This is the article I was looking for and ended up discovering this forum. Now that I've found the article, thought it would be best if I share it will all of you.
Barack Obama should take three strong steps toward true immigration reform
BY ALLAN WERNICK
Wednesday, December 3rd 2008, 4:00 AM
Many of us in the immigration field have long called for a broad amnesty - yes, let's call it what it is - for undocumented immigrant workers. We need more of these hardy individuals working on the books, paying taxes and demanding fairer wages from their employers.
But let's be honest. With unemployment rising and the economy in deep recession, this is a politically dangerous, if not impossible, time to overhaul decades of failed policy. Still, three targeted measures can and should be passed in the first year of an Obama administration: the DREAM Act, granting legal status to undocumented students; the AgJobs bill, benefiting farmworkers, and the Immigrant Visa Recapture bill, which would require the government to issue immigrant visas allocated, but unused because of bureaucratic delays, during the past 15 years.
It's becoming clear that it will take a second-term Obama presidency to tackle comprehensively the thorny issue of immigration reform. Don't take my word for it: Rep. Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama's incoming chief of staff, has been on record for two years saying that comprehensive reform would have to wait for the second term of a Democratic presidency.
On top of that, consider the selection of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security. Napolitano was the first governor to call for using National Guard troops to stop undocumented immigration from Mexico. Increasingly, Obama's approach to immigration reform seems to be to get control over the border in the first term andpass a broad legalization program - let's hope - in the second.
But the three proposals to assist select groups of undocumented immigrants need not wait. In the first year of an Obama administration, Congress should provide relief for students and the agricultural community, and recapture the lost visas.
This would be a smart, incremental approach to immigration reform that suits the emerging Obama pragmatism. The total number of individuals likely to get permanent status under these bills combined is about 3 million (DREAM Act, 1 million; AgJobs, 1.5 million; Visa Recapture bill, 500,000 - some coming from abroad).
As a professor, the DREAM Act is the dearest to my heart. Under this law, individuals who came here before the age of 16 and who have lived here at least five years would qualify for conditional legal status. They also would need to have graduated from high school or obtained a general equivalency diploma. Then, if they attended college or served in the military for two out of the next six years, they'd qualify for permanent legal status.
At the City University of New York, where I teach, about 3,000 students would benefit immediately. Over five years, a total of about 60,000 New Yorkers ultimately would get DREAM Act permanent residence. That may seem like a small number, but for undocumented young scholars, the DREAM Act is their only hope. Under current law, most undocumented students have only one realistic path to legal status: marry a citizen. No papers means no opportunity for professional employment. So, it's either sell flowers, work washing dishes or marry. That's a hell of a choice for a top college graduate.
Starting the legalization process by targeting a select 25% of our total undocumented population makes both practical and political sense. It will give the government experience in processing large numbers of legalization applications. That will avoid a repeat of the 1986 amnesty, which the government botched so badly that more than 20 years later it is still adjudicating applications. Moreover, an incremental approach to legalization will help doubting U.S. citizens overcome fears that these new immigrants will burden our society.
So President-elect Obama, let's get going. Take three sensible steps toward change that millions of people desperately need.
Wernick is an immigration lawyer and professor at Baruch College of the City University of New York.
