Today, the Council on Foreign Relations, one of the oldest and most respected non-partisan foreign policy think tanks in America, issued a sweeping report on U.S. immigration policy. Developed by an independent task force comprised of bi-partisan leaders, including former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Thomas "Mack" McLarty, the report finds that the passage of comprehensive immigration reform is vital to the national interests of the United States. The report offers a number of specific recommendations to reform current policy, but most notably insists that the time is now to pass comprehensive immigration reform.  Failure to do so, argues the task force, "threatens to weaken America's economy, to jeopardize its diplomacy, and to imperil its national security."   
The following is a statement by Mary Giovagnoli, Director of the Immigration Policy Center: 
 
"That fact that the Council on Foreign Relation is examining U.S. immigration policy is a clear signal that immigration is now regarded as a matter of national security and international diplomacy, not only a domestic policy concern with broad economic implications. The Council on Foreign Relations' report states unequivocally that comprehensive immigration reform is not only good for America, but vital to our national interests.  The report places the debate over comprehensive reform in a broader context, challenging Congress and the White House to move forward now on a sensible and thoughtful reform of our broken immigration system. The fact that a diverse group of leaders representing a range of political perspectives can reach consensus on immigration reform is not only a good sign, but an indication of just how critical immigration has become in efforts to maintain America's political, economic, and moral leadership in the world."   

  
The NBC Liaison Committee has learned that a problem with the interface tool for the "Case Status Online" has caused delays in the entry of new receipt numbers into the system and in the updating of status information for filings already in the system. The problem, which is not limited to NBC filings, has been recurring and we were not given a time estimate as to when the interface tool will be fixed.

The above information is courtesy of the AILA InfoNet Doc.

  
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