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After the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill in June of 2013, it seemed like immigration reform was right around the corner. However, after many failed attempts, the momentum to push immigration legislation through Congress has ground to a halt.
After waiting a year for Congress to act, President Obama stated in June that if Congress refused to act, he would consider initiating other immigration executive actions on his own. Although there may be more changes, immigration advocates are speculating that President Obama's executive action will include these three major provisions:
1. One of the possibilities is that President Obama's executive action will expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA/Dreamer program) to include family members of DACA recipients or other undocumented individuals with certain US family ties. This would lift the threat of deportation for low priority cases, including those with U.S. citizen children, clean records, jobs and strong community ties. This type of expansion is estimated to help 4.5 million of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States today if executed. For Wisconsin, this could mean that of the estimated 100,000 undocumented individuals living in the state today, it may help 40,000 of them.
2. Another possibility is that President Obama may institute an expanded parole in place program. Parole in place currently allows for certain individuals to be paroled into the United States and therefore adjust their status to Lawful Permanent Resident within the United States. President Obama could expand this program allowing relatives of U.S. citizens in the country illegally to seek permanent residence without having to leave the country first.
3. Lastly, President Obama may decide to change the way that green cards are counted in order to add numbers to the existing pool. Currently, there are only 226,000 family based and 140,000 employment based green cards given annually. Every time a principal applicant receives one and brings derivative family members, every derivative counts against the cap.
President Obama may be considering changing the way green cards are counted to only including the principal's against the cap. This would allow a much greater flow of legal immigration and would cut down on many of the extremely long wait times for green cards.
These few changes could drastically change millions of lives if President Obama carries out his plan for executive action. Listen to a recent interview with Attorney Jerry Grzeca on this topic: http://www.wpr.org/what-executive-actions-president-expected-announce-immigration.
If you have any additional questions about possible Presidential changes to immigration law, or any other immigration matter, please contact Grzeca Law Group at (414) 342-3000 or visit our website at www.grzecalaw.com.
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