over the past 20 years has actually made problems worse – only a comprehensive approach to reform will work. However, the fact that the House of Representatives is doing anything at all while waiting on the Senate bill is a promising sign. So far, the House has introduced four separate bills dealing with immigration reform, and plans to introduce a fifth bill in the near future. Most of the bills seem focused on enhancing border security and making sure that any immigrant who obtains relief under a proposed reform bill would not qualify for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Even though the House is not taking a comprehensive approach toward immigration legislation, the fact it is even discussing the issue is a promising sign. It’s going to be a long summer for immigration reform – make sure to stay informed about the latest going on in Washington. As the debate progresses, we will provide you with updates and information about how you can help. |