So much of our current immigration system is broken that OSJ believes a comprehensive approach to immigration reform is the best way to address all the complexities and injustices that exist.
OSJ advocates for comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) that would provide humane enforcement of laws, an earned path to legalization, promote family unity, and protect workers and their families.
On December 15, Congressmen Solomon Ortiz (D-TX) and Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced H.R. 4321: Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP), in the House of Representatives with an impressive 87 original co-sponsors.
It's the first bill in the 111th Congress to provide a comprehensive plan, and it clearly lays out many of the realistic solutions for which we've been advocating—including incorporating the Reuniting Families Act and the DREAM Act, two of our advocacy pushes for this year.
Please contact your Representative today and urge him/her to cosponsor H.R. 4321: Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP).
A note about the "strategy" behind this bill:
OSJ and other Christian advocates for CIR are very supportive of the content of the CIR ASAP bill in general, but it is unlikely that the bill will be passed in its current form. The hope is that the bill will provide a "marker" for the key reforms that CIR advocates would like to be made.
Why are we working hard to advocate for a bill that will never pass? Because the more support expressed to Congress for this bill—with its strong support of family reunification and justice for the undocumented—the more likely those key points will be included in a Senate CIR bill, which is the bill that's most likely to be passed.
If CIR ASAP has little support, we'll see a Senate bill that bears little resemblance to the key points of just immigration policy that we've been fighting for.
A background and summary of the CIR ASAP bill:
(Click here for a more in-depth summary of the bill than the one below.)
OSJ has been using the following indicators to describe what we mean by "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" – here is how this bill fits with those indicators:
1. Humane Law Enforcement
- Improves conditions of detention and protects U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents (LPRs) and vulnerable populations through new requirements to ensure the humane treatment of detainees, including adequate medical treatment and the prohibition of separating families with children.
- Increases protection during enforcement activities by ensuring due process and access to social service agencies, translators, and legal services.
- Enhances border security and effective immigration enforcement, and it includes measures to combat human smuggling and migrant deaths.
2. Earned Path to Legalization
- Creates a legalization program for qualified undocumented immigrants (and their spouses and children), who would receive a conditional nonimmigrant visa valid for six years, which would grant work and travel authorization and protection form removal. Qualified conditional nonimmigrants (and their spouses and children) will be able to apply for lawful permanent resident status and eventual citizenship.
- Includes the DREAM Act of 2009 (H.R. 1751)
3. Promotion of Family Unity
- Includes numerous measures designed to keep U.S. families together, including exemption of immediate relatives from annual caps on visas, retention of eligibility for immediate relatives if the US citizens or LPR who petitioned for them dies, and increased discretionary authority for the government and immigrations judges over the removal and entry bar of the parent of a U.S. citizen child.
- Includes many provisions from the Reuniting Families Act of 2009 (S. 1085)
4. Protection of Workers and their Families
- Incorporates the AgJOBS Act (H.R. 2414), which provides agricultural employers with a stable, legal labor force while protecting farmworkers from exploitative working conditions by allowing unauthorized farmworkers to legalize their status and by reforming the H2-A temporary agricultural visa program
- Includes revisions to the temporary worker programs, including that employers provide written terms of employment to ensure that foreign recruiters do not mislead prospective employees, that employers be liable for recruitment violations. It also increases the authority of the Dept. of Labor to investigate potential fraud and abuses.
- Establishes stricter requirements to protect American workers, for example by prohibiting participation in the H-2B visa program of employers who have conducted a mass lay-off in the past year, and by expanding requirements for recruiting American workers before hiring foreign nationals.
Take Action
Please contact your Representative and urge him/her to co-sponsor the CIR ASAP Act (H.R. 4321) to bring much needed reform to the U.S. immigration system.
- To call your Representative, dial the Capitol Hill operator at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Representative's office. Next, ask to speak to the legislative assistant who handles immigration issues. If you can't speak to that staffer, or if you get an answering machine, please leave a message!
- To email you Representative, visit the House website and try the easy-to-use web forms.
Contacting your Rep is easy! Just say...
"My name is _______________ and I am a constituent from ________ (city). As a Christian, I believe that comprehensive immigration reform is a moral issue--a matter of justice--and vital to maintaining the health of our society. That's why I hope you'll co-sponsor CIR ASAP Act (H.R. 4321)."
Other talking points:
- We have long neglected our immigration system, allowing it to degenerate to its current state which fails to keep up with our nation's changing needs. Its breakdowns have crippled our ability to regulate immigration, to protect our borders, to keep immigration families together, and to fostor economic opportunity.
- CIR ASAP includes many of the elements necessary to bring our immigration system in tune with the current social and economic demands of our nation including, family reunification, restoration of judicial discretion, a generous legalization program, sensible law enforcement, and creative fixes to the issue of future immigration flows.
For more helpful tips about how to call or email your Representative, check out OSJ's advocacy guide.
If you do make a call, we'd love to hear about it - email osjha@crcna.org with your story, or visit www.crcjustice.org to find our social networking options.
