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_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________

Congressional Research SErvice (CRS)

Overview of Immigration Issues in the 112th Congress

Ruth Ellen Wasem, Specialist in Immigration Policy

March 21, 2011

http://www.opencrs.com/document/R41704/2011-03-21/download/1005/

[full-text, 19 pages]

Summary

There is a broad-based consensus that the U.S. immigration system is broken. This consensus

erodes, however, as soon as the options to reform the U.S. immigration system are debated.

Substantial efforts to comprehensively reform immigration law failed in the 109th and 110th

Congresses. Whether the 112th Congress will address immigration reform in the midst of

historically high levels of unemployment and budgetary constrictions is difficult to project.

The number of foreign-born people residing in the United States is at the highest level in U.S.

history and has reached a proportion of the U.S. population—12.5%—not seen since the early

20th century. Of the 38 million foreign-born residents in the United States, approximately 16.4

million are naturalized citizens. The remaining 21.6 million foreign-born residents are

noncitizens. According to the latest estimates by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),

about 10.8 million unauthorized aliens were living in the United States in January 2010, down

from a peak of 11.8 million in January 2007. Some observers and policy experts maintain that the

presence of millions of unauthorized residents is evidence of inadequacies in the legal

immigration system as well as failures of immigration control policies and practices.

This report synthesizes immigration issues as a multi-tiered debate. It breaks down the U.S.

immigration law and policy into key elements: border control and visa security; legal

immigration; documentation and verification; interior immigration enforcement; integration,

status, and benefits; and refugees and other humanitarian populations. It delineates the debate in

the 112th Congress for a range of issues, including border security, criminal aliens, worksite

enforcement, employment eligibility verification, permanent admissions, temporary workers,

legalization, noncitizen eligibility for federal benefits, birthright citizenship, and the role of state

and local law enforcement in enforcing immigration laws.

Current circumstances may sharpen the social and business cleavages as well as narrow the range

of options. Nonetheless, selected immigration issues are likely to be a major concern for the 112th

Congress, even if legislative action on such contentious issues appears daunting.

Contents

Introduction ...............................................................................................................................1

Border and Visa Security.............................................................................................................2

Visa Security........................................................................................................................2

Border Control......................................................................................................................2

Legal Immigration ......................................................................................................................3

Permanent Residence ............................................................................................................3

Family-Sponsored Immigrants ........................................................................................4

Employment-Based Immigrants ......................................................................................4

Diversity Visa Lottery .....................................................................................................5

Temporary Admissions..........................................................................................................5

Visitors and Nonresident Admissions ..............................................................................5

Temporary Workers and Other Resident Nonimmigrants .................................................6

Pathways for Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Students ................7

Documents and Verification ........................................................................................................7

Document Integrity ...............................................................................................................7

Employment Eligibility Verification ......................................................................................8

E-Verify ..........................................................................................................................8

Status Verification for Federal Benefits .................................................................................8

Interior Immigration Enforcement ...............................................................................................9

Investigations.......................................................................................................................9

Worksite Enforcement.....................................................................................................9

Alien Smuggling.............................................................................................................9

Document Fraud ...........................................................................................................10

Criminal Aliens ...................................................................................................................10

Detaining and Removing Foreign Nationals ........................................................................ 11

Detention ...................................................................................................................... 11

Removal ....................................................................................................................... 11

State and Local Enforcement...............................................................................................12

Integration, Status, and Benefits ................................................................................................12

Citizenship.........................................................................................................................12

Birthright Citizenship....................................................................................................12

Integration and Naturalization .......................................................................................13

Legalization ........................................................................................................................13

DREAM Act .................................................................................................................14

Noncitizen Eligibility for Benefits.......................................................................................14

Refugees and Other Humanitarian Populations ..........................................................................15

Refugee Admissions............................................................................................................15

Asylum Policy ....................................................................................................................15

Other Humanitarian Relief ..................................................................................................16

Contacts

Author Contact Information ......................................................................................................16

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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