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HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV)-- It has been exactly one month since President Obama laid out his controversial executive action on immigration. The plan protects more than four million undocumented immigrants around the nation.

Some think it's been a long time waiting for reform, with the last true immigration reform action in the 90s.

Out of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., less than half meet the requirements which will grant them protection from deportation. It's important to note that this is a three year relief from deportation....and some say it's only a temporary solution.

"There was much rejoicing," said Father Robayo. "I mean everyone was very happy to hear this...very happy that the President took this measure."

Father Daniel Robayo has a deep bond with the Harrisonburg immigrant population, being an immigrant himself, and helping those who he says live day after day in the dark, for fear of the law.

"Well the fears which were based on reality, is that anyone could be pulled over for a stop," said Father Robayo. "We have lived essentially under ethnic profiling."

Juan asked us to hide his identity because he is an undocumented immigrant living in the Valley. The executive action take by President Obama will not change Juan's situation. He's not a parent to an American child, nor did he arrive here before the age of 16. He's hoping for stronger reforms in the future.

"Our situation doesn't let us have peace because we are constantly in fear of suddenly being caught by an immigration agent," said Juan.

But not everyone thinks this executive action is the right way to go.

"It's not going to deal with the need for electronic verification of employment system...or, and entry-exit visa system, so we know who has come into the country and who's not," said Congressman Bob Goodlatte.

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Immigration Reform Discussions Continue in the Valley

Walter Torrez and Tomas Villalta share some history. In the early 1980s, they both paid coyotes to hurry them across the desert and into the United States illegally. In the late 1980s, both became legal residents and eventually U.S. citizens after President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the program often cited as the last mass effort to legalize undocumented aliens.

But the two men went on to vastly different lives in the Washington region, illustrating the mixed results of the 1986 program for 2.7 million participants and the arguments it offers for both sides in the current immigration debate.

President Obamas recent executive action temporarily shielding an estimated 4 million immigrants from deportation is not as dramatic as the permanent legal residency offered by the Reagan-era initiative. And comparisons are further complicated by the lack of research on the beneficiaries of the 1986 amnesty.

Even so, the fates of Torrez and Villalta provide a glimpse at how differently the new protections could play out for those just now able to, in the presidents words, come out of the shadows.

After getting his green card, Torrez, 46, went on to college, started a series of small businesses and now owns La Nueva 87.7 FM, a Spanish-language radio station broadcasting from Silver Spring. The Bolivian native lives a comfortable suburban life in Prince Georges County and is driving his seventh Mercedes-Benz. He credits becoming a legal citizen with setting him on the path to American success.

Without it, maybe I would still be painting houses, said Torrez, taking a break from the morning radio show in which he regularly exhorts his largely immigrant audience to seize the opportunities available in their adopted country. Hes been a vocal advocate for legalizing todays undocumented residents and offers on-air advice to those navigating the immigration system.

By contrast, Villalta remains on the lowest rungs of the regions economic ladder 26 years after getting his first residency card. Even unskilled work dried up after the Georgetown restaurant where hed washed dishes for 16 years closed in August. Villalta, 65, who became a U.S. citizen a year ago, recently found himself in a Home Depot parking lot, hustling for work with undocumented day laborers.

The Salvadoran-born Villalta is proud of his new blue passport. He was thrilled last month to cast his first vote in the D.C. mayoral election (por Muriel!). He knows he is better off in Northwest Washington than in the poor mountain village in El Salvador where he was born. But he has begun to question the value of a legal right to work in a country where no one wants to give him a job.

Now I see all the young guys getting work who dont have papers just because they are young, he said in Spanish. He has never learned more than a few workplace phrases of English.

Into the sunshine

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Two lives changed by the 1986 immigration amnesty, with very different results

Politicians know there isnt an easy solution to illegal immigration. They know massive deportation is unrealistic, but they also know that acknowledging this can be hazardous to their careers. The word amnesty makes them weak in theknees.

In 2007, President George W. Bush pushed for immigration reform that included a path to citizenship, and it went nowhere. So whats the alternative? For many politicians, the solution to their problem is to set a standard for border security thats impossible to achieve, so they dont have to confront the thornier issues of what do to next

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Politicians know there isnt an easy solution to illegal immigration. They know massive deportation is unrealistic, but they also know that acknowledging this can be hazardous to their careers. The word amnesty makes them weak in theknees.

In 2007, President George W. Bush pushed for immigration reform that included a path to citizenship, and it went nowhere. So whats the alternative? For many politicians, the solution to their problem is to set a standard for border security thats impossible to achieve, so they dont have to confront the thornier issues of what do to next. So Bushs plan was met with a loud chorus of: Secure the bordersfirst.

Six years later, the Senate passed an immigration reform bill that pays a great deal of attention to that mantra. The 12-year journey to citizenship cannot begin until security measures are in place. Sixty-eight senators, including 14 Republicans, voted for the bill. According to a summary put together by the Immigration Policy Center, Senate Bill 744would:

Deploy 38,405 full-time Border Patrol agents along the southern border twice the number currently in place. Build at least 700 miles of fencing, including double fencing in some places. Install electronic exit systems at all ports where customs and border protection agents are deployed. Build more Border Patrol stations and operating bases outfitted with camera systems, mobile surveillance systems, ground sensors, fiber-optic tank inspection scopes, portable contraband detectors, radiation isotope identification devices, mobile automated targeting systems, unmanned aircraft, helicopters and marinevessels.

The bill would also mandate 24-hour surveillance of the border, and hire more prosecutors, judges and staff to speed deportation proceedings. It would close 90 percent of the cases of immigrants who have overstayed theirvisas.

The total cost would be $46.3 billion, most of which will be spent on supersized security. Its more than the entire 2015 Homeland Security budget. Its a ridiculous sum, but it was offered in response to the border security cry. And it lured Republicanvotes.

Visit link:
Smart Bombs: Wheres the path to an immigration solution? - Sun, 07 Dec 2014 PST

Pinoy Panawagan - Immigration Reform Act

By: TFCBalitangAmerica

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Pinoy Panawagan - Immigration Reform Act - Video

Save Us Chuck - Immigration 2
http://bluntforcetruth.com/ http://www.SaveUsChuckWoolery.com- Game show legend Chuck Woolery points out the stupidity in Washington with Obama #39;s immigration reform, based on the president #39;s...

By: Save Us Chuck Woolery

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Save Us Chuck - Immigration 2 - Video