We link to the Primer that discusses CIR, the key elements, what is smart enforcement and more released by the Immigration Policy Center

We’ve been covering this topic at Immigration Solutions for quite awhile.  Canada has figured out how to implement a much more user friendly immigration system to navigate than the USA.  Have a listen to our audio conference Living and Working in Canada

The Immigration Impact article states:  “If we needed any proof that our dysfunctional immigration system inhibits our economic growth, our neighbors to the north have provided us that proof. Canada is actively exploiting, to their economic benefit, our backlogged and broken immigration system. Canada is recruiting the best and brightest American-trained foreign nationals through a streamlined immigration process. After receiving a U.S. education, these talented foreign nationals are now contributing to Canada’s economic future instead of ours.”

Congress! – it’s time to wake up so that we stop “saying goodbye” to the brightest and best!

Immigration Works USA has released its Talking Points today on the essentials that must be in an immigration reform bill for US employers.

Here’s a list of other talking points as well.

What are your thoughts?

As the House begins its August recess today (the Senate goes home next week), Members of Congress are returning home to kiss babies and meet with constituents on a host of issues. We are betting that some of those visits will be about this country’s broken immigration system.

Nothing moves members of Congress more than face-to-face meetings with constituents letting them know what they care about. So in honor of summer recess, the IPC is reminding you of our top resources that can be used when paying a visit to your local legislator.

We link to Immigration Impact

SAN DIEGO — President Obama recently reignited the immigration debate when he told reporters that congressional leaders of both parties were ready to “actively get something done and not put it off until a year, two years, three years, five years from now, but to start working on this thing right now.”

In the months ahead, keep an eye on two things: the calendar and the issue of guest workers.

The calendar: “Right now” might not be soon enough. The conventional wisdom is that the longer Obama waits, the harder it will be to pass any immigration reform legislation. One immigration activist I spoke with even had a deadline in mind: March 2010. Congress has to discuss the bill this fall, he said, and pass it no later than next spring. His thinking — and that of many others — is that the 2010 midterm elections might cut into the Democratic majority in Congress, and then the chance for immigration reform could slip away.

We link to The Washington Post article.

Senator Schumer issues a game plan that he thinks will get a CIR bill passed.

We link to the ILW.com article.

The Immigratiion Policy Center HAS issued an excellent “primer” on Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR).  We link to this for your reference and information.

AILA has recently published an excellent Powerpoint on why the system is broken.

We link to

Senators Menendez (D-NJ), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), introduced legislation to re-emphasize family unity in the US immigration system so that legal immigrants might reunite with their families and end decade long waiting times for legal immigrant visas.

The legislation would reinforce the historical emphasis on current wait times in the family immigration system by:

• Helping an estimated 322,000 spouses and children under the age of 21 of lawful permanent residents who are waiting in line to reunite with their families by reclassifying them as immediate relatives
• Addressing the decades-long backlogs for certain countries by raising the per-country immigration limits from 7% to 10% of total admissions
• Protecting widows, widowers and orphans by allowing them to continue to wait in line for a visa after the death of the sponsoring relative
• Utilizing an estimated 400,000 family-sponsored and employment-based visas that went unused between 1992 and 2007
• Respecting the contribution of Filipino World War II veterans by reducing their children’s wait times for an immigrant visa
• Promoting family unity by allowing more people who are already eligible for an immigrant visa to efficiently use our legal family immigration system
• Providing equal treatment for stepchildren and biological children by allowing stepchildren under the age of 21 to immigrate upon their parents’ marriage (current age is 18)

For more on this story

The Washington Times reported today that on the thorniest of political issues, Obama has embraced the enforcement-first position on immigration that he criticized during last year’s campaign.  He’s now saying that he can’t move forward with the type of comprehensive bill he wants until the voters are convinced that the borders can be enforced.

We quote:  “If the American people don’t feel like you can secure the borders then it’s hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be….Well, you’re just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.”