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Proyecto Visión 21

Immigration reform is happening and is going well

Francisco Miraval

Immigration reform is happening, but not at the federal level, and it is going well, but not for many immigrants and their families.

According to a recent report by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), during the first half of 2008 state legislatures approved 198 immigration laws and “18 of those bills have been enacted into law.”

During those same six months, legislators of 45 states debated, but not approved, 1,267 immigration bills. “. At this time last year, 43 states had enacted 182 laws related to immigrants and immigration,” the report says.

Most of the new laws have to do with sanctions against employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers, with new verification requirements of immigration documents of employees and of people requesting public benefits, and with ID theft prevention.

According to William T. Pound, executive director of NCSL, states are willing “to take the lead in responding to immigration challenges when Congress will not.”

Those laws, describe by Pound as “creative solutions,” are being debated and implemented not only by states, but also by counties and even cities.

For example, the City Council of Fremont, Nebraska, attempted to pass a law banning undocumented people from renting properties. The initiative was defeated when Fremont’s mayor voted against it.

In Denver, citizens will vote at the municipal elections on August 12 to decide if they authorize local police to impound vehicles driven by people suspected of being illegally in the country.

As the result of all those laws and of the actions of the federal government (that has created an “atmosphere of fear” according to Roberto Suro, a University of Southern California professor), and because of the challenging economy (perhaps there is a connection among all those elements), more than 1,3 million immigrants (documented or not) left the country in recent months, according to a new report recently released by The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a Washington think tank.

CIS based its conclusion comparing statistics provided by the U.S. Census Bureau and assuming that the “overwhelming majority” of undocumented immigrants in the United States are “uneducated Hispanics.” It is worth noting not all experts agree with the methodology and conclusions of the CIS.

Whatever the case, in addition to immigration laws being enacted by states, counties, and cities, there is now a new federal program, Operation Scheduled Departure, launched last week by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

This initiative is basically a self-deportation program. Undocumented immigrants with no criminal record are invited to voluntarily present themselves to federal authorities to be deported.

Those who accept the offer will not be arrested and will be giving several weeks to put their affairs in order before leaving the country. ICE officials will provide more details about the program this week.

As we can see, the immigration reform is happening and is forcing millions of people to leave the country. However, because this is a gradual and highly localized reform, we cannot even see it until it is too late.

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