Senators Debating Aspects of I

Senators Debating Aspects of Immigration Bill By Nicole C. Dillard, Esq. 根据the Washington Post在2006年3月9日的消息，Senators正在讨论一项immigration overhaul bill的通过。据了解，法案的部分提议已经被通过，而一些则仍在讨论审核之中。以下请看有关消息。 On Thursday, March 9, 2006, the Washington Post reported that Senators are currently working out an immigration overhaul bill. So far, members of the Senate judiciary committee have agreed to further increase the number of Border Patrol agents, but how many additional agents that they agreed to add was uncertain. Some committee members feel that 2,000 to 2,400 a year to 10,800 over the next five years is sufficient while others believe that 12,000 in the next 2 years is warranted. The Senate Judiciary Committee is aiming to push the proposed immigration legislation to the full Senate by March 27, 2006. As a reference, an intelligence overhaul that Congress passed in late 2004 recommended adding 2000 more agents a year over five years to boost the Boarder Patrol to about 20,000 agents. However, since 2001, Congress has funded only 1,500 additional agents. Thus, the Border Patrol has increased from 8,351 agents in 1999 to about 11,300 now. In 2005, the Border Patrol agency apprehended about 1.2 million illegal immigrants, compared with 1.6 million in 1999. Consequently, some Senators believe that that the numbers are not adequate to achieve the numbers of apprehensions at the border that they aim to achieve. Policy analysts such as Deborah Meyers, a senior policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute which tends to favor immigration, says the size of the undocumented population is a better measure of effectiveness. Meyers stated, “ A policy that has focused solely on the border has not been successful in terms of reducing the flow of undocumented immigrants to the United States and one of the things we are seeing in legislation is the much greater role work site enforcement has to playing controlling undocumented migration.” Other aspects of the Immigration Bill that Senators on the Committee have already approved or accepted are: n To require detention and expedited deportation of apprehended NON-Mexican immigrants n Prohibiting immigrants convicted of rape or child abuse from bringing spouses to the United States n To authorize fencing and other barriers for the state of Arizona with Mexico and an amendment to do a border fence study. Know that the Senate has not yet passed the Immigration Bill. According to the Washington Post, the legislation will not be put before the full Senate until the end of March. If there are aspects of the Immigration Bill (also referred to as HR 447), then make sure you contact your Senator to make sure that you voice your concerns. ______________________________________________________________________________ 本文由范毅禹律师事务所提供 本律师事务所精办各类劳工应聘及专业移民申请 (包括H-1，L-1，EB-1，EB-2，NIW，劳工卡，绿卡等申请)。所有申请由多位美籍律师及拥有15年经验的范毅禹律师亲自处理，我所并特设中英移民网站。内有最新移民新闻资讯及由律师主持的移民问答集，欢迎读者流览查询。 www.Fan-Law.com CALIFORNIA : Fan, Fitzpatrick & Thompson, LLP. 370 E. Glenarm St., Pasadena , CA 91106 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] MARYLAND : Fan, Fitzpatrick & Thompson, LLP. 230 North Washington Street, Suite 400 , Rockville , MD 20850 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]