In 2013, supporters of comprehensive immigration reform had high hopes for a significant overhaul of the nation’s immigration system, a prospect that appears increasingly unlikely as the end of the year approaches. While immigration reform has always been a top priority of the Obama administration, other domestic issues, such as healthcare reform and the debt ceiling, have shifted the focus away from immigration legislation. President Obama’s recent statement that he would support immigration reform in a step-by-step approach, rather than the system overhaul that he previously advocated for, has again raised the hopes of reform advocates that immigration reform may actually occur.
Reform seemed possible in June, when the Senate passed the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act,” a comprehensive reform bill that aimed to give citizenship to some of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. It also significantly strengthened border security through the deployment of 40,000 border patrols and enhanced border surveillance. The comprehensive bill met strong opposition from the House of Representatives, in particular House Speaker John Boehner, who refused to bring the bill to the floor for a vote without majority GOP support, which it did not have.
Now, as the movement to reform the nation’s immigration laws seems to have stalled after months of inactivity, President Obama has announced that he would be open to reform in a piecemeal approach rather than the comprehensive overhaul that he originally sought. Speaker Boehner praised the President’s proposal, responding that his colleagues are also pursuing single-issue immigration bills. Through this small-scale approach House committees are working on bills that aim to tighten border controls and give undocumented immigrants certain rights, but which stop short of giving them a path to citizenship. Although supported by the Senate, the House Republicans strongly oppose any measure that will allow undocumented immigrants to become U.S. citizens.
As the debate over reform continues, the Obama administration announced on November 15, 2013 a new policy that will allow undocumented immigrants, who are close relatives of active military troops and veterans, to apply to stay in the United States without the threat of deportation. Under the new policy guidelines, spouses, children and parents of troops and veterans that have no criminal records and which pose no national threat will be able to file a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for parole, a status that will allow them to stay in the U.S. for renewable one-year increments. It also allows certain relatives to adjust to permanent legal status. While federal authorities have long had the power to stop deportations for relatives of military members and veterans, the new memo explains how and when it can be used.
This memo is the latest in a series of immigration policy changes released by the Obama administration that focuses on deporting high-priority criminal immigrants, rather than low-priority non-criminal immigrants. These policy changes have included a directive that advised immigration authorities to exercise “prosecutorial discretion” when they detain undocumented immigrant parents. The Obama administration also created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which stopped the deportation of young illegal immigrants and allows them to work in in the U.S. in two-year increments.
Today the consensus remains that the immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. However, immigration legislation is not a priority in the Senate or Congress, nor is there any agreement on how to fix the system. The administrative changes made by the President are only slowly chipping away at the problems. Perhaps with the upcoming 2014 elections, Congress will again focus on the growing population of minority voters and their desire for immigration reform. What is clear is that with so few workdays left in the legislative year for Congress, the controversial issue of immigration reform will have to wait.
By: Jenna Baranko
