Introduction

On March 25th 2010, the American Immigration Lawyers Association held their National Day of Action in an effort to bring about comprehensive immigration reform.  The AILA National Day of Action is an annual event in which immigration lawyers from across the country meet in Washington DC for the purpose of speaking with members of Congress and their staff, gathering information about the legislative schedule, and urging that a comprehensive immigration bill be voted on before the November elections.  This year attorneys Jerry Zhang and Bennett Wisniewski went to Washington to participate in this event.  Zhang and Associates attorneys have participated in AILA’s National Day of Action in past consecutive years.   
 
Current Status of Immigration Reform

The atmosphere in Washington was tense since the previous weekend had seen a number of protests in opposition to healthcare.  It was clear that Congress was deeply divided and Democrats wanted to now focus their efforts on an issue with which they could find bipartisan support before the upcoming midterm elections.  In this climate, the prospects of comprehensive immigration reform being brought before Congress in the near future looked slim. However, Congress was also feeling pressure from the other side.  In addition to the health care protestors, 2000 members of the immigrant community had gathered that weekend to urge Congress to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform.  Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had announced that they would soon be proposing a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the Senate but no firm details as to the specifics of the bill were known. Conventional wisdom is that Rep. Graham’s support for such legislation is conditioned on his ability to convince at least one other Republican in the Senate to sign on.  So far this is proving to be a difficult challenge since Republican senators, who in the past could be counted in support of such measures, are very afraid to be seen by their conservative constituents as helping President Obama pass any items on his agenda.

Lobbying for Accept Chinese Talent Now Bill

In addition to comprehensive immigration reform, Jerry and Bennett also pushed the Accept Chinese Talent Now Act (H.R. 3532) which is a resolution to end the unfair limitation of Chinese green card availability.  Following the Tiananmen Square Incident in 1989, the American government passed the Chinese Student Protection Act which gave thousands of green cards to Chinese students.  However, hidden in this law was a provision which subtracted 1000 visas from China’s annual employment based visa quota until the difference of 55,000 visas was made up.  This provision greatly harms the next generation of Chinese immigrants because China often reaches its maximum green card allocation every year and Chinese immigrants already face a greater wait time for employment based green cards than most other countries.  By passing the Accept Chinese Talent Now Act, Congress could end this unfair practice and restore China’s green card availability back to equaling that of every other country.

Meetings With Congresswoman and Congressional Staff

Attorney Bennett met with Rep. Nydia Velazquez and staff members for Rep. Michael McMahon, Rep. Gary Ackerman, Rep. Nita Lowey, and Rep. Christopher Lee. As a result of the demographics of New York’s 12th congressional district, as well as her own immigrant background, Rep. Velazquez has been a true champion in the fight for increased opportunities and rights for immigrants in America.  Congresswoman Velazquez also expressed interest in learning more about the Accept Chinese Talent Now Act and promised to consider the possibility of supporting this legislation as a co-sponsor.  Rep. McMahon’s district is one of the most conservative in New York City and includes most of Staten Island, which is the base of the city’s Republican Party.  However, Rep. McMahon’s district also includes a portion of Brooklyn and has a growing Chinese and Indian population.  For these reasons, his staff indicated that the Congressman had not yet decided whether or not to support a comprehensive immigration reform package before the midterm elections.  In addition, his legislative assistant did show interest in the Accept Chinese Talent Now act and will bring this legislation to the Congressman’s attention as it will likely be popular among his growing Chinese-American constituency.  When meeting with the staff of the other congressmen, a familiar theme emerged – Representatives in the House want to see leadership from the Senate before establishing a formal position on a potential immigration reform bill.  Again it appears that Democrats are fatigued from the health reform fight and think taking on immigration reform before the election is an unwise move at this juncture.  Our firm plans on following up with these contacts and continuing to push for support in the days and weeks ahead. 

Conclusion

Although immigration reform is a hot topic in Washington right now, the possibility of Congress pursuing such legislation in the near future looks uncertain.  Despite a limited contingency of some members like Rep. Velazquez, who wish to move forward on reform in this legislative session, most in Congress appear to lack the political will to dive into such a polarizing issue immediately before the 2010 midterm election.  Many are also waiting to see what happens in the Senate regarding the Schumer-Graham proposal before deciding what approach to take.  Zhang & Associates will continue to be in contact with Congressional staff and urge members to bring a reform bill forward and support the Accept Chinese Talent Now Act.  We recommend that others who wish to see these bills progress call and put pressure on their local Congress members to make it clear that communities in America support comprehensive immigration reform.