News Update - January 30, 2010

By Alan Lee, Esq.^†‡

President Obama’s State of the Union Address and What It May Mean for Immigration Reform

In President Obama’s first State of the Union address on January 27, 2010, he briefly touched upon immigration saying in the entirety: 

We should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system — to secure our borders, enforce our laws and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation.  In the end, it is our ideals, our values that built America - values that allowed us to forge a nation made up of immigrants from every corner of the globe, values that drive our citizens still.

What is to be made of the fact that although immigration was mentioned, unlike economy or jobs or health care, it was one of the last topics towards the end of the speech and only briefly addressed.  Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) was never mentioned. Specific mention was made of border security and enforcing our laws.  His phrase “ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation” speaks to legal and not illegal immigrants. 

Does this mean that CIR has been put on the backburner? In this climate where economy, jobs and health care appear to be the top concerns, one can only hope not.  There are many millions of Americans who supported Mr. Obama in his pledge of CIR, and while they may be cognizant of Mr. Obama’s present quandary, they may not remain patient in this mid-term election year and may stay away from the polls if his Administration does not begin to move on his promise.

† The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

‡ This article © 2010 Alan Lee, Esq.

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