Immigration rule change may help hundreds in state
SEATTLE (AP) - Several hundred Washington families are expected to benefit from a U.S. immigration rule change announced this week that makes it easier to keep American citizens together with their illegal immigrant spouses and children.
The legal director for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project said Thursday that it's too early to say how much time and effort the new rule will save families.
"It's going to be interesting to see how it comes about in practice," said Matt Adams.
Before the rule change, which goes into effect March 4, many illegal immigrants had to leave the country before they could ask the federal government to waive a three- to 10-year ban from returning to their American families.
Under the new rule, a U.S. citizen can petition for a waiver while the non-citizens remain in this country waiting for a decision. They will still have to prove that a separation will cause extreme hardship to their U.S. citizen spouse or parent.
Illegal immigrants will still have to return to their home country to finish the process, but the new rule is expected to save them months of waiting time and shorten the separation from their loved ones.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services office was unable to estimate how many people from Washington state would be affected by the change. Adams estimated it would be several hundred, based on the fact that several hundred people seek legal help each year in this state concerning the situation affected by the rule change.
U.S. officials estimated the rule change would affect more than 24,000 people across the nation but could not break the number down state-by-state.
In a news conference about the rule change Wednesday, Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services, said the time abroad for the consular interviews will be reduced from months to weeks.
Adams said the change isn't everything immigrant rights advocates want, but it's a move in the right direction.
"I don't think it's a final solution. We need Congress to act," he said.
The waiver shift is the most recent result of President Barack Obama's changing immigration policy without congressional action. Congressional Republicans have criticized the president's efforts as granting "backdoor amnesty" to illegal immigrants.
Adams said immigrant activists are not sure why the rule change only affects families of American citizens, when a larger group of legal permanent residents also are affected by similar rules that cause families to be separated.
"It could be that they want to roll it out on a smaller scale," he said, adding, "I'm not optimistic that they will later revisit this, at least not in the near future."
The legal director for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project said Thursday that it's too early to say how much time and effort the new rule will save families.
"It's going to be interesting to see how it comes about in practice," said Matt Adams.
Before the rule change, which goes into effect March 4, many illegal immigrants had to leave the country before they could ask the federal government to waive a three- to 10-year ban from returning to their American families.
Under the new rule, a U.S. citizen can petition for a waiver while the non-citizens remain in this country waiting for a decision. They will still have to prove that a separation will cause extreme hardship to their U.S. citizen spouse or parent.
Illegal immigrants will still have to return to their home country to finish the process, but the new rule is expected to save them months of waiting time and shorten the separation from their loved ones.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services office was unable to estimate how many people from Washington state would be affected by the change. Adams estimated it would be several hundred, based on the fact that several hundred people seek legal help each year in this state concerning the situation affected by the rule change.
U.S. officials estimated the rule change would affect more than 24,000 people across the nation but could not break the number down state-by-state.
In a news conference about the rule change Wednesday, Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services, said the time abroad for the consular interviews will be reduced from months to weeks.
Adams said the change isn't everything immigrant rights advocates want, but it's a move in the right direction.
"I don't think it's a final solution. We need Congress to act," he said.
The waiver shift is the most recent result of President Barack Obama's changing immigration policy without congressional action. Congressional Republicans have criticized the president's efforts as granting "backdoor amnesty" to illegal immigrants.
Adams said immigrant activists are not sure why the rule change only affects families of American citizens, when a larger group of legal permanent residents also are affected by similar rules that cause families to be separated.
"It could be that they want to roll it out on a smaller scale," he said, adding, "I'm not optimistic that they will later revisit this, at least not in the near future."
The vicious circle continues. We let illegal immigrants pour in. So politicians kowtow to them by weakening or ignoring immigration laws. Which allows more illegal immigrants to pour in. Which leads more politicians kowtowing to them.
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And here we are. Drivers licenses and in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, and elections being won by their relatives, who want their illegal relatives given amnesty. Count down to the kowtowing . . . . .
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Better start waking up, folks. Start supporting groups that work to stop illegal immigration, like FAIR ([url]http://www.fairus.org[/url]). End the vicious circle before it's too late.
 @wayne0021 Yes, the powerful "illegal immigrant lobby" runs Congress.
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I wish I could say this in a nicer way, but your post is the product of a diseased mind.
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"...elections being won by their relatives..."
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Yes, democracy is a horrible thing, isn't it? Brown people! Doing things! (shudder)
"...We need Congress to act," he said."
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For once, I hope Congress does the right thing and vetos this vote in the trash.
I immigrated my wife, her two children and then an adopted child all from Canada legally. It took a lot of paperwork, some money and a lot of time. I know for a fact that this system has improved exponentially since the late eighties to mid-nineties when this was happening. I see a lot of suggested re-builds of the entire system propose below as being driven by other forces entirely under an immigration reform banner that's as bad as tax reform.
I take one million of these hard working undocumented immigrants whose only crime was to give us their best years to help our economy, instead of the US born who are too lazy to do any hard work, or the many who are just content collecting unemployment and who won't get a job because they only want high paying jobs, or the monsters born in the US who kill our children. Folks, I embrace the immigrants who were brave enough to cross the border risking their lives and who have US born children and grandchildren. And finally a ray of hope for their human rights is here. I VOTED FOR OBAMA TO REFORM OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM SO THEY DON'T HAVE TO GO BACK, and nothing less than full reform will do.Â
@Socialjusticeforall wrote: "I take one million of these hard working undocumented immigrants whose only crime was to give us their best years to help our economy,"
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Huh? Giving one's best years isn't a crime (assuming that that is what they're doing, which you have no evidence for). Their crime is breaking our laws.
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You understand the difference, don't you?
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Btw, legal immigrants are able to give their best years, too. WITHOUT breaking the law. That's why we all should support only legal immigration.
@Socialjusticeforall said "instead of the US born who are too lazy"
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Hmmm, I bet if someone said the same thing about people in another country, Socialjusticeforall would scream bigotry. Please stop with the hatred, Socialjusticeforall.
@Socialjusticeforall
Your "social justice" evidently isn't for "all" at all... only for the "some", while you are happy to promote quisling policies that s...t on your fellow Americans while maintaining a feudal serf-labor system for your beloved illegal infiltrators to suffer under.
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Actually, the only logical first step to "reform" our immigration system is nothing less than the TOTAL DEPORTATION of ALL illegal aliens and their illegal so-called "anchor babies"... this is the MINIMUM that can be tolerated.Â
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NOTHING LESS THAN COMPLETE EXPULSION OF ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS WILL DO.
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We must get all the invaders out BEFORE we decide how to begin to allow LEGAL immigrants in. A minimum five-year moratorium on ALL immigration during that "deciding" period would be necessary as well.
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100% DEPORTATION. NOW! NO MORE EXCUSES!!!
 @TheTruncheon  @Socialjusticeforall "Anchor babies," eh?
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It may interest you to know that right-wing commentator Michelle Malkin, who spends a lot of time espousing this same mindlessly anti-immigrant viewpoint, was herself an "anchor baby"... her parents were here on a work visa (i.e. not US citizens) when she was born.
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I guess that means you need to start a petition to deport her. Hey, where ya goin'? Hello?
Looks like YOU didn't read his post. When Truncheon said "invaders," he was clearly talking about illegal immigrants:
". . . your beloved ILLEGAL infiltrators . . ."
" . . . total deportation of all ILLEGAL aliens . . ."
" . . . expulsion of all ILLEGAL aliens . . ."
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He couldn't have made it clearer who he wanted deported.
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And then Truncheon mentioned a TEMPORARY moratorium to figure out the best way to ---quote--- ALLOW legal immigrants in. See that "allow" part? He's all for legal immigrants after we resolve the illegal problem.
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So it's clearly and unambiguously anti-ILLEGAL-immigrant.
 @wayne0021  @Sutekh wayne0021, you obviously did not read Truncheon's post.
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"We must get all the invaders out BEFORE we decide how to begin to allow LEGAL immigrants in."
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This is clearly and unambiguously anti-immigrant. Not anti-illegal immigrant, just anti-immigrant. And mindless.
@Sutekh wrote: "espousing this same mindlessly anti-immigrant viewpoint"
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Here, let me fix that for you: "espousing this same anti-ILLEGAL-immigrant viewpoint."
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Now it's accurate.
Outrageous!
So explain to me why my wife immigrated legally and followed all the rules if these criminals are given a free pass?
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Yes, they are CRIMINALS! Why bother to have laws if they are just going to be overridden by traitors?
@GlassmanÂ
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She must be a white European female. Easy for them. Â
 It's much easier to legally immigrate here from Mexico than from Europe. Thank Ted Kennedy for that. Europeans built this country, and then revised immigration policy aided the rest of world in coming here and tearing it down.Â
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Want to immigrate from Germany, wait until you win one of the few spots available in their lottery. Mexico...no problem. Â
 @Socialjusticeforall Racist, sexist comment. Surprise surprise.
Yep. obama's true colors are showing. Now who did you vote for? obama supports should hang there heads in shame. You helped to cause this mess in America.
Only if you believe in the Feudal System and Serf Labor, should you support this latest OUTRAGE against Americans.
 America is still in a recession,unemployment continues to rise ,applications for UE are up again,and people want people not here legally to take their jobs. ? Go figure.
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[T]here is little doubt that illegal immigration has made a significant contribution to the growth of our economy. Between 2000 and 2007, for example, it accounted for more than a sixth of the increase in our total civilian labor force. The illegal part of the civilian labor force diminished last year as the economy slowed, though illegals still comprised an estimated 5% of our total civilian labor force. Unauthorized immigrants serve as a flexible component of our workforce, often a safety valve when demand is pressing and among the first to be discharged when the economy falters.
Some evidence suggests that unskilled illegal immigrants (almost all from Latin America) marginally suppress wage levels of native-born Americans without a high school diploma, and impose significant costs on some state and local governments.
However the estimated wage suppression and fiscal costs are relatively small, and economists generally view the overall economic benefits of this workforce as significantly outweighing the costs.
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--Alan Greenspan, PhD, Former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve
If you agree to be hired as an illegal don't expect to be treated like a legal
 @virtual anomaly He's wrong.
Why do I have to press "1" for English????
Nothing pisses me off more than when I drive down the street in AMERICA and I see a new business but guess what I have no clue what kind of business because the sign is in spanish!!! To me that is blatant discrimination but yet they want us to cater to them. If you come here legally and live legally that's one thing but do not come over here and build your little Mexican communities like in Burien and South Park and almost once a week I see a Homeland Security truck driving thru GEE I wonder why.
I suggest you not drive down South Tacoma Way where the signs are not in Spanish but some Asian language! Why do we never here of anyone outraged because of this?
 @Mamuk I am.
One of the tests to become a citizen is to demonstrate an understanding of the English language.
Learn it or go home.
 @Glassman  @Mamuk I am as well.
Outraged, that is. English MUST be made the "official" language of America. Do away with all these official forms in foreign languages! All signs and documents must ONLY be written in English.
My father brought me to this country from Norway exactly 21 years ago when I was 13 years old on a temporary Visa. He worked for a Norwegian bank that had an office in the United States and after being here a couple years he asked me if I wanted to stay or go back and I said stay. I got a green card and when I was 17 I got my first job moved out and have worked my butt off ever since. I have always paid my taxes, never been arrested, never even had a speeding ticket and now I am proudly in the process of getting my citizenship LEGALLY!! So speaking for personal experience if anyone wants to pull a fast one in this country they should get a swift kick south of the border PERIOD!!! It is BS that there are 1000's of hard working unemployed us citizens that have been laid off yet there are also 1000's of illegals working in our country. BS!!!
 @tkyed I salute you!
@tkyed Good for you for obtaining your legal citizenship!
 @tkyed Thanks for that personal anecdote, tkyed, we need more of your kind of patriotism in this country! And thanks for your support and for a good example of doing things the legal way!
Send the illegals to their home. Wait in line like millions of good people throughout the world.
We DO need Congress to act! By clearing out all the illegal immigrants that are a drain on this country! 70% of illegal immigrants are on welfare. 70%!!! And most of them work under the table and don't contribute to financially to this country. Start by refusing government services to illegals. Think of how much money it would save this country!
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 @virtual anomaly  @Tattooed_Angel Really? A few years ago I was jobless and went to DSHS to get help ie' food-stamps. Although I was embarrassed and wanted to crawl under a rock - I still went in and took care of business. In the two DSHS offices I went to there was a huge Hispanic presence in both offices ( I mean 80%). They had interpreters and I assume getting benefits. (why else would they be there)  I had an internship in 2009 in a children's dental office in Kent  that specifically treated DSHS clients...Guess what? Almost ALL Hispanic.children with mom and dad, whom came in with interpreters. I didn't go up to anybody to ask for papers,ect but there's a good chance they are illegal. Virtual Anomaly pull your head out of the sand. FYI~I stayed on EBT assistance for 1 year until I found a job. I paid for years into the tax system and when all was said and done I was grateful...And I am an American who paid into it, not an illegal who reaps the rewards of other peoples paycheck deductions from the gov't.
@virtual anomaly Your ignorance is absolutely hilarious! You should really check your facts before you comment.
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http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2011/04/71-percent-of-illegal-immigrants.html
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http://docstalk.blogspot.com/2012/08/pe-stunner-most-illegal-immigrant.html
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http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/government-website-for-immigrants-come-to-america-and-take-advantage-of-our-free-stuff
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Need I continue? Illegal immigrants DO qualify for government assistance. The fact that you think that "some may get it but that would require fraud with forged documents" proves how little you know. Educate yourself.
 @Tattooed_Angel  @virtual seriously? anyone can start a blog, and only ****'s send others to radically opinionated blogs that try to download stuff onto other people's computers. Thanks a lot.
Yep, let's just round them up and drop them at the border. If they end up starving or being sold into slavery, at least it's not our problem, right/
 @virtual anomaly The misinterpreted 14th Amendment is to blame for that on-going horror show mistake. So-called "anchor babies" are NOT LEGAL CITIZENS.
 @Tattooed_Angel We can all start RIGHT NOW, by NOT PATRONIZING any business that uses illegal alien labor! Reporting them to I.C.E. would also be of help too, of course.
@TheTruncheon @Tattooed_Angel So no more eating any food produced in America? That means agriculture and meat packing.
 @rightandexact  @Mamuk Ad?? Gawd right wingers are stupid.
 @Mamuk Yeah, show me an add were these "orchardists" placed hiring adds on Craigslist, Worksource, or any other hiring website, newpaper ect. People like to speak about stuff they have no experience with.
 @Mamuk Yeah, show me an add were these "orchardists" placed hiring adds on Craigslist, Worksource, or any other hiring website, newspaper ect. People like to speak about stuff they have no experience with.
I suggest you talk to the orchardists who tried to hire American workers. Most didn't last four hours before they quit! They took no pride in their work and weren't willing to put an effort in picking the fruit correctly, resulting in major losses for these partiotic farmers. If your response is that if he paid more, they would have been willing, a good picker can make in excess of $20 an hour but it is hard work.
 @Maynard G Krebbs Yes, and when the illegal aliens who were working as serfs at a meat plant in the Midwest were rounded up by I.C.E. a while back the American employees who were standing by watching the whole thing go down burst into SPONTANEOUS APPLAUSE.Â
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Now, if we can only KEEP them out... FINISH THE FENCE, TALLER AND TOUGHER!
 @virtual anomaly  @tkyed Well you should really read more news and stop watching CNN and MSNBC. There are plenty of news stories showing AMERICANS  waiting in lines around the block after plants are raided by immigration.  There was one in Colorado,one in Houston come to mind without even thinking about it.
 @virtual anomaly Well, that's only because your own personal bubble hasn't been too adversely affected by the seething hordes of illegal infiltrators for you to care... YET.
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WAKE UP AND SMELL THE INVASION.
 @virtual anomaly Absolutely YES, since their love of money, rather than the welfare and good-will of their fellow Americans, seems to be all these quisling-employers-of-illegal-aliens care about. Put them out of business or hire LEGAL CITIZENS!
Apparently you have not read the statistics. There are 1000's of citizens that would do anything for a job right now so I am sure they wouldn't mind working at a meat packing plant or doing agricultural work. I know if I was laid off and that was the only work available you better believe I would do it.
"Helping hundreds"... by SPITTING IN THE FACE OF MILLIONS!