Florida Immigration Reform Articles

11 million undocumented immigrants are one step closer to getting on a path to achieving legal status in this country as is the broadest overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws.  This evening the Senate Judiciary Committee with a 13-5 vote moved the comprehensive immigration reform bill “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013,”  forward.

The H1-B visa is a non-immigrant temporary visa program offered to high-skilled immigrants looking to work in the United States. 

Dear Speaker John Boehner, Rep. Nanci Pelosi, and House “Gang of 8”,

WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a leading proponent of overhauling the immigration system who has gained attention in GOP circles, will deliver the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including Robert Menendez and Marco Rubio, today unveiled a set of principles designed to guide legislation on immigration reform.

Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Charles Schumer. D-N.Y., John McCain, R-Ariz., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who have dubbed themselves the "Gang of Eight," have been working together since late last year, according to a press release.

The group disclosed a five-page plan with terms they felt must be included in any immigration reform legislation to "ensure that it can successfully work its way through both chambers and ultimately to the president's desk."

"When I talk about the nation's economy, reform is critical," Menedez said at a press conference. "The reality is that even in a very tight economy there are all types of industries in our country, which have used the work of immigrants every day to achieve the economic goals of those industries."

The senators laid out four elements:

- Create a tough but fair path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants currently living in the U.S. that is contingent upon securing our borders and tracking whether legal immigrants have left the country when required;

- Reform our legal immigration system to better recognize the importance of characteristics that will help build the American economy and strengthen American families;

- Create an effective employment verification system that will prevent identity theft and end the hiring of future unauthorized workers;

- Establish an improved process for admitting future workers to serve our nation's workforce needs, while simultaneously protecting all workers.

"The reality is this will be an arduous pathway, but it will be a fair one," Menedez said. "It will be one that those who have come to this country to achieve the American dream will come forth, must register with the government or they will lose those opportunities."

Immigrants who come forward also will have to go through a criminal background check, pay any back taxes owed, and -- for the first time in U.S. history -- learn English before qualifying to become a permanent resident, Menendez added.

Immigrants remind us of our potential as a free people. Throughout American history, this nation’s great experiment in individual liberty and free enterprise has attracted people committed to building a better future for themselves and their families. Immigrants are by nature risk takers, entrepreneurs who often have the work ethic, drive, energy, creativity and passion necessary to succeed.

New developments in the immigration debate offer fresh evidence that immigration reform that creates a roadmap to citizenship for 11 million immigrants is going to be a top priority in 2013.

Twenty eight Latinos were sworn into the 113th Congress today. That’s enough to put a new notch on the Latino political wall – there have never been that many Latinos in congress before. Neither has there been a more polarized congress, at least not since the civil war. 

Democratic leaders of both houses of Congress on Wednesday presented the nine principles that should guide comprehensive immigration reform they say will contribute to the economic recovery.

Miami, FL (Law Firm Newswire)– The hot debate over immigration reform never quits. It is one of the few issues that has significantly polarized the country. “It’s one thing to debate an issue into the ground but quite another to finally get off principles and do something,” said Larry S. Rifkin, a Miami immigration lawyer and managing partner at Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff. “The great immigration reform debate has resulted in no compromise and no clear solution.”