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H.R. 1645, The Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007 (24 comments ↓ | 4 wiki edits: view article ↓)
H.R. 1645 would provide for comprehensive immigration reform.
Detailed Summary
Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007 or STRIVE Act of 2007- Prohibits the Secretary of Homeland Security from implementing the New Worker Program established in title IV or grant conditional nonimmigrant classification under title VI of this Act prior to certification to the President and to Congress that specified conditions have been met respecting: (1) border security; (2) document security; and (3) first phase implementation of the electronic employment verification system.
Sets forth border security and enforcement provisions, including provisions respecting: (1) personnel and asset increases and enhancements; (2) a National Strategy for Border Security; (3) border security initiatives, including biometric data enhancements and a biometric entry-exit system, and document integrity, (4) international cooperation; (5) Central American gangs; and (6) National Guard use on the southern border.
Authorizes a border relief grant program for a tribal, state, or local law enforcement agency in a county: (1) no more than 100 miles from a U.S. border with Canada or Mexico; or (2) more than 100 miles from any such border but which is a high impact area.
Sets forth protections for asylum seekers and other immigrants who are subject to expedited removal and/or detention. Establishes within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) an Office of Detention Oversight. Provides for a secure (detention) alternatives program.
Directs the Secretary to develop a plan to combat human smuggling.
Sets forth interior enforcement provisions, including provisions respecting: (1) criminal aliens; (2) voluntary departure; (3) expedited removal; (4) background checks; (5) the state criminal alien assistance program; (6) tribal lands security; (7) state and local enforcement of immigration laws; (8) detention and alternatives; (9) passport and immigration fraud; (10) illegal entry and reentry; (11) detention and removal; (12) criminal penalties; (13) alien street gang members; and (14) alien smuggling.
Makes it unlawful to knowingly hire, recruit, or refer for a fee an unauthorized alien. Sets forth verification provisions.
Provides for implementation of an electronic employment verification system, which shall include required, voluntary, and excluded employer categories. Sets forth system provisions respecting: (1) procedures; (2) criminal and civil penalties; and (3) privacy and anti-discrimination safeguards.
Provides for additional worksite and fraud detection personnel.
Establishes a temporary guest worker program (H-2C visa) (New Worker Program) of 400,000 initial entrants. Provides for: (1) a three-year admission with one additional three-year extension; (2) issuance of H-4 nonimmigrant visas for accompanying or following spouses and children; (3) U.S. and guest worker protections; (4) implementation of an alien employment management system; (5) specified employer obligations; and (6) establishment of a Standing Commission on Immigration and Labor Markets.
Provides for H-2C adjustment of status to permanent resident if the alien: (1) has been employed in H-2C status for a cumulative period of at least five years and establishes evidence of employment; (2) pays a $500 application fee; (3) is physically present in the United States; and (4) is pursuing English language and U.S. history education.
Directs the Secretary of State to negotiate bilateral agreements with H-2C worker home countries.
Sets forth backlog reduction provisions respecting: (1) family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant levels, including recapture of unused visas; (2) country limits; (3) immigrant visa allocations; (4) shortage occupations; (5) nurses and physical therapists; (6) Iraqi and Afghan translators; (7) aliens of extraordinary artistic ability; (8) Canadian powerline workers and boilermakers; (9) aliens in specialty occupations; (10) U.S. educated immigrants; (11) students; (12) L-visa (intracompany transfer) aliens; and (13) minor children and widows.
Provides for status adjustment filing of qualifying employment based immigrants regardless of whether an immigrant visa is immediately available.
Establishes a special immigrant category for certain children and women at risk of harm.
Exempt sons and daughters of Filipino World War II veterans who were naturalized under the Immigration Act of 1990 from worldwide or numerical limitations on immigrant visas.
Provides that determinations under the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998 as to whether an individual is a child of a parent shall be made using the individual's age and status on October 21, 1998.
Expands the S-visa (witness/informant) classification.
Limits the L-visa (intracompany transfer) classification.
Replaces the existing fashion model H-1B visa classification with an O-visa classification.
Return of Talent Act - Directs the Secretary to establish the return of talent program to permit eligible aliens to temporarily return to their country of citizenship in order to make a material contribution if the country is engaged in post-conflict or natural disaster reconstruction activities.
Major Disaster and Emergency Victims Immigration Benefits Preservation Act - Sets forth disaster- or emergency-related immigration benefit preservation provisions respecting: (1) special immigrant status; (2) filing or reentry deadline extensions; (3) surviving spouses and children, including surviving spouses and children of refugees and asylees; (4) waiver of public charge inadmissibility grounds; (5) age-out protection; (6) documents and address requirements; and (7) foreign students.
Authorizes a six-year conditional nonimmigrant status for a qualifying alien (and spouse and children as conditional nonimmigrant dependents) who has been illegally and continually present and employed in the United States since before June 1, 2006 up to the present. Requires: (1) criminal and security background checks; (2) payment of a $500 fine and applicable application fees; and (3) payment of tax obligations. Prohibits such status for an alien who has: (1) participated in persecutions; or (2) been convicted of a felony or three or more misdemeanors. Permits permanent resident status adjustment.
Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2007 or DREAM Act of 2007 - Repeals the denial of an unlawful alien's eligibility for higher education benefits based on state residence unless a U.S. national is similarly eligible without regard to such state residence.
Authorizes the Secretary to cancel the removal of, and adjust to conditional permanent resident status, an alien who: (1) entered the United States before his or her sixteenth birthday, and has been present in the United States for at least five years immediately preceding enactment of this Act; (2) is a person of good moral character; (3) is not inadmissible or deportable under specified grounds; (4) at the time of application, has been admitted to an institution of higher education, or has earned a high school or equivalent diploma; and (5) from the age of 16 and older, has never been under a final order of exclusion, deportation, or removal.
Sets forth the conditions for conditional permanent resident status.
Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2007 or AgJOBS Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary to confer "blue card status" upon an alien who: (1) has performed agricultural employment in the United States for at least 863 hours or 150 work days during the 24-month period ending on December 31, 2006; (2) applied for such status during the 18-month application period beginning on the first day of the seventh month that begins after the date of enactment of this Act; (3) is otherwise admissible to the United States; and (4) has not been convicted of any felony or a misdemeanor, an element of which involves bodily injury, threat of serious bodily injury, or harm to property in excess of $500.
Directs the Secretary to adjust a blue card alien (and spouse and minor children) to permanent resident status if the alien has fulfilled specified periods of agricultural employment.
Amends the Social Security Act to exempt blue card aliens from prosecution for social security-related identity or payment false statements if such conduct occurred prior to the granting of blue card status.
Revises H-2A visa (agricultural labor or temporary or seasonal services) provisions. Replaces the existing labor certification requirement with a labor attestation requirement containing: (1) a description of the nature and location of the job; (2) the job's expected beginning and ending dates; (3) the number of jobs; and (4) specified labor assurances respecting job opportunities covered by collective bargaining agreements and non-covered job opportunities.
Authorizes an initial entry, adjustment, and citizenship assistance grant program.
Strengthening American Citizenship Act of 2007 - Directs the Chief of the Office of Citizenship of DHS to provide grants to assist legal U.S. residents who declare an intent to apply for citizenship in the United States to meet naturalization requirements.
Provides that a legal U.S. resident who demonstrates English fluency will satisfy the residency requirement upon the completion of four years (currently, five years) of continuous U.S. legal residency.
Directs the Secretary to establish an American citizenship grant program for qualified entities to provide civics, history, and English classes to promote the patriotic integration of prospective citizens.
Authorizes the Secretary to establish the United States Citizenship Foundation to support the functions of the Office of Citizenship.
Establishes a new citizens award program to recognize citizens who: (1) have made an outstanding contribution to the United States; and (2) were naturalized during the ten-year period ending on the date of such recognition.
Authorizes the Secretary of State to award a grant to a U.S. land grant university to establish a national program for a broad, university-based Mexican rural poverty mitigation program.
Provides for increases in DHS immigration attorneys and Department of Justice immigration attorneys and judges.
Expresses the sense of Congress that an effective and fair immigration court system should be established.
Sets forth citizenship assistance provisions for members of the Armed Forces.
Provides permanent resident status adjustment or cancellation of removal and permanent resident status adjustment for a requesting alien who was on September 10, 2001, the wife, child, or dependent son or daughter of a lawful nonimmigrant alien who died as a result of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States.
Authorizes an alien who is under removal or ordered to depart voluntarily from the United States to apply for such status adjustment.
Excludes from such provisions an alien who is: (1) inadmissible or deportable under criminal or security grounds, including September 11, 2001, terrorist activity; or (2) a family member of such an alien.
Establishes: (1) the Office of Internal Corruption Investigation; (2) the State Impact Assistance Account; and (3) the New Worker Program and Conditional Nonimmigrant Fee Account; and (4) the Immigrant Entrepeneur Regional Account Center.
Provide permanent resident status adjustment for certain persecuted religious minorities.
Establishes grants for state courts to implement programs to assist individuals with limited English proficiency to understand court proceedings.
Provides for notice and hearing if DHS intends to remove an alien to a country other than the one designated at the removal hearing.
Requires that Department of State and Department of Justice immigration documents comply with specified authentication, documentation, and machine readable standards.
Status of the Legislation
Latest Major Action: 12/26/2007: House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Provisions of Measure Incorporated into Title VI of Division E of H.R. 2764.
Points in Favor
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Visitor Comments
ja07
A good step towar fixing our broken immigration system.
Microsoft Employee
We need some more skilled workers up here. Reform it is!!!!
let's see
have you seen who's co sponsoring this bill? its almost all hispanics. i smell amnesty for millions in there somewhere!
lmr
its human, comprehensive. i really like it.
kellincali
it's bulls***! it's amnesty,welfare,social security,healthcare,government subsidized housing,voting rights,free college tuition,and a whole host of other benefit's for people who are here illegally. illegally!
humane would be to give em one of sherriff lee arpaio's sack lunches to eat on thier bus ride down to the border! no amnesty/no anchor babies.
CRH
This is amnesty. As a member of the 300 million REAL citizens in this country, I sum up my thoughts for HR 1645 by saying any politician who votes for this bill, will not be getting my vote next election.
AP
REAL and UNREAL citizens: Everyone in the US is an immigrant. The "aboriginal" are now the minorities. We need more skilled immigrants in the country, as they are the people who will also spend an awful lot of money on consumer goods, air tickets, apartments, car rentals, and so on, which will actually help this economy.
kellyncali
ap your a real visionary!however condeluded it is. the majority of the people sneaking across our borders don't even flush thier wastepaper! there's some real skilled worker's for you!
fact's be told most money is sent back to thier country of origin,and if they do stay and start a family the cost to the taxpayer is so enormous that you cannot even begin to justify why we should let them stay.
Kool Indy
It's legalizing the law-abiding tax paying folks who have poured millions into the empty coffers of the Social Security.
It offers relief to highly skilled professionals that are being lured away by competing countries. It's about time, but its still not doing enough. The middle men in the immigration process will eventually kill this bill before it gets passed, but hope is high that common sense will prevail.
kellyncali
it puts illegal aliens living in our neighborhoods it means that those of us that cant afford to live in gated communities are forced to live with the problems encompassed by the actions of illegal aliens,and only the few who benefit from thier employment have anything to gain!
so while the impoverished and middle class of america already struggle here is another added burden for them in the job market along with being exposed to violent street criminals,paying for career welfare moms,and all for the benfit of some employer!
William Boykin
As usual Gutierrez and Flake have tried to look good while working for essentially zero border protection substance. Throughout HR 1645 the words like plan, assess, describe, work with Mexico (undefined), enhance consultation, evaluate training, encourage Central America, reduce deaths, use National Guard for 21 days (or less), establish an independent commission (to check boxes), ensure more expeditious data searches, etc. etc. This "Bill" will only weaken the USA further while sounding good to those that think verbs need not imply firm actions.
This "STRIVE" Bill also hints at a vibrant national economy while only increasing the wealth of their usual supporters. If you want a vibrant economy that will produce enough wealth to save social programs - support HR 25.
joe chen
this is a good fair bill with humanity.
dLee M.
For the survival of this country, hr-1645 needs to be defeated soundly..
gud
This is the way to give away America for good and ruin our economy. Stick a fork in the United States if anything like this passes. It is done .....
t edward
I am tired of subsidizing corporate profit margins thru taxpayer social benefits for illegal aliens. This bill will break the back of low income citizens thru job loss to now legalized uneducated illegal aliens. The taxpayers will have to pay more and more in social welfare so corps can make more profits. They don't clean my pool, babysit my kids, or mow my lawn.
Dave D
It is easy to get caught up in the human element, but the economic unraveling is at hand. As much focus needs to be on the greedy business owners who exploit the illegals as does the illegals themselves. We are importing, if you will, millions of uneducated, ignorant and sick illegals. Ask anyone in healthcare and they will tell you how devastating this is. If paid a fair wage, Americans would do most of these jobs. We need the best and brightest to compete in the new global enconomy, not Mexico and S.A.'s poorest and least educated. If H.R. 1645 passes, it is the beginning of the end for this country I love so dearly.
Wombat66614
This will indeed be the end for America as we know it! STRIVE will give us as NORTH AMERICANS “a common security perimeter” The border between US mexico and canada will be virtually gone! The powers that be want a EU style gov't for north america
Red Lief
This bill needs to be crushed.
This is the bastard child of the liaison between post-national corporations and the post-national left.
The only thing that people have been asking for is enforcement, and our representatives replied with insult, telling us what we really want is more, and more, and more.
No, we have not been asking to be overwhelmed by 10's of millions of unassimilables.
This insult, bundled up with special chain migration provisions, plus substantial boosting of other foreign visa programs, would pretty much finish off the country in terms of cultural consensus and unity.
Only idiots and the corrupt want it.
It is not what we asked for.
RL
Please differentiate between LEGAL and ILLEGAL immigrants. The highly skilled and educated immigrants are almost all LEGAL. These immigrants are proficient in English, earn more than the national median income and pay taxes. Parts of this reform bill is good when it welcomes this highly skilled workers and attempt to eliminate visa backlog so that these millions of productive immigrants can naturalized. As for the illegals, mostly unskilled ones - they tend to be welfare recipients and are a burden on our social services and schools. I applaud the emphasis for immigrants to learn English, US history and civics. I would urge the lawmakers to go further and make them mandatory as a stringent uncompromising prerequisite for naturalization, thus eliminating the need for multi-lingual ballots (since only citizens can vote and you need to know English in order to be a citizen).
Dark-Star
Nothing more than yet another disguised amnesty. "Comprehensive Reform" - aka trying to solve all the problems in one shot - is a disasterous idea.
This bill spits in the face of every immigrant who has gone through legal procedures to become a U.S. citizen.
The wording also gives employers who hire illegals a monopoly-style 'get out of jail free' card in essence if they show good faith to comply.
There are backdoors for almost every item listed. And they will be used in large numbers.
Read this bill for yourself and decide if the law will be enforced!
PatRivCa.
The Federal Government in this country arrogantly ignores its people anymore. Its time form massive change in government before they completely ruin our country!!!
U.S. Navy Veteran
This proposed legislation is every bit as treacherous as S. 1348! H.R. 4437 was passed by the House last year to the applause of the majority of the American people. This is NOT a question of racism, rather it is a question of whether or not this country governs by the rule of law for the benefit and protection of America and her legal citizens. Our Founding Fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to secure the blessings of Liberty for the American people. Should we now demonstate by passing S. 1348 or H.R. 1645 that they were fools in doing so? WAKE UP PEOPLE!
win
You figure even Congress would learn after a while...
The House will drop this now if they have any brains. The Senate at least had a chance of passing their amnesty bill, in the House it is very unlikely, and getting close to elections,. I'll be calling and sending emails to stop the thing already,
Enforce NOW! Enforce!
Douglas
A recent U.N. report shows once again American workers are the most productive in the world with Ireland a distant second. This bill proposes to absorb 180,000 H1-B applicants from parts of the world with the least efficient work forces. Is it ethical to draw them away from impoverished parts of the world where their skills are desperately needed? What is the enviromental and social impact of absorbing each year a predominately male workforce with a footprint roughly equal to Spokane Washington?