THE HILL — NOLAN SAYS LEGALIZATION SHOULD BE #1 CONCERN FOR THOSE THREATENED WITH REMOVAL!

http://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/399394-aliens-here-unlawfully-need-legalization-not-protection-from-being-called

 

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Nolan writes in The Hill:

. . . .

They need legalization

The last legalization program was established by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, more than 30 years ago. The Democrats claim that this is because the Republicans won’t cooperate, but that isn’t true.

The Democrats could have established a legalization program without Republican cooperation during the first two years of Barack Obama’s administration. From January 2009 to January 2011, they had a majority in the House, and until Scott Brown’s special election in 2010, there were enough Democratic senators to overcome a filibuster.

And they could establish one now if they really wanted to.

Trump is willing to support legalization for 1.8 million aliens in the DACAprogram if the Democrats accept the three conditions in his framework on immigration reform and border security.

Trump wants to end chain migration. This should not be a deal-breaker if the legalization program were to be established by expanding the availability of Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ) status to include DACA participants, which could restrict the end of chain migration to them as opposed to ending it for everyone.

SIJ provisions state, “no natural parent or prior adoptive parent of any alien provided special immigrant status under this subparagraph shall thereafter, by virtue of such parentage, be accorded any right, privilege, or status under this Act.”

I’ve suggested this possibility before.

Trump also wants a wall along the border with Mexico, which would make it more difficult for parents to make illegal crossings with their young children in the future. Adults may be able to climb over a wall 20 or 30 feet high, but young children can’t.

The other condition is to terminate the Diversity Visa Program (DVP).

The Democrats have been willing to end the DVP in the past.  Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) Gang of Eight bill would have repealed it in 2013 if it had been enacted.

The problem seems to be that legalization isn’t very important to the Democrats.

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Go on over to The Hill at the above link for Nolan’s complete article!

I agree with Nolan that legalization should be the focus.

I have also made a similar observation that during the first two years of the Obama Administration, Democrats could have solved what have become the three most pressing problems on the domestic front:

  • Legalization;
  • Dreamer relief; and
  • An independent U.S. Immigration Court.

Our country and the good folks caught up the in current system are paying the price every day for these failures. But, past is past. The important thing is not to make the same mistakes again if and when the Democrats and whatever “moderate” Republicans still remain get a chance to act.

PWS

07-30-18

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Nolan Rappaport
Nolan Rappaport
5 years ago

Regarding Trump’s platform offer. If my Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ) status suggestion is used, the only thing the DACA participants would lose is the ability to sponsor their parents, which is something they can’t do anyway without lawful status.

But it would have made it possible for 1.8 million DACA participants to live and work and raise families here with lawful status while we wait for that day of miracles in the future when the Dems will have another chance to pass a bill with a legalization program…..and do it this time.

Should that happen, the bill could include a provision shifting the DACA participants from SIJ status to whatever status is offered by the new legalization program which would let them sponsor their parents.

The only downside is that Democratic congressmen would lose DACA legalization as a wedge issue, and it would be a mistake to underestimate now important that is to them.

They are getting a lot of political mileage from convincing voters that Republicans hate immigration, which I think is why they didn’t establish a legalization program during the first two years of the Obama administration, and why they rejected Trump’s offer.

As unpleasant as it may sound to the world of Trump haters, Trump is the only real friend the DACA participants have. It was well-known that he Gang of Eight and other the other bill the Senate passed with legalization programs would be dead on arrival in the House. Those legalization programs were just ploys to curry favor with voters who care about undocumented immigrants.

But Trump’s offer was genuine. If the Dems had accepted it, Ryan would have put the bill on the floor and it would have passed with votes from Republicans who support Trump and the entire body of Democratic members in the House. And having passed in the House, it would have been easy to get it passed in the Senate.

If the democrats had accepted that offer, implementation of the legalization program would have begun by now.

I suspect though that it would have killed the Democratic hope of regaining the majority in the House and the Senate, which I think is why they rejected Trump’s offer.

A. Manuel Nieves
A. Manuel Nieves
5 years ago

Rappaport: “The last legalization program was established by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, more than 30 years ago. The Democrats claim that this is because the Republicans won’t cooperate, but that isn’t true.”

A statement like this is dumb-ass Breitbart, Faux News boilerplate.
But from a shameless Rappaport, a shameful degenerate lie.
On this blogsite, no need to bore with a timeline of CIR efforts and failures for same. And we know the folks responsible.
And so does Rappaport.
Or do I condemn to hastily? Maybe he believes it so. Maybe he too articulated a rational belief in birtherism. Perhaps he too can attest to watching Moslems in NJ dancing on rooftops on 09/11.