DHS To Grant Illegal Aliens “Unlawful Presence Waivers”
In its quest to implement stealth amnesty, the Obama Administration is working behind the scenes to halt the deportation of certain illegal immigrants by granting them “unlawful presence waivers.”
The new measure would apply to illegal aliens who are relatives of American citizens. Here is how it would work, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement posted in today’s Federal Register, the daily journal of the U.S. government; the agency will grant “unlawful presence waivers” to illegal aliens who can prove they have a relative that’s a U.S. citizen.
Currently such aliens must return to their native country and request a waiver of inadmissibility in an existing overseas immigrant visa process. In other words, they must enter the U.S. legally as thousands of foreigners do on a yearly basis. Besides the obvious security issues, changing this would be like rewarding bad behavior in a child. It doesn’t make sense.
But the system often causes U.S. citizens to be separated for extended periods from their immediate relatives,” according to the DHS. The proposed changes, first announced in January, will significantly reduce the length of time U.S. citizens are separated from their loved ones while required to remain outside the United States during the current visa processing system.
The administration also claims that relaxing the rule will also “create efficiencies for both the U.S. government and most applicants.” How exactly is not listed in the Federal Register announcement, which gives the public 60 days to comment. That’s only a formality since the DHS has indicated that the change is pretty much a done deal.
This appears to be part of the Obama Administration’s bigger plan to blow off Congress by using its executive powers to grant illegal immigrants backdoor amnesty. The plan has been in the works for years and in 2010 Texas’s largest newspaper published an exposé about a then-secret DHS initiative that systematically cancelled pending deportations. The remarkable program stunned the legal profession and baffled immigration attorneys who said the government bounced their clients’ deportation even when expulsion was virtually guaranteed.
In late 2011 a mainstream newspaper obtained internal Homeland Security documents outlining “sweeping changes” in immigration enforcement that halt the deportation of illegal aliens with no criminal records. This also includes a nationwide “training program” to assure that enforcement agents and prosecuting attorneys don’t remove illegal immigrants who haven’t been convicted of crimes.
Judicial Watch has been a front runner in investigating the Obama Administration’s stealth amnesty program by pursuing DHS records concerning “deferred action” or “parole” to suspend removal proceedings against a particular group of individuals. Last spring JW sued DHS to obtain information because the agency ignored a federal public records request that dates back to July 2010.
Readers Comments (145)
Nearly every sentence of this piece contains a legal or factual inaccuracy. I don’t have time to address them all, but here are the most important corrections:
(1) This waiver has existed for decades. It is governed by Sec. 212(h)-(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
(2) The new system changes nothing but where the waiver is filed. It will streamline the process.
(3) The waivers are still based upon “extreme hardship” to a US citizen spouse, parent, or child. This is a high standard, defined by the Board of Immigration Appeals as hardship BEYOND that which would usually be endured by the separation of a family. THIS STANDARD WILL NOT BE CHANGED.
(4) This is in no way an “amnesty,” as it only applies to those who were already eligible for the waiver in the first place.
This post is inaccurate. This doesn’t apply to illegals who are “relatives of American citizens.” It only applies to illegals who are the spouse, child, or parent of a U.S. citizen. It allows them to apply for the waiver from the U.S. instead of traveling to their home country to do so. According to U.S. law, those illegals are already allowed to apply for greencards. This process just removes a bureaucratic problem that made it more difficult and decreases the time that families are separated.
The person who wrote this post totally misunderstands the legal issue. This doesn’t make anybody eligible to apply who can’t already apply. It is not amnesty, unless you don’t know what “amnesty” means.
Gentlemen, you need to stop criticizing these people for coming here illegally. Firstly, because YOU ARE NOT GOD to judge anybody. Secondly, if they are here they had their reasons to come here however they could and let me tell you, if any of you were in their situation would most likely do the same thing to survive. “Survival of the fittest” definitely something that every human possesses instinctively. And third, don’t give me that crap that “if they want to come here they have to go back to the ‘line’ and wait like everyone else”…..well let me ask you this: What line?! There’s no goddamn line for these people to come here legally!!! The U.S only wants people with high skills like Indians who are computer geniuses plus they are also cheap, or people who are rich that can come here and invest their money and of course if you have a close relative who is a US citizen but there’s no program that lets people to obtain at least temporary work permits to come and clean your shit because that’s what illegal immigrants do they clean your shit, pick your vegetables in the farms and some even cook for you at one of the best restaurants in town and you can’t even be grateful for that! Like if your ancestors didn’t do the same thing to live a better life the only people that have the right to call this place their homeland are Native Americans seriously so all of you need to cut your crap that these people are stealing American’s jobs cause you don’t even want them in the first place!
I posted the following on the website, http://www.regulations.gov; however, I wonder if only those comments supporting this are shown on that website…..
This “back door amnesty” is totally unacceptable. The current laws need to be enforced and those who came here illegal should not be rewarded for breaking the laws. This is a slap in the face to all Americans, especially those who have worked hard to become legal citizens by following the rules. Obama, like W. Bush, is trying to steal votes for him and his party by using these illegal immigrants. These politicians don’t really care about these people or anyone else, except themselves and their “elitist” group. If they cared, then why did they allow them to come into this country illegal where they can be abused by employers who know they won’t report their abuse? I thought we were in a “war on terror”, yet they leave the back door wide open where anyone can walk through while we Americans are treated like criminals at the airports. This proves yet again that Obama, like many before him, hate Liberty, but love tyranny.
To ljg1553,
Don’t believe all that propaganda being fed to you about the Obama administration deporting more illegal aliens than any previous president. Those figures are all doctored. In actuality, under Obama, the Border Patrol has been hit with tremendous cuts in their budget, both in manpower and in equipment and training. Their numbers claims of deported illegal aliens are disproved by a study by a Stanford University group that used official government figures.
Should it be any surprise to anyone that DHS is pulling the old “back door” amnesty plan out of the woodwork? They can’t get amnesty the legal way, so they’re using President Obama’s “executive power” way to get amnesty for a bunch of scofflaws. Just more Chicago Style governing. If it weren’t for the votes of illegal aliens, there are a lot of Democrats who wouldn’t be elected to office.
This article is trying to call attention to the general american citizens who are not attorney’s about the many waivers and loopholes that a Federal Agency creates . Everytime there is an election year there is a rush to grant US citizenship to the current Legal Permanenet resident who became one by using those same loopholes. The people has the right to know and they are not stupid , we are being invaded .I work for an imigration attorney , I entered this country legally , I had to wait my turn .There is a diference between legal and illegal imigration.
Is this the same Obama administration that has deported a record number of illegal aliens for the third year in a row? As I understand it, they are focusing their attention on those who are guilty of criminal offenses.