02.21.2013

1. Fair and Just Federal Comprehensive Immigration Reform Now is the Time 02.21.2013

2. What do we support • Prioritize the apprehension and deportation of people who are threats to national security, felons, gang members as set forth by the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (ie “Morton’s Memo”) • Process the decades-long backlog of family and employment visas (e.g. Reuniting Families Act, Reps. Chu CA-27 and Honda CA-17) • Allocate visas based on the US reliance on a spectrum of labor force including so-called “unskilled” workers • Increase in per-country visa allocation to 15% (Reuniting Families Act, Chu CA-27 and Honda CA-17) • Multiple steps to earned citizenship over a period of years • National security check • Criminal background check • Pay past and current income taxes • Pay $1000 penalty • Learn English for citizenship • Non-discrimination of LGBT partners and families • Accelerated process for current minors or adults brought in as minors • Accelerated process for farmworkers • Mandatory employer verification (E-Verify) contingent on immigration laws responsive to the business and employer needs for legal permanent workers • Existing temporary/guestworker program includes rampant abuse. Reforms are necessary before the expansion of any temporary worker program (e.g. POWER Act, Chu-CA-17)

3. President Obama proposed CIR as of 2.18.13 • Increase in Border Patrol, increase of technology (eg drones) – Oppose • 140 new immigration lawyers to review immigrant custody and deportation cases - Support • Require CBP to begin collecting statistics on deaths along the border and report them quarterly - Support • Mandatory E-Verify for new hires by business owners – Pre-emptive until businesses and employers can rely on immigration laws that do not create undocumented workers • with 1000+ employees within 2 years • with 250 – 999 employees within 3 years • with 249 or less employees within 4 years • $40 Million/yr program to educate employers and workers about E-Verify • DHS report w/n 18 months on how E-Verify is working and specifically on impact to agriculture industry • Silent on continuing deportations - Oppose • People currently in custody or facing deportation would be eligible to apply for pathway to citizenship – Support • PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP • STAGE I: “Lawful Prospective Immigrant (LPI) Visa” would be provided if • Pass criminal background check - Support • ineligible if convicted of a crime resulting in a year or more prison term • ineligible if convicted of three or more crimes resulting in total of 90 days or more in jail • ineligible if convicted of a crime in home country that would make them ineligible for immigration directly from home country • Submit biometric info - Non-specific • Pay fee - Non-specific • (Application and instructions available in most-common non-English languages. Completed application and supporting material in English – Support) • STAGE II: Within 8 years of obtaining the LPI Visa - Support • Apply for legal permanent residency (so called “green card”) • Learn English • Learn US History and Govt. • Pay back taxes • Stage III: Apply for US Citizenship – Unspecified if additional 5 year waiting period required

4. TEMPORARY WORKER: Focus on Farmworkers • Temporary worker programs are in need of reforms to end abuse and violence including indentured servitude and slavery • Farmworker Justice: farmworkerjustice.org • National Guestworker Alliance: guestworkeralliance.org • National Immigration Law Center: nilc.org • Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/close-to-slavery-guestworker-programs-in-the-united-states • I. Federal laws and regulations protecting guestworkers from abuse • a.Employment portability or “at will” status vs. contract tied to a single controlling employer • Option for permanent legal residency • POWER Act (Chu CA-27) – temporary workers protected through U-Visa from employer retaliation for workers reporting employment violations (eg wage theft) and other abuse or violence against workers • II. Federal agency enforcement of guestworkerprotections • The Department of Labor should create a streamlined process to deny guestworker applications from employers that have violated the rights of guestworkers. Employers who abuse guestworkers continue to be granted certification by the DOL to bring in new workers. • III. Congress must provide guestworkers with meaningful access to the courts • Because of the unique challenges faced by guestworkers, the restriction on federally funded legal services that prohibits class action representation should be lifted. • • Congress should provide a civil cause of action and criminal penalties for employers or persons who confiscate or hold guestworker documents. This common tactic is designed to hold guestworkers hostage.