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We work at the George W. Bush Institute on challenges that would appear to be disconnected: modernizing Americas immigration system and promoting a reliable flow of information. But they come together directly and forcefully at Americas southern border, which remains the epicenter of the nations immigration debate and has emerged as a new front line in the need for truth-telling over fake news.

We see border issues and disinformation converging in three ways: smugglers spreading false information about border security, those same smugglers spreading disinformation about the safety of trips to the border and a Russian campaign to spread misleading narratives. Combating these realities will require comprehensive immigration reform, a vigilant effort to counter disinformation and better use of Spanish-language media to convey truthful information.

Of course, human smugglers have long used lies to tempt migrants to come to the United States border. They continue that habit today by leading would-be migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to believe that the Biden administration is throwing the gates open for them to seek a new life in the United States. As NPR reported this spring, Misinformation spread by smuggling organizations is helping spur this surge in migration from Central America.

The border, however, is not wide open. While President Biden rescinded the Trump administration policy of not allowing in unaccompanied minors or some asylum-seekers with children, the current administration is drawing upon public health guidance as it continues to expel migrants along the southern border. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 103,014 of the 178,416 migrants who Border Patrol encountered in June were sent back to Mexico.

Smugglers also maliciously trick migrant families into thinking that their trip to the United States will be an easy, comfortable family vacation. In reality, crossings at times run from brutal to deadly.

The Russians, meanwhile, are adding an extra wrinkle. Adm. Craig Faller, head of the U.S. Southern Command, recently informed Congress that disinformation can drive migration. As an example, pieces from RT en Espaol, which is part of the government-controlled Russia Today operation, end up in popular local media outlets, where they provide misleading information about the border to potential migrants.

The best way to stop the unreliable flow of information is to fix our broken immigration system, which gives smugglers ample room to spread disinformation. If we modernize our system with regularized, legal and realistic pathways for immigrants to enter our country, we could help curb inaccurate information. We particularly should expand temporary worker visa programs and diversify employment-based green cards so that migrants who want to work here can do so without attempting to cross the southwest border.

Countering disinformation also involves a smart media strategy. Advertising in Central American media outlets is crucial to countering the smugglers misinformation as well as misleading RT en Espaol stories. Earlier this year, the White House launched an ad campaign in Spanish- and Indigenous-language media outlets to inform would-be migrants our border is not wide-open. Good. Keep up the just-the-facts campaign.

For their part, U.S. journalists should remain vigilant about distinguishing between asylum-seekers and other migrants. U.S. law stipulates that seeking asylum is the legal right of people trying to escape corruption, violence and extortion at home. TV footage of people crossing on foot, especially, should provide context about who is attempting to cross the border legally and illegally. Otherwise, the footage risks sensationalizing immigration realities.

Spanish-language media outlets in the United States are an important means for the administration as well as journalists to get the facts out, and they should take that responsibility seriously. Spanish-language papers in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas and elsewhere are major sources of information for families here and abroad.

Spanish-language TV stations are especially important. The Pew Research Centers latest data show that about 1.1 million viewers watch Univisions evening newscast, while about 700,000 people view Telemundos evening newscast. Those networks also own affiliates that reach local audiences with their own reporting.

We can and must solve our immigration challenges, starting with reforming our immigration system. Solving that challenge, however, also requires a reliable flow of truthful information.

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Commentary: Getting information right is crucial to solving the border crisis - Press Herald

More than 80,000 young undocumented immigrants who hoped to gain legal protections through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program had their dreams dashed in July when a federal judge in Texas closed the program to first-time applicants.

The judges unfortunate ruling has prompted Democrats to redouble their efforts to create a more permanent legal-status solution for these young people, often called Dreamers, who were brought to our country illegally as children and call no other nation home.

This time, advocates for the Dreamers, including the Chicago City Council Latino Caucus and Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, are putting their hopes in a proposed $3.5 trillion federal budget plan, supported only by Democrats on Capitol Hill, to finally achieve this fundamental immigration reform. Because it is a budget bill, Democrats could push it through by a simple majority vote, bypassing Republican opposition.

President Joe Biden last Thursday made clear he supports including immigration reform specific steps to protect Dreamers from deportation and possibly give them a clear path to citizenship in the budget package. But Biden did not spell out exactly what changes he has in mind. And Republicans, for their part, wonder what immigration reform has to do with the budget.

We would remind the Republican critics that federal budgets are never just about dollars and cents, but always about values and priorities, whether that means earmarking funds for a border wall, for early childhood education, for Social Security or as in this latest case for a program to protect young undocumented immigrants from unjust deportations.

The Democrats proposed budget package still is being firmed up. It will be a challenge a real trick to get even all Democrats in the Senate to sign on to the massive bill, and compromise is the name of the game. But when it comes to including immigration reform measures, we trust that leading Democratic advocates, including Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, will hang tough.

After years of being undermined by the Trump administration, the DACA program was fully reinstated in December 2020, but the pace of approving new applications was slow. As of May 31, only about 1,900 of more than 62,000 applications had been approved. By the end of June, the backlog of applications had grown to more than 80,000.

In response, the Biden administration moved to assign more immigration officers to the job, but it was too late. On July 17, a federal judge in Texas, Andrew Hanen, ruled that the program could not accept new applicants, citing technical violations of federal law. DACA, Hanen concluded, violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs federal rulemaking, by evading the normal notice and comment process in adopting new rules.

Hanens decision doesnt immediately threaten legal protects for some 616,030 Dreamers already protected under DACA, but it leaves those 80,000 new applicants out in the cold.

Adding to their distress, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced last week that each applicant who paid $495 in fees will not get a refund.

Biden initially attempted to achieve the same goal of locking in permanent legal status for Dreamers and offering them a way to citizenship through his proposed U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, as well as the American Dream and Promise Act. But the legislation has stalled in the Senate, where at least 10 Republican votes are needed for passage.

Hence the effort to score a victory for immigration reform through the budgeting process, where a Senate parliamentary process called reconciliation allows passage of a bill by means of a simple majority vote.

Biden indicated his support for this strategy by tucking the word reconciliation into his remarks on Thursday. He said:

I have repeatedly called on Congress to pass the American Dream and Promise Act, and I now renew that call with the greatest urgency. It is my fervent hope that through reconciliation or other means, Congress will finally provide security to all Dreamers, who have lived too long in fear.

We see an historic win for justice in the offing. If only the Democrats will go for it.

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com.

Link:
A chance for an historic win on immigration reform if only Democrats will hang tough | Editorial - Chicago Sun-Times

The White House has issued a fact sheet that describes President Joe Bidens plan for establishing a fair, orderly, and humane immigration system.

It says, While President BidenJoe BidenGOP report on COVID-19 origins homes in on lab leak theory READ: The .2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Senators introduce bipartisan infrastructure bill in rare Sunday session MORE can implement significant parts of this strategy within his executive authority,Congress must also act. But it doesnt reflect much effort to make the plan acceptable to the Republicans and Republican support is needed to pass the necessary legislation.

It calls instead for passage of the necessary legislation through reconciliation or other means.

Reconciliation is a special process that was established by theCongressional Budget Act of 1974to conform tax and spending levels to levels set in abudget resolution.

The advantage of the reconciliation process is that it permits a bill to be passed in the Senate with a simple majority. In other words, it would avoid a Republican filibuster. The 50 Democratic senators would need 10 Republican votes to reach the 60 votes required to end a filibuster, which is practically impossible at the moment.

It is extremely doubtful, however, that the Senate parliamentarian will permit the Democrats to include immigration reform legislation in a budget bill that is going through the reconciliation process.

According to Bill Hoagland, reconciliation is reserved for policies that have a direct budgetary impact, i.e., that would increase or lower the federal governments tax revenue and spending. It is not intended to make major policy changes. Hoagland was the director of budget and appropriations in the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist from 2003 to 2007.

A single Senator can ask the parliamentarian to remove immigration provisions from a budget bill that is going through the reconciliation process by raising apoint of order. If the parliamentarian agrees, it requires a 60-vote majority to overrule his decision.

Issues the plan should have addressed

Bidens plan does not include sanctions to discourage illegal entries. Illegal crossers can keep trying until they succeed in reaching the interior of the country, and when they reach the interior, they are home free unless they are found to be a threat to national security or public safety.

Ronald Vitiello, who was ICEs acting director in 2018 and 2019, has said that, Theodds of being arrested just for being in the country illegallywere always extremely low, and now theyve basically ruled it out by policy.

It shouldnt be this easy for aliens we know nothing about to enter illegally and remain here unlawfully, and this is especially true while we are in the midst of a deadly pandemic.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbotthas issued an executive orderto limit the ground transportation of undocumented aliens through Texas who have recently been released from border patrol custody. According to Abbott, busloads of migrants, an unknown number of whom are infected with COVID-l9, are being transported to communities across the State of Texas exposing Texans to the spread of COVID-19.

Consequently, he orders that

Bidens plan calls for improving expedited removal proceedings to fairly determine which individuals have legitimate claims for asylum or other forms of protection. Aliens who dont qualify for protection will be removed to their countries of origin.

Apparently, though, Biden doesnt intend to fully utilize expedited removal proceedings.

Section 1225(b)(1)(B)(IV) of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides that aliens in expedited removal proceedings must be detained pending a final determination ofcredible fear of persecutionand, if found not to have such a fear, until removed. His plan does not include the construction of additional detention facilities at the border, which would be necessary to fully utilize these proceedings during the present surge in illegal crossings.

The plan emphasizes the strategy of reducing illegal migration from Central America by addressing the root causes for leaving those countries to come to the United States. This strategy has not worked in the past, and there is no reason to expect it to work now.

Biden was the Obama administrations point-man for the $750 million Alliance for Prosperity strategy in 2014, which was supposed to dissuade unaccompanied minors from coming to the United States. It helped to reduce migration in the short term, but it did not have a significant impact on the root causes for leaving Central American to come to the United States.

The immigration court currently has 535 judges to deal with its backlog of 1,357,820 cases. The plan calls for hiring an additional 100 judges to deal with this crisis.

The immigration courts most productive year since fiscal 2008, was fiscal 2019, when it completed 276,970 cases. But it received 546,248 new cases that year, which meant that the backlog increased by 269,278 cases. In the second quarter of fiscal 2021, it received 66,158 new cases and completed 43,652, which increased the backlog by 22,506 cases.

In fact, the immigration court has not reduced the backlog a single time during that 13-year period.

How is a 20 percent increase in the size of the court going to turn this around?

Not to mention the factcompetent immigration judges dont grow on trees. Immigration law is second only to the Internal Revenue Code in complexity, and weve already been promoting people with no immigration law experience whatsoever to be judges.

Biden has to address these problems to get enough Republican support to pass the legislation needed to implement his plan.

Nolan Rappaportwas detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an executive branch immigration law expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years. Followhis blogathttps://nolanrappaport.blogspot.com.

More here:
Biden's plan for immigration is as porous as the border | TheHill - The Hill

Speaking with reporters at the White House on Thursday, President Joe Biden said he supported including immigration measures in the $3.5 trillion spending bill that Democrats could pass without any Republican support via the process known as reconciliation.

Biden supports creating a pathway to citizenship for the group of young immigrants who received protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but he said he was unsure whether that would be included in the bill, according to Reuters.

Biden's remarks followed a meeting at the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris and a group of Democratic lawmakers to discuss DACA, which prevents the deportation of some unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the US as children.

Read more: Democrats are readying $3.5 trillion in spending. Meet 13 experts deciding who gets the money.

Sen. Dick Durbin told reporters that Democrats had an opportunity to pass immigration measures and that Biden "made it clear to us, unequivocally clear, that he stands with our efforts."

The DACA discussions followed a ruling last month by a judge in Texas that found the program unlawful, causing the suspension of new applications.

A separate $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal advanced in the Senate on Wednesday, with 17 Republicans joining all 50 Democrats in supporting it. In addition to the bipartisan plan, which will most likely have a final vote in the next week or two, Democrats are hoping to pass a bigger infrastructure bill through reconciliation.

Reconciliation is a legislative tactic that allows lawmakers to pass bills that concern government spending with only a simple majority, rather than the 60-vote threshold needed to avoid a filibuster.

The $3.5 trillion spending package Democrats have proposed would include social initiatives that Republicans opposed in the bipartisan bill, such as a national paid-leave program and affordable childcare.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia told Insider's Joseph Zeballos-Roig in June that Democrats were considering addressing immigration in the bill.

"Anytime there's been a CBO examination on immigration reform, it produces a significant increase in the GDP without really costing much money," he said, referring to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

It's unclear what immigration measures would be included in the bill.

In March, House Democrats passed two immigration measures meant to establish pathways to citizenship for DACA recipients and migrant farmworkers. Neither has passed in the Senate, despite a Democratic majority, because they lack the 10 Republican votes needed to avoid a filibuster.

The reconciliation bill would need all 50 Democratic senators to pass, but Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona on Wednesday said she would not support a bill with a $3.5 trillion price tag, setting up the bill to be scaled back.

Have a news tip? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@insider.com.

Read the original here:
Biden supports adding immigration to spending bill without GOP support - Business Insider

Julio Fuentes| Palm Beach Post

Its been over four months since the House of Representatives passed the American Dream and Promise Act (ADPA) and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (FWMA). Passed with bipartisan support, the FWMA and the ADPAs companion bill, the Dream Act, now await action in the Senate leaving many hard-working undocumented immigrants without certainty and damaging the American economy in the process.

Together, these critical pieces of legislation would provide an earned pathway to citizenship for qualified Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients, DACA-eligible individuals, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, and undocumented immigrants in agriculture. At a time where our economy is battling a labor shortage and recovering from a devastating pandemic, we need these workers now more than ever. Here in Florida,over 50%of our undocumented population have been fighting on the frontlines of the pandemic as essential workers andover 50%of Floridas jobs in farming are held by undocumented immigrants.

The passage of a pathway to earned citizenship is an investment in Americas workforce and in our economy. With legal certainty, those who are currently undocumented population can continue to meet the needs of our essential industries and continue their incredible contributions. In fact, should these bills become law, Florida would gain over$800 million in state and local tax revenueand add over$12.2 billion in new economic contributionsto our states economy.

Recently, a U.S. District Court ruled that all new DACA applications will be frozen, barring tens of thousands of young immigrants from getting work authorizations and protection from deportation. This ruling highlights the need for Congress to pass a permanent legislative solution that addresses the uncertainty Dreamers have been forced to live with for years and ensures that immigrants in our country can be productive members of our workforce.

Its time for Florida Sens.Marco Rubio and Rick Scott to put partisanship aside and act in the best interest of Floridians by passing immigration reform now.

Fuentes is founder & CEO of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Original post:
Point of View: Immigration reform will boost Floridas workforce, economy - Palm Beach Post