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On Thursday, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) voted to pass H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021 and H.R. 1603, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021.

These bills help provide a path to citizenship for our nations Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, holders and establishes a program for agricultural workers to earn legal Certified Agricultural Workers status.

These critical bills work to make our nations immigration system fairer and more humane.

Our nation was built on immigration, families coming in search of a better life for their children and achieving the American Dream. But our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. Today, I was proud to vote to pass two bills to help ensure that promise remains open to people who are already integral parts of the fabric of our communities. These bills reflect our values as a nation, helping to make our immigration system more just and humane for people who are critical to our nations success, Thompson said.

The American Dream and Promise Act provides a path to citizenship for our nations Dreamers, young people who embody our nations finest values of hard work, patriotism and dedication. They are our neighbors, colleagues, service members, doctors and teachers, and they deserve to become citizens and live out their full potential here in the only nation many have ever known as home. I also was proud to vote to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, legislation to help authorized agricultural workers get legal status and streamline the process for employers and employees. I urge the Senate to take action on these critical bills without delay, Thompson said.

The American Dream and Promise Act offers a path to legal status for Dreamers and those people with Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Enforced Departure Status. You can click here to read more about that bill.

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act establishes a program for agricultural workers to earn legal status through continued employment in their field. It also reforms the H-2A program to ensure it is more responsive and user-friendly for both employers and employees. This bill also establishes a mandatory, nation-wide E-Verify system for all agricultural employment. You can click here to read more.

Thompson represents Californias Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.

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Thompson votes to pass immigration reform bills to offer protected status for Dreamers, agricultural workers - Lake County News

Washington D.C., Mar 19, 2021 / 10:00 am MT (CNA).- The U.S. bishops conference on Friday praised the House of Representatives for passing two immigration reform bills, and urged the Senate to follow suit.

On Thursday, the House passed the American Dream and Promise Act (H.R. 6) and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (H.R. 1603). f

The former bill would grant conditional permanent resident status to eligible immigrants who entered the United States illegally as minors. It would also grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to immigrants from certain countries facing humanitarian crises, protecting them from deportation for a period of time. Among other requirements, immigrants would need to pass a background check to be eligible for permanent resident status.

The latter bill, H.R. 1603, would grant certain protections to immigrants who work in agriculture, as well as to their families.

The USCCB noted that the bills would provide a pathway to citizenship for more than three million immigrants.

Both bills earned some bipartisan support in the House. While just nine Republicans voted for the American Dream and Promise Act, 30 GOP members voted for the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

Archbishop Jos Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. bishops conference (USCCB), and Bishop Mario Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington and chair of the USCCBs migration committee, said in a joint statement that they welcome the House passage of the bills.

The bills would help many hardworking immigrants reach their God-given potential, not only for their benefit but for that of the entire country, they said.

Inspired by the life of Christ, the Catholic Church remains committed to ensuring that all persons within our society are given the opportunity to flourish, especially those so often relegated to the margins, the bishops said.

They urged the Senate to pass the bills swiftly, adding that they once again call on legislators from both chambers of Congress to work together to enact broader, vitally needed reforms to address our broken immigration system.

We pledge to work with Congress and the Administration on this effort, which we believe is an urgent issue to uphold life and human dignity, the bishops said.

In Thursday statements, President Joe Biden offered his support to both bills.

Biden said the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021 is a critical first step in reforming our immigration system and will provide much needed relief to TPS holders and Dreamers, young people who came here as children and know no other country.

He said the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021 will deliver the lawful status and better working conditions that this critical workforce deserves, as well as much needed stability for farmers, growers, and the entire agriculture industry.

The Associated Press noted that both bills face gloomy prospects in the Senate, where they are unlikely to receive the 10 Republican votes necessary to overcome a filibuster.

Continued here:
U.S. bishops urge passage of immigration reform bills - Catholic News Agency

The UK Government unveiled its economic recovery plan in a policy proposal entitled, Build Back Better: our plan for growth, detailing specific courses of action and priorities essential to the rebuilding and uplifting of the British economy out from underneath Covid-19 and into the post-Brexit world. In doing so, the proposal sets out a series of reforms that highlight the three core pillars of growth needed to distribute investment and opportunity equally across the four nations: Infrastructure, Skills, and Innovation. At the core of these changes lies a paradigm shift in the UKs immigration policy, from the constrained, controlled policies of the past decade, towards a more open, supply-driven approach in which, for the first time ever, the same rules on migration will be applied to both EU and non-EU citizens.

Underscoring the introduction of a new system of work-based immigration is the awareness that the UK needs to compete with the international demand for talent in order to properly address the economic upheaval wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and prepare for their departure from the EU single market. Through a proactive global outreach strategy alongside a series of immigration reforms, the UK can attract and retain this globally mobile, high-skilled migration central to its plans to bolster the international competitiveness of its high-growth innovative businesses. To this end, the reforms announced include:

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UK Unveiled A Plan for Immigration Reform - Lexology

The Conversation

U.S. taxpayers spend more than $2 billion annually in tax preparation fees. Nora Carol Photography/Getty ImagesThe Internal Revenue Service has postponed the April 15 tax filing deadline to May 17. If taxpayers need even more time to file federal returns, the agency added, they can request an extension until Oct. 15. This continues to be a tough time for many people, and the IRS wants to continue to do everything possible to help taxpayers navigate the unusual circumstances related to the pandemic, while also working on important tax administration responsibilities, said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. The announcement may come as welcome news for many Americans, but it also raises an important question: Why should taxpayers have to navigate the tedious, costly tax filing system at all? The case for a simple return In 1985, President Ronald Reagan promised a return-free tax system in which half of all Americans would never fill out a tax return again. Under the framework, taxpayers with simple returns would automatically receive a refund or a letter detailing any tax owed. Taxpayers with more complicated returns would use the system in place today. In 2006, President Barack Obamas chief economist, Austan Goolsbee, premiered the simple return, where taxpayers would receive already completed tax forms for their review or correction. Goolsbee estimated his system would save taxpayers more than US$2 billion a year in tax preparation fees. Though never implemented, the two proposals illustrate what we all know: No one enjoys filling out tax forms. So why do we have to? A costly and time-consuming system Return-free filing is not difficult. At least 30 countries permit return-free filing, including Denmark, Sweden, Spain and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, 95% of American taxpayers receive more than 30 types of information returns that let the government know their exact income. These information returns give the government everything it needs in order to fill out most taxpayers returns. The U.S. system is 10 times more expensive than tax systems in 36 other countries with robust economies. But those costs vanish in a return-free system, as would the 2.6 billion hours Americans spend on tax preparation each year. Maybe youre wondering whether Congress is just behind the times, unaware that it can release us from tax preparation? Not true. As an expert on the U.S. tax system, I see Americas costly and time-consuming tax reporting system as a consequence of its relationship with the commercial tax preparation industry, which lobbies Congress to maintain the status quo. The United Kingdom is among dozens of countries that permit return-free filing for some taxpayers. Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Commercial tax preparation Almost 20 years ago, Congress directed the IRS to provide low-income taxpayers with free tax preparation. The agency responded in 2002 with Free File, a public-private partnership between the government and the tax preparation industry. As part of the deal, the IRS agreed to not compete with the private sector in the free tax preparation market. In 2007, the House of Representatives rejected legislation to provide free, government tax preparation. And in 2019, Congress tried to legally bar the IRS from ever providing free online tax preparation services. Only a public outcry turned the tide. The public part of Free File consists of the IRS herding taxpayers to commercial tax preparation websites. The private part consists of those commercial entities diverting taxpayers toward costly alternatives. According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which oversees IRS activities, private partners use computer code to hide the free websites and take unsuspecting taxpayers to paid sites. Should a taxpayer discover a free preparation alternative, the private preparers impose various restrictions such as income or the use of various forms as an excuse to kick taxpayers back to paid preparation. Consequently, of the more than 100 million taxpayers eligible for free help, 35% end up paying for tax preparation and 60% never even visit the free websites. Instead of 70% of Americans receiving free tax preparation, commercial companies whittle that percentage down to 3%. Tax savings and evasion Perhaps you are guessing that there are valid policy justifications for avoiding government and empowering the private sector. Judge those arguments yourself. One argument from commercial tax preparers is that taxpayers will miss out on valuable tax savings if they rely on free government preparation. In fact, the government software would reflect the same laws used by the paid preparers with the same access to tax saving deductions or credits. Further, tax preparers like H & R Block promise to pay all taxes and interest resulting from a failed audit. As a result, these services have every incentive to take conservative, pro-government tax positions. A second argument is that government-prepared tax returns encourage tax evasion. In a no-return system, the government reveals its knowledge of the taxpayers income before the taxpayer files. Thus, the argument goes, the taxpayer knows if the government has missed something and has reason to let the mistake stand. But taxpayers already know what information forms the government has because they receive duplicates of those forms. The incentive to lie does not increase because the taxpayer avoids weeks of tax preparation. [Youre smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversations authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend.] Bolstering the anti-taxers Finally, there is the anti-tax argument for onerous tax preparation: Keep tax preparation unpleasant to fuel anti-tax sentiment. In the past, Republicans argued against high taxes. But after decades of tax cuts, Americans are no longer swayed by that argument. Exasperating tax preparation, according to this argument, helps keep the anti-tax fever high. And that fuels public hate for government and the tax system. Unfortunately, the anti-tax contingents desire to force Americans to spend time and money on tax preparation dovetails with the tax preparation industrys desire to collect billions of dollars in fees. Tax preparation companies lobby Congress to keep tax preparation costly and complicated. Indeed, Intuit, maker of TurboTax, the tax preparation software, lists government tax preparation as a threat to its business model. One example is the earned income tax credit, a government program for low-income people. The credit is so complicated that 20% of the people who are eligible never file. If the government prepared peoples tax returns, that 20% would receive government support. Nonetheless, Intuit has lobbied lawmakers to make the credit more complicated, thereby driving more taxpayers to paid preparation services. To date, the tax preparation industry has kept the system complicated because the potential cost to it in terms of lost revenue is vast. Only public outcry can change the system.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Beverly Moran, Vanderbilt University. Read more:As Australias COVID vaccine rollout splutters, we need transparency about when international borders might reopenHow American tax laws encourage inequality Beverly Moran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Rep. Gomez on attacks against Asian-Americans, immigration reform - Yahoo News

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Its clear that there are more people trying to get across the border between Mexico and Texas, that state officials are concerned about increases in human trafficking there and that the states Republican politicians are trying to pin those troubles on the countrys Democratic president.

It is not at all clear that the people of Texas are more at risk of catching COVID-19 from a migrant than from anyone else they run into right now. But its become convenient to tag people from other countries as scary carriers of the pandemic.

That rhetorical link between immigrants and disease isnt a new one, but its an insidious one. Theres no evidence to back it. It comes from the same bucket of political swill as Donald Trumps effort to paint refugees coming through the southern U.S. border as murderers and rapists.

Gov. Greg Abbott, who earlier this month reversed his own requirements for social distancing in public places and mask-wearing, followed that announcement with news conferences on the border and in Dallas, adding fears of spreading the pandemic to his concerns about the rising tide of immigrants crossing and trying to cross the states southern border.

There is no denying the pressures at the border. And theres also no evidence to label those people coming into the U.S. as COVID-19 spreaders. Its a dirty trick common to nativist politics, particularly at a time when racial tensions are at a peak.

Political provocations are rising, too. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, reacted to Tuesdays slayings of six Asian women in Atlanta by deploring the crimes and then adding pain to the grief with a reference to lynching.

The victims of race-based violence and their families deserve justice, and as the case for what we're talking about here with the tragedy of what we just saw occur in Atlanta, Georgia," he said. I think there's an old saying in Texas about find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree. You know we take justice very seriously, and we ought to do that round up the bad guys, he added.

Words like this make it harder to address the hate crimes that prompted Roy. Adding slights about the coronavirus makes it harder to unwind the almost overwhelming tangle around immigration policy, as it did a year ago with the former president and some of his followers labeling the pandemic as a product of China, stirring nativist politics into a public health crisis that needed undivided attention.

The people who are supposed to be solving problems like these are making them harder to solve, creating new problems as they try to burnish their political popularity.

Democrats are fretting loudly, but even some Republicans, like Texas GOP Chair Allen West, think Roy went over the line. While saying the Democrats were making mountains out of molehills, he said, My recommendation to Congressman Chip Roy would be to engage the brain before firing the mouth, it would avoid embarrassing situations such as this.

It all makes former President George W. Bushs brand of Republican politics seem retro. In an interview with The Texas Tribunes Evan Smith at the opening of this years SXSW Online 2021 festival, Bush said he delayed publication of his new book, Out of Many, One: Portraits of Americas Immigrants, for fear it would worsen the political differences blocking immigration reform.

If I'd have been a more of a selfish guy, I would have tried to get the book out before Christmas of last year in order to enhance sales, he said. But I wanted to avoid the election season, because one of the problems is immigration has become overly politicized, and it's really a rebuke of Congress' inability to come together to get something done on immigration.

Later, he added, There needs to be an overhaul, which means that we need to get politics out of the system and get sober-minded people focusing on A, what's best for our economy and B, what's best for our country.

Democrats have criticized some proposed changes to the states election laws some of which are up for debate in the Texas Legislature on Monday saying those would make it harder to vote and would disproportionately affect voters of color. Legislation on police reform and financing, sparked by demonstrations that followed the killing of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police and by other incidents of police violence against Black and Hispanic people, is pending in Austin. And later this year, lawmakers will redraw political lines for the state Legislature and the congressional delegation an issue that turns on demographic data and communities.

Those debates would be tough in any political environment. Fanning racial, ethnic and national differences has derailed immigration reform for more than a decade. It might work for campaigns, but its a lousy way to govern.

The rest is here:
Analysis: When Texas officials make things worse, not better - The Texas Tribune