Statutes of Liberty: Build Back Better

This sponsored column is from the James Montana PLLC law firm. All questions should be directed to James Montana, Esq., Doran Shemin, Esq., And Laura Lorenzo, Esq., Practicing attorneys at The Law Office of James Montana PLLC, an immigration law firm based in Arlington, Virginia. The legal information given here is of a general nature. If you would like legal advice, make an appointment with us.

Is There a Massive Amnesty in Build Back Better? Yes. Will it happen Probably not.

The Build Back Better Act (BBBA) isn’t about immigration, but it’s such a big piece of law that even the relatively small parts of it that affect immigration would make the most impactful immigration legislation since 1986.

What are the main BBBA provisions for immigrants in the United States?

• Section 60001 – Probation on the spot

This section would offer “probation” to approximately 6 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States. “Probation” has a technical meaning in US immigration law – it has nothing to do with the concept of probation in criminal law. Instead, think of parole as permission to enter the United States.

Individuals outside of the United States can already apply for parole if for some reason our regular visa system is not appropriate for the situation. “On-the-Spot Probation”, therefore, is a probation permit issued to individuals already in the United States.

The real impact of Section 60001 would be to issue work and travel permits to an estimated six million unauthorized immigrants who entered the United States prior to January 1, 2011. These services would last five years and be extended for a further five years – until 09/30/2031.

Around six million people would be entitled to this benefit. Although those probation officers would not be eligible for green cards, probation officers would have the three most important elements of immigration status in the United States – the ability to work, the ability to travel, and significant protection from deportation.

• Section 60002 – Withdrawal of the visa number

This highly technical (but momentous) section concerns the so-called “visa number recovery”, in which the United States would provide green card slots that were not used in previous years. Unlike previous immigration reform proposals, the BBBA limits the number of slots regained to between 250,000 and 400,000.

• Section 60003 – Allow early requests for status adjustments

Under current law, you cannot apply for a green card while waiting in line for a visa number to be available. Section 60003 changes this by allowing you to apply for a green card while waiting for a visa number to be available, which is a big deal as you can apply for a work and travel permit while the green card application is pending. Section 60003 would not create new categories of green card eligibility, but would force large numbers of people into the system at one time and make them eligible for work and travel permits until their green cards are decided.

• Section 60004 – Minor fee increases

Section 60004 would add minor fee increases for items such as green card renewals ($ 500), H-1B petitions ($ 500), nonimmigrant renewal requests ($ 500 – see sample?), And certain requests Allow work permit ($ 500).

Visitors and other non-immigrant immigrants to the United States would be charged $ 19 on arrival, which is an enigmatic addition, but there you have it.

$ 2.8 billion would be used to help USCIS decide on Section 60001 applications, reduce backlogs and improve efficiency. It’s hard to estimate numbers like $ 2.8 billion out of context. Here’s the context that matters: The budget approved by USCIS for fiscal 2021 was $ 4.7 billion, so $ 2.8 billion is a pretty sizeable cash injection.

We are happy to provide our analysis, but we also encourage readers to read alternative views. The CBO provides a useful summary here; For analysis from competing sources, see this analysis by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (Pro) and Center for Immigration Studies (Contra).

Will the BBBA’s immigration regulations stand up to the Byrd Bath?

The Democrats do not have the votes in the Senate to pass the BBBA over a likely Republican filibuster. It is for this reason that the Democrats in Congress chose to use the reconciliation process to avoid a filibuster. The reconciliation process, as most readers will know, is used when the House of Representatives passes one version of a bill and the Senate passes another; Reconciliation enables the two invoices to be merged via a filibuster-safe negotiation.

The reconciliation can only be used if the bill directly affects the federal budget. If a provision has no budgetary impact – and not just an “incidental” but significant impact – senators can object to the provision through rules of procedure.

Our prediction is that the immigration regulations outlined above will be soaked in the Byrd bath. The Senate MP has already denied two previous attempts by Democratic Congress to incorporate immigration reform provisions into BBBA. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Lord of the Black Hills, First of His Name – has expressed some skepticism as to whether the immigration rules will pass the MP’s scrutiny and, if so, survive subsequent Senate disputes.

Could some provisions (such as the Payola provision described above) survive in isolation? Yes. But without the fuller justification of the probation and early adjustment provisions, it is difficult to see how even the USCIS could justify such a generous budget increase.

As always, we appreciate your opinion and will do our best to respond.

Statutes of Liberty: Build Back Better