News Update - March 14, 2007
By Alan Lee, Esq.†‡
Citizenship Promotion Act of 2007 introduced in Congress
The Citizenship Promotion Act of 2007 (S.795) was introduced in
the Senate by Barack Obama – (D – IL.), Jeff Bingaman
(D- NM), Robert Menendez (D – NJ), and Ken Salazar (D-CO.).
The Act provides for Congress to appropriate funds to the Department
of Homeland Security to recover indirect costs of adjudication processing.
A purpose of this bill is to deter a proposed increase in adjudication
fees. In addition the bill outlines uniform testing parameters and
voluntary electronic filing procedures. The bill also provides that
if background checks are not completed in 90-days, the Attorney
General must document the reason, and if not completed with 210
days must report to Congress and the DHS. The bill was referred
to the Senate Judiciary Committee and may be retrieved at http://thomas.loc.gov.
Bipartisan “American Dream Act” Re-introduced
A bill authorizing temporary legal status leading to permanent
residence status for those high school students brought or left
in the U.S. illegally who will attend college or join the U.S. military
was introduced in the House of Representatives. The Act also eliminates
a federal provision discouraging States from providing in-state
tuition rates to long residing immigrant students, who now must
pay international tuition rates. The bill is co-sponsored by Representatives
Howard Berman (D-Cal), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D- Cal), and Lincoln
Diaz-Balart (R-Fl.) and is currently before the Judiciary Committee
and the Committee on Education and Labor. A companion measure will
be introduced in the Senate.
|