SECURE BORDERS, ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND IMMIGRATION REFORM ACT OF 2007 (S.1348)

Legalization program
Creates the “Z” visa program for individuals who have been in US since January 1, 2007, have not left and are working or have met specific requirements in agriculture and intend to continue working in agriculture. This program will grant individuals conditional status – not legal permanent residency. Individuals not eligible for a Z visa would include people with final orders of removal (deportation proceedings). The application process will last one year, and allows the Department of Homeland Security to extend this period by an additional year. The process could be quite expensive and could be as high as $9,000 for a family of four. Applicants must remain employed or show that they are full-time students.   

To apply for legal permanent residency, a Z visa holder must apply in person at a US consulate in their country of origin. All Z visa holders are eligible to apply during a five year period starting on the date that the visa backlogs have been eliminated (about 8 years) and then applicants would be judged on a merit-based system (see below). A penalty of $4000 must be paid. Concerns with the legalization program:

• A long and expensive legalization process. During this period, legalized immigrants would have no ability to petition for their spouses and minor children who live abroad.
• Those granted the new Z nonimmigrant visa would become deportable if they fail to maintain continuous full-time employment or school attendance until able to adjust to lawful permanent residence status, a period that would continue for at least 13 years for some applicants.
• The requirements to adjust to permanent residence for Z non immigrants would include a mandatory departure and return by the head of household, not just across the border, but generally to the immigrant's country of origin. There would not be any exceptions to the requirement to leave the United States other than disability.
• The final stage of the legalization process, adjustment to lawful permanent residence status, could not be completed until the current immigration backlog has cleared for applications filed before May 1, 2005 and certain difficult-to-achieve immigration enforcement "triggers" have been met. This would require all legalized immigrants to wait at least 13 years-and some at least 18 years-before they could apply for citizenship.

Visa system
Proposes drastic changes to our current visa program that would deny families to be reunited or to stay together; this would undermine important social and economic benefits to our nation. Immigrant integration – learning English, becoming civically active – is much easier when an individual has the support of her/his family. Currently, visas are distributed based on preferences that are categorized according to the relationship that a petitioner has to a US citizen or legal permanent resident. The family sponsored visa preferences are as follows:

• First preference: unmarried children of US citizens
• Second preference: spouses and children, and unmarried children of legal permanent residents.
• Third preference: married children of citizens
• Fourth preference: siblings of adult citizens

Each preference has an annual limit to the number of visas, with the exception of visas for parents. The Senate compromise would eliminate preference categories 1, 2 (for unmarried children of legal permanent residents), 3 and 4 as stated above. The bill would also eliminate parents from the categories completely and create a new preference category for parents with an annual limit of 40,000 of visas, along with new requirements such as:

• $1,000 bond
• 30 days per year maximum stay
• Permanent bar for individuals who overstay their visa – even if it’s by one day
• No adjustment or change of status
• If overstays from certain countries go above 7%, nationals from that country will be barred from the US, and may ultimately face termination of the program.

Point system replaces family-based visa system
Individuals who are seeking to enter the country would have to go through a point system, regardless of family ties that they may have in the US. Points would be earned according to the level of education a person has (more education, more points), job skills (more points for higher job skills such as technology or engineering), ability to speak English and at the low end of the point system, if they have a relative in the US (not many points granted for this relationship), which could potentially work against women. All individuals wishing to live and work in the US would be required to go through this process.  This drastic change devalues the historical contributions and potential of immigrants whose first language is not English and who do not have advanced degrees and is discriminatory. The proposed system would focus almost entirely on immigrants' perceived economic value to determine if they are worthy of being accepted into the U.S.

Guest worker
Expands the current guest worker programs in the US and creates a new visa program – the “Y” visa. This program would not go into effect until certain enforcement triggers are met (see page three) and then, 400,000 visas would be made available annually. An individual could obtain a Y visa to legally work in the United States for three 2-year periods; however they would have to leave the country for one year in between their two year periods (i.e., two years working, one year in their country of origin, etc). If individuals overstay their visa, they will be barred from entering the US. There is no option for legal permanent residency. It is tied to agriculture and other industries such as meatpacking and construction. This new program would create a vulnerable and disposable labor force giving unscrupulous employers life and death power over immigrant workers.
This proposal does not provide individuals the option to become legal permanent residents if they wish to stay in the US. It is not portable, but rather an employee would be tied to working with an employer that is registered to participate in the program. This suggested program makes immigrant workers more vulnerable to abuses.

Due Process Rights
Includes several provisions that continue to undermine the due process rights of immigrants, which were originally included in last year's infamous Sensenbrenner legislation (H.R. 4437), and that migrated into last year's Senate-passed bill. Some of these have been modified from the form they took last year, but troubling provisions remain. For example, it allows for indefinite detention of immigrants, narrowly restricts judicial review, and increases the bar for immigrants by broadening the definition of certain crimes.

Enforcement
Continues the policy of securing the southern border. Since 1994, this has been US immigration policy for addressing undocumented immigrants with a result of more than 5,000 migrant dead recovered at the border and an unprecedented increase in undocumented immigrants, many of whom are staying longer in the US because of the deadly risk and high cost of returning through deadly desert and uncertain terrain.  

• Increases militarization of the border without sufficient civil and human rights protections for migrants and members of border communities. Specifically, it would set an annual increase in border personnel by 2,000 for FY 2007, and 2,400 in 2008-2012. 
• Requires the construction of 14 miles of new double and triple fencing along the San Diego border starting at the Pacific Ocean.
• Requires the construction of at least 20 new detention facilities with the capacity to detain at least 27,500 individuals per day annually. 
• Increases the penalties for individuals who have used false documents, including passports and other documents, while in the US or to enter the US. The level of intent is lowered, making it easier to prosecute more people.

Employer sanctions
Employers will be fined $5,000 for each person they have employed who is not authorized to work in the US; $10,000 if an employer has been previously fined; $25,000 if the employer has been fined once before; and $75,000 if she/he has been fined more than twice before. Allows for the IRS and the Social Security Administration to share information with DHS and fines will be increased for individuals who have failed to file correct tax returns. The Government Accountabilty Office (GAO) has already proven that employer sanctions cause new forms of racial discrimination in employment, services and housing.

Triggers
These are requirements that must be met before individuals can complete their process to become legal permanent residents and before the guest worker program can begin and are estimated to take up to 18 months or more to implement. They include:

• Increasing the number of agents and support staff for the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) by 18,000;
• Installing 200 miles of vehicle barriers; 370 miles of fencing; and 70 ground based radar and camera towers along the border;
• Detaining individuals who are found crossing the southern border and having the resources to detain up to 27,500 individuals per day/year;
• Ensuring that DHS is using an electronic employer verification system and certain identification tools, such as those in the REAL ID Act; and
• Processing applications for Z visas (conditional status) in a timely manner, including the background and security checks. 

The President and Congress will receive a report by DHS 90 days after the bill is enacted and reports every 90 days as to the progress of these requirements.

Portions of this summary were taken from a statement by the National Immigration Law Center dated on May 21, 2007.

	Define principles for reform that allow us to analyze and support/improve legislative proposals
	Shape the national debate around comprehensive immigration reform

BAIRC’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform campaign committee meets once a month in Oakland. Please contact Uda Walker at (510) 839-7598 or uda@immigrantrights.org if you are interested in joining this campaign committee.

Recent Campaign Activities
May 1: International Workers' Day
Community, labor, student, and faith-based groups across the Bay Area organized mass mobilizations on May 1, International Workers' Day, to raise immigrant voices and put a stop to anti-immigrant bills in Congress.

Bay Area Mass Mobilization (April 23, 2006)
A coalition of Bay Area religious leaders including San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer joined forces with about 10,000 protesters Sunday in denouncing a House of Representatives bill that would make illegal immigration a felony. <more>

Hunger Strike & Week of Actions
Over 50 hunger strikers and community organizations held a seven-day protest in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco (March 21-27, 2006) calling for fair and just immigration reform, and to denounce Senator Arlen Specter’s bill that designates all undocumented immigrants as aggravated felons, allows for the indefinite detention of non-citizens, and criminalizes day-labor centers, churches, health clinics and all others who serve, help or work with undocumented immigrants. <more>

Train-the-Trainers on Immigration Reform
In February, BAIRC trained over 80 organizers from grassroots organizations, unions, schools, and faith-based organizations to conduct roundtable discussions on comprehensive immigration reform. Training materials are available in English, Chinese and Spanish. <more>

Community Dialogue on Immigration Reform
On Saturday, July 16th, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas visited Oakland's First Congregational Church to hold a dialogue with members of the community, labor organizations and faith groups about her immigration reform proposal - HR 2092, also known as the "Save America Comprehensive Immigration Act of 2005". Over 100 members of the Bay Area community attended the forum and it was broadcast live on KPFA public radio (94.1FM). Throughout the event the church was filled with the joyful sounds of applause, laughter, and deep conversation. <more>


National Immigrant Community Consultation
In an unprecedented poll of immigrant communities across the country, the initiative called “Raising Immigrant Voices for Dignity & Justice” found that immigrants firmly support comprehensive reform of the U.S. immigration system. 94% of those polled supported legalization of undocumented immigrants. Surveyed groups encompassed a wide demographic range, from Latinos, Sikhs, and Filipinos to veterans, students, and residents at the U.S.-Mexico border. In total, 1784 responses were collected from over a dozen states. <more>