Immigration Bills

H.R. 2377, the Encourage New Legalized Immigrants to Start Training (ENLIST) Act, would provide amnesty in the form of conditional legal permanent residence to aliens who enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces. Eligible aliens must have been unlawfully present in the U.S. prior to 2012, continuously present in the U.S. since that date, younger than 15 upon initial entry, and otherwise eligible for enlistment. That conditional status is rescinded if the alien separates from the Armed Forces prior to completing the term of enlistment for anything other than honorable conditions.

S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, was a massive immigration reform bill, introduced by the 'Gang of 8' that would result in approximately 30 million new permanent work permits issued in the first 10 years if passed. The bill would grant legal status and worker permits to an estimated 11 million illegal aliens with an opportunity for green cards after 10 years and replace some family-based immigration categories with a merit-based points system.

H.R. 714, the Startup Act 3.0, would establish 125,000 new conditional permanent resident visas: 50,000 for graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and 75,000 for qualified immigrant entrepreneurs. STEM graduates must remain “actively engaged” in a STEM field for 5 years in order to retain the visa, which includes a year of diligently searching for employment and the remaining years employed in the U.S. in a STEM field.

H.R. 406, would give immigration judges discretion to determine if an alien parent of a U.S. citizen child should be ordered removed, deported, or excluded, if such an order would be clearly against the best interests of the child. Certain aliens who pose at least one of several security threats or were engaged in sex trafficking do not count for the purposes of this bill.

Establishes a new program for a new class of temporary nonimmigrant agricultural workers (W) in addition to the already existing H-2A program. With visas limited to 10- month periods, the new system would try and protect American workers by utilizing an internet-based job registry to help employers recruit U.S. workers. The program would attempt to prevent abuse of the system by requiring the use of biometric cards by W-Visa holders and giving financial incentive for the aliens to return home when their visas expire.