U.S. Senate to Debate HR 4437

U.S. Senate to Debate HR 4437 Legislation: How Does it Affect You? By: Nicole C. Dillard, Esq. 在 2005年12月6日，the U.S. House of Representatives 通过了一条草拟法案 “The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005,” 或“H.R. 4437, sponsored by F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. ” 。据了解，此法案内容对美国非移民人士的影响会相当广泛。详情请看以下内容或参考本网站在12月7日发布的有关消息。 In December 2005, newspapers, news programs and immigration websites were flooded with information regarding the strict enforcement bill that was before Congress. On December 16, 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives passed “The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005,” or otherwise known as “H.R. 4437, sponsored by F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. This proposed bill was briefly discussed here, on Fan, Fitzpatrick and Thompson’s website. (See, December 7, 2005, “Another Bill Makes it’s Way Through the House.”) One of the most stringent aspects of this proposed bill amends Section 274(a)(1)(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to make it a FELONY to: “assist…a person to reside in or remain in the United States, or to attempt to reside in or remain in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such person is an alien who lacks lawful authority to reside in or remain in the United States.” The bill also provides for forfeiture of all assets of a person who commits such an offense. This language is so broad that it appears to criminalize all the work of everybody, including church groups, charities, lawyers, and private citizens, who act in any way to help a person who is technically out of immigration status for whatever reason. This measure is particularly broad because many nonimmigrants technically go out of status for various reasons, namely incompetence, errors, and delays of the U.S. government in processing applications or petitions for change or extensions of status, even though they may have been lawfully admitted, have never broken the law and/or may have American family members. Many nonimmigrants who are legally admitted as students or specialty occupation workers may feel that this provision only affects the undocumented aliens—the ones who have snuck across the border or those nonimmigrants who have overstayed their visitor’s visas. This is not necessarily the case. An incident which frequently occurs often plays out as the following: A routine H-1B extension for a worker and his H-4 spouse. The couple misplaces the papers and is one day late getting the I-539 extension of status form back to the law firm to file. The spouse, in this case, goes out of status. Normally this would not be a problem and the law firm would file the one day late I-539 and rely on the USCIS’ discretion to approve the I-539. However, under a plain interpretation of the proposed law, the spouse thereby becomes an aggravated felon for falling out of status. By continuing to reside with the spouse, the H-1B holder also becomes an aggravated felon, with all of his/her assets subject to forfeiture. While it is questionable as to how many of these cases will actually be prosecuted by overzealous prosecutors, there is certain to be at least a few to send a message and the very possibility of prosecution will terrorize the entire immigration bar association and have chilling effect on all who try to help immigrants. In fact, the Catholic News Service has already reported on January 6, 006 that Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the Archbishop of Washington, D.C., told reporters that U.S. Bishops are “very concerned about this.” One worry in particular is that provisions to criminalize immigration violations would be applied to church workers who help need people without regard for immigration status. Thus, those people who are trying to help immigrants will be finding themselves turned into criminals. Under the current law, being in the country illegally is only a violation of civil law and not criminal codes. By making immigration violations a crime, those who even unknowingly assist people who are in the country illegally could be subject to prosecution. The proposed legislation has other provisions that are equally as radical. The provision provides that “unlawful presence” would now be considered a crime and an “aggravated felony.” This means that undocumented immigrants may have to service jail time and would be permanently barred from future legal status and from re-entry into the country. This is also will be applied when lawfully admitted nonimmigrants, who have always obeyed the law, become unlawfully present due to errors and delays by the U.S. government in processing unlawful and proper application for extension of status. Immigration attorneys have termed HR 4437 an the “most evil immigration litigation” in the United States for the 150 years. With that said, all nonimmigrants, whether you are here undocumented, out of status or even lawfully admitted on a temporary work visa, should fear its implementation. Nonimmigrant, immigrants and U.S. citizens alike should rally their friends to contact your Senators to encourage them to vote against HR 4437. ______________________________________________________________________________ 本文由范毅禹律师事务所提供 本律师事务所精办各类劳工应聘及专业移民申请 (包括H-1，L-1，EB-1，EB-2，NIW，劳工卡，绿卡等申请)。所有申请由多位美籍律师及拥有15年经验的范毅禹律师亲自处理，我所并特设中英移民网站。内有最新移民新闻资讯及由律师主持的移民问答集，欢迎读者流览查询。 www.Fan-Law.com CALIFORNIA : Fan, Fitzpatrick & Thompson, LLP. 370 E. Glenarm St., Pasadena , CA 91106 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] MARYLAND : Fan, Fitzpatrick & Thompson, LLP. 230 North Washington Street, Suite 400 , Rockville , MD 20850 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] All sponsors must be United States (U.S.) citizens or permanent residents, be at least 18, and be living in the U.S. (including territories and possessions) when they file the affidavit support.