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Even as the U.S. moves to tighten border controls and regulate immigration in a way that provides greater benefits and fewer costs to current American citizens, lawmakers should look to address ways that the current system is too arbitrary and draconian. This is one: Children who came here legally and were formally adopted by American citizens should automatically become American citizens. The New York Times reportson the tragic saga of a Korean adoptee who committed suicide after being deported from the U.S.:

Phillip Clay was adopted at 8 into an American family in Philadelphia.

Twenty-nine years later, in 2012, after numerous arrests and a struggle with drug addiction, he was deported back to his birth country,South Korea. He could not speak the local language, did not know a single person and did not receive appropriate care for mental health problems, which included bipolar disorder and alcohol and substance abuse.

On May 21, Mr. Clay ended his life, jumping from the 14th floor of an apartment building north of Seoul. He was 42.

As theTimesnotes, a 2000 law grants automatic citizenship to youngsters adopted into American families after its passage. That law should be amended to apply retroactively.

Liberals and conservatives hold a range of positions on the way the U.S. immigration system should handle so-called Dreamerspeople whose parents brought them to the U.S. illegally as children. But while opponents of citizenship for Dreamers can point to the perverse incentives involved in legalizing children of illegal immigrants, there is no such case here. Parents who adopt children into their homes have done nothing wrong; their selflessness should be encouraged.

There are many thorny questions in immigration policy. This is not one of them. Congress should address it soon.

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Immigration Reform Should Fix This - The American Interest

The United States government may force Gurmukh Singh to leave the country.

Singh works as a taxi driver in Southern California. The government denied his request for asylum 18 years ago. Since then, he has been trying to persuade U.S. immigration officials to overturn the expulsion order.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE detained Singh in early May. His wife and two daughters are American citizens.

Alan Lowenthal represents a part of Southern California in the U.S. House of Representatives. Shortly after Singhs detention, Lowenthal offered a private immigration bill to the House for consideration. If approved, the measure would give Singh the legal right to stay in the country.

However, the Trump administration recently changed the way immigration officials deal with such cases.

What is a private bill?

Private bills are pieces of legislation that create a law that affects only one person or a small group of people. Private bills can stop a law from affecting someone, provide special help, or remove legal responsibility for some wrongful act.

Often, members of Congress write private bills to help people who been unsuccessful in dealing with the U.S. immigration system.

How often does this happen?

Private bills are rare. Between 1986 and 2013, Congress approved such measures just 94 times.

Jill Marie Bussey is the director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. She says about 300 private bills have been proposed in Congress since 2010. That number could fall because of changes in the way ICE deals with private bill cases.

What are the changes to private bills?

Until last month, ICE delayed expulsions of undocumented immigrants named in private bills in Congress. The agency says there were about 70 such cases over the past six years.

But in May, ICE told Congress it would only delay expulsions for up to six months -- and only after receiving a written request from the chair of the House and Senate judiciary committee or one of their subcommittees.

Committee chairs are usually members of the majority party. Republican lawmakers now control the House and Senate.

ICE says most private bills are designed to give people permanent resident status by circumventing the normal immigration law network.

Bussey says that private bills are only used when there is no other way to resolve the immigration case under current law.

This is not about circumventing, she says. This is about providing protection in very unique ways.

Robert Law is the director of government relations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform. He said the changes will help make the process fairer.

But some members of Congress believe the changes give too much power to the president.

Dianne Feinstein is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Dick Durbin is the top Democrat on the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee. In a joint statement, they described the change as a mean-spirited action that tramples firm, longstanding practice between two co-equal branches of government.

Can members of Congress intervene at all?

Members of Congress can also have an influence on immigration cases in other ways. Bussey says members can contact a local ICE office, or the State Department, when a case involves visa issues.

Theres human error in all of this stuff, says Bussey. Even doing everything the right way -- you know youve completed the forms properly, you know youve completed the case -- things can go wrong.

That is how Florida Representative Charlie Crist, a Democrat, was able to help the Huynh family. They are friends of his family and operate a jewelry store in his state.

Crist told VOA that he entered the store a few months ago and saw that Mrs. Huynh was sad.

She was telling me about her daughter Kim who had gotten married a year prior and yet her husband wasnt allowed to come to Vietnam to be with her in America, he said.

Crist began to work with Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who was already making telephone calls about the case to the State Department. State Department workers met with Kims husband at his home in Vietnam. They saw a photograph of the lawmaker and asked if he was a family friend.

Three days later, Kims husband was given a visa.

What role can Congress play?

Immigration powers are divided between Congress and the president. Finding a balance between them often means looking for areas where one of them has done something they are not permitted to do.

Law says there needs to be (a) clear line about what the letter of the law is and if there are problems with the law, then we have a legislative process to fix it.

Bussey says that when members of Congress get personally involved in immigration cases they learn more about what is happening in federal agencies and what people are facing day to day and hopefully they can learn from that.

Im Alice Bryant. And I'm Bryan Lynn.

VOAs Katherine Gypson wrote this story. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________

expel v. to officially force (someone) to leave a place or organization

resident n. someone who lives in a particular place

status n. the current state of someone or something

circumvent v. to avoid being stopped by (something, such as a law or rule); to get around (something) in a clever and sometimes dishonest way

trample v. to treat other people's rights, wishes or feelings as if they are worthless or not important

practice n. the action of doing or using something

error n. something that is not correct; a wrong action or statement

stuff n. informal used to speak in a general way about something that is talked about, written about, etc.

allow v. to permit (something)

letter of the law expression the specific meaning of a law

Here is the original post:
How US Lawmakers Get Involved in Immigration Cases - Voice of America

Many supporters of installing true immigration reform have faulted the Trump administration for not ending the DAPA amnesty that was created illegally by the Obama administration. But there are other reforms that also have not been acted on.

While Trump has indicated he intends to take back some of Obamas actions normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba, there has been no mention of the administration undoing special immigration provisions for Cubans put in place by the Clinton administration at the same time that the wet-foot dry-foot policy was put in place by executive action. Clinton, at that time, agreed by executive action to accept a floor of 20,000 immigrant admissions of Cubans each year. This floor on the admission level does not exist for any other country and is a distortion of the overall immigration law.

Also with regard to Cubans, the United States has been allowing Cubans to apply for refugee status and permanent residence in the United States without ever leaving Cuba. That flies in the face of the international standard that a refugee is a person who has fled his country because of persecution or other factor. In part, this exceptional treatment for Cubans was adopted as a way to help meet the 20,000 floor on annual admissions.

Probably due to the in-country refugee processing for Cubans, The Obama administration instituted a similar program for Central Americans. Rather than having to get to the United States to make a claim for asylum, they could try for a refugee visa while still in their home country. That too was done by executive action.

The processing of refugees in their home country dates back well before the Clinton action for Cubans. A similar policy was already in place for Jews and other religious minorities attempting to leave the erstwhile USSR. That was different, however, because it was done by Congress, and has been perpetuated up to the present day despite evidence of significant fraud such as its use by members of the Russian mafia to enter the United States

While Congress should undo the refugee exception applied in Russia, the Trump administration should take action to terminate the exceptions for Cubans and Central Americans. The need to enact these reforms is not new, but the Obama administration turned a deaf ear to this need.

The rest is here:
Loose Ends in President Trump's Immigration Reforms - ImmigrationReform.com (blog)

This was a very significant and exciting week in the fight for immigration reform. I was named chairman of the House subcommittee with jurisdiction over immigration and border security issues; the House Judiciary Committee approved my bill to reform Americas refugee program; and I voted for, and the House passed two immigration enforcement bills.

As you know, immigration reform is an issue close to my heart and one Ive worked on for a long time. Thats why I am honored to be the new Chairman of the House Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee.

I was tapped for the position on Tuesday, and I will have the responsibility for the rest of the 115th Congress. As chairman, I will prioritize legislation that enforces our laws, secures our borders, and modernizes our immigration system for the 21st century.

Thats what the people of Idaho want, and thats what they deserve. I will do everything I can to deliver.

The very next day, the House Judiciary Committee approved my bill to reform Americas refugee program: The Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act. As Americans, we have a long tradition of helping refugees who, through no fault of their own, are fleeing war and persecution and wish to become contributing members of our society.

However, our first priority when it comes to Americas refugee program is ensuring the safety and security of the American people. There are already documented cases of terrorists infiltrating the program, and with ISIS vowing to exploit it further, the time for congressional action is now.

My bill modernizes Americas refugee program to keep pace with todays security challenges. It enacts stronger vetting of refugees, gives states and communities the power to decline resettlement, and lowers the annual refugee ceiling and shifts to Congress the authority to make changes in that figure.

Overall, my bill will protect the integrity of the refugee program, reduce fraud, and improve national security. To learn more about my bill, please read my op-ed with House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte in the Washington Times here.

Then, on Thursday, I voted for and the House passed two immigration enforcement bills: Kates Law and The No Sanctuary for Criminals Act. Kates Law increases penalties for deported felons who return to the U.S., like the illegal alien who killed Kate Steinle in San Francisco two years ago. The No Sanctuary for Criminals Act combats dangerous sanctuary policies that shield illegal aliens from federal immigration enforcement. These bills include provisions from my immigration enforcement bill, H.R. 2431, the Davis-Oliver Act.

With Speaker Paul Ryan and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, I spoke at a press conference in support of these bills. I emphasized that governments at all levels have a basic responsibility to protect our citizens from those who are here illegally and especially from those who commit crimes. For too long, the federal government has looked the other way while sanctuary cities violate the law and undermine public safety. The bills I voted for this week bring common sense to an issue where common sense is desperately needed. To watch me speaking at the press conference, please click here.

This is just the beginning. I look forward to having a House vote on the Davis-Oliver Act and additional legislation that the House Judiciary Committee is working on, including mandatory E-Verify.

Fixing our broken immigration system starts, first and foremost, with enforcing the law. By completing that vital first step, we will be positioned to modernize our immigration system and bring it into the 21st century.

This column was submitted by U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle.

See the article here:
Steps forward on immigration reform | Columns | idahostatejournal ... - Idaho State Journal

Guillermo Leal, left, of Mexico, and Mohinder Singh, of India, take the oath of citizenship at a naturalization ceremony in Austin, Texas, on June 29, 2017.(Photo: Jay Janner, AP)

The Fourth of July has long been a day when foreigners swear their oath of allegiance to the United States to become citizens. It is an annual reminder that the U.S. has been a nation of immigrants since its founding 241 years ago.

That tradition will continue this holiday period, when nearly 15,000 people will be sworn in as U.S. citizens atdozens of naturalization ceremonies, from George Washington's Mount Vernon estate in Virginia to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans to the ship deck of the USS Hornet off the coast of California.

What's changed dramatically over the decades is where those immigrants come from, what roles they play in the U.S.,how they're treated by nativecitizens and the debate over the millions who have entered the United States illegally over past decades.

Today, immigrants make up 13.5% of the U.S. population 32million here legally and an estimated 11 million illegally. The percentage islower than the massive influx during the late 1800s but far morethan the immigration slowdown that followed World War II.

Read more: Immigrant entrepreneurs add jobs, revenue as debate rages on

Read more: 'Slums into gold': Asian immigrants bring new economic life to Phoenix area

Read more: Dream catchers: Immigrants make mark on U.S. economy, labor force

While Mexico has provided the largest flow of immigrants during the past generation, an increasing number of people are now arriving from Asia, Africa and other Latin American countries. They are changing the makeup of U.S. cities and stretching into small towns unaccustomed to all the new faces.

The flow of foreign-born people into the U.S. as legal visitors and undocumented immigrants continues to shape the nation's economy in profound, and highly contested,ways.A landmark study from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicinelast year found that first-generation immigrants cost U.S. taxpayers $57.4 billion a year.

President Trump cited that figure during his first address to a joint session of Congress in February as a reason to restrict immigration a key theme of his 2016 campaign. But he omitted the second half of thereport's sentence: that second- and third-generation immigrants createa net benefit of $30.5 billion and $223.8 billion respectively.

The report's bottom line is that immigrants are a big plus for the U.S. over time. Yet Trump continues to focus on the negative aspects of immigration.His administration has increased arrests of undocumented immigrants, implemented a temporary travel ban on people from majority-Muslim countries and all refugees as an anti-terrorism move and pushes for a border wall with Mexico.

And in the days leading up to the holidayweekend, Trump voicedsupport for bills passed bythe House of Representatives on Thursday to increase jail terms for undocumented immigrants and withhold federal money fromso-called "sanctuary cities" that protect them.

"Trump's radicalism on immigration is unprecedented in modern times," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, a Washington, D.C.-based immigrationadvocacy group. "There's a historic challenge to our nation's tradition of welcoming refugees and immigrants. It's up to us whether we are going to survive this era and emerge with a stronger sense of inclusive patriotism that makes us proud."

Trump's supporters disagree with that assessment, arguing that the president is simply following through on his campaign promises to stop the flow of illegal immigration and support acontrolled level of legal immigration that serves U.S. economic interests.

Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for lower levels of immigration, said Trump won in part by promising to reform the immigration system to help, not hinder, the plight of struggling American workers. Mehlman said there is "no evidence" that the Trump administration has discriminated against legal immigrants, or that it's conducting mass roundups of undocumented immigrants.

"Some of this hysteria is being hyped and whipped up by the advocates, telling people, 'You're under siege,'" he said. "If you tell them that enough, they start to believe it. All Trump is doing is recognizing that laws are meant to protect American workers."

The battle over the proper role of immigration in the U.S. won't let up anytime soon. Trump's temporary travel ban is in effect, his administration will continue pushing for a border wall and immigration supporters continue mobilizing to fight back on all fronts.

Only one thing remains certain: As we celebrate our nation's birthday, thousands of people will raise their right hand, swear their oath and become the latest members of the United States of America.

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Immigrants facing new reality this Independence Day - USA TODAY