Most Important Points to Support and to Oppose in The Senate’s “Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Reform Act” (S. 1348):

1 – Support the creation of “Z” visas that would give undocumented workers an opportunity to apply for legal status and eventually for legal permanent residency and U.S. citizenship. This provision would benefit undocumented immigrants who currently live in the U.S. and have been continuously physically present here since 1/1/07, are otherwise admissible under immigration laws, meet certain work requirements (in both skilled, unskilled and/or agriculture fields) and who pay fines.

2- Support the DREAM Act, included in the current proposed bill. The Act would provide a path to legal status for qualified students who have lived much of their lives in the U.S. but do not have legal immigration status.

3- Support the Cantwell/Cornyn Amendment (SA 1249) that would create a separate, parallel, merit-based point system for employers that would allow U.S. companies to continue to sponsor specific individuals for permanent residence. It would provide 140,000 visas separate and in addition to those currently provided for in the current bill. In addition, this amendment would protect U.S. workers by applying labor market tests to employer sponsorship of foreign workers in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories.

4- Support the "Y" visa program, but change the provision that would force workers to depart the U.S. after participating for 2 years, and requiring them to stay abroad for one year before returning under “Y” visa classification. It is impractical and unrealistic to expect that U.S. employers will train and invest in workers who will be required to depart the U.S. after 2 years of work. In addition, as currently proposed, this system would carve-out of 10,000 green cards per year for "essential" Y workers, there would be no bridge to permit essential and highly skilled (but non-degreed) workers a path to eventual permanent lawful status.

5- Oppose the proposed cap of only 140,000 new immigrant visa numbers (for legal permanent residency or “green cards”) per year until the family backlogs are cleared over an 8 year period. The proposed bill would, after 8 yrs. of family-based immigration backlog clearance, limit future employment-based immigration to 380,000 “point system” visas.  In effect, this guarantees that new backlogs will grow immediately, and that undocumented immigration will continue.

6- Oppose the Sanders Amendment (SA 1223) which will add restrictions to the H-1B worker program, including a huge increase in H-1B fees (from $1,500 to $5,000). Current studies have shown that employers who participate in the H-1B program already contribute more than $127.5 million per year to U.S. job training and scholarships through existing fees, increasing these fees will only discourage H-1B employers from participating in the program and negatively affect U.S. competitiveness (as many employers would take these jobs overseas). Even if the H-1B cap were raised to 115,000, this training and scholarship fund would go up to over $200 million per year.

7- Oppose the Cornyn Amendment (SA 1184) that would expand the grounds of inadmissibility and apply retroactively. This amendment would counter many of the Senate bill’s legalization provisions by rendering large numbers of the current undocumented population ineligible to participate.