Immigration reform on the horizon?

After the November elections, the Democrats gained seats in both the U.S. House and Senate and won the White House. Although President Obama has a record of immigrant-friendly votes in the U.S. Senate, it may be a few years before we see any comprehensive immigration reform. The U.S. economy has taken the spotlight away from this issue, and although the economy and immigration reform may go hand in hand, it is likely that the President and the Congress will keep their focus on the economy for a significant amount of time.

According to President Obama’s website, he is in favor of a system “that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.” This means undocumented immigrants would have a path towards a green card and citizenship.

However, due to the election cycle and the current political climate in the United States, our opinion at Kim Hunter & Associates is it may be early 2011 before any comprehensive immigration reform is passed. If the Democrats can retain control of both houses of Congress after the 2010 elections, comprehensive immigration reform may be a real possibility.

If you’d like to read more about immigration reform, we recommend the American Immigration Law Foundation’s Immigration Policy Center.

For now, we recommend that you continue to file I-130 petitions for relatives, green card, citizenship and other applications you are eligible for regardless of any proposed immigration reform. Although immigration reform may assist you in achieving your immigration goals, it is important to take steps towards achieving those goals now so that if immigration reform is passed, you won’t be at the end of the “line” referenced on President Obama’s website.

If you’d like to speak to an attorney about filing an application or other immigration-related issues, please call us at 651-641-0440 to set up an appointment.