Speech #1130126501

As we all know. President Obama recently announced Executive action on immigration. what he refers to as deferred action. for millions of aliens who are here illegally but who have children who were born in the United States and by virtue of their birth in the United States are U.S. citizens. Now the President has repeatedly assured the American people that he is not creating a pathway to citizenship for those individuals. but that isnt true. He and his administration have cleared the pathway to citizenship for millions of people who have crossed into our borders illegally. They know that is what they have done. and it is illegal. Immigration law is quite complicated. but here is the bottom line on this issue: If you are the parent of a U.S. citizen. when that child reaches the age of 21. assuming you havent committed certain crimes or done other things that might exclude you from what the law generally allows. you can get a green card and eventually you can get citizenship. But there is a catch. If you are in an illegal status inside the United States because you crossed into our borders illegally and that is how you became an illegal alienthat is. you entered without inspection. as that term is known in immigration circlesthen in order to get back on the path to citizenship you are first required under existing law to leave the country and then to come back across the border into the country legally. Because you broke immigration laws before you came into the country. the law says you have to wait either 3 years or 10 years to return. de pending on how long you were inside the country illegally before you left. When we talk about clearing the path to citizenship for this set of immigrantsthat is those who are close relatives of U.S. citizensthat is what we are talking about: getting around the rule that those who cross our border in secret must leave the country. wait a period of years outside the country because they broke our laws. and then return. So when the President says he isnt clearing such a path to citizenship. that is Washington shorthand for. dont worry. I am not circumventing the law. What stands between these people and citizenship is the need to enter the country lawfully. which they cannot do until they leave. wait a period of time that Congress has set by law. and then and only then come back. The President claims he is not touching this rule. but that is exactly what he is doing and exactly what he has done. and he is doing it through a program called advance parole. Advance parole is essentially a form of permission for an undocumented immigrant to travel outside the country and then return. When he gets back to the country and approaches the border. he presents an advance travel document to border officials and they will parole him into the country. What is more. the President has announced if you leave the country under a grant of advance parole. the administration will treat you as though you never left at all. waiving the 3year to 10year wait mandated by Congress for people who have come here unlawfully and then left the country. When that is done. as it turns out. the illegal immigrant will become eligible to take advantage of a different way to become a citizen: getting what is known as adjustment of status. Adjustment of status. which gives you a green card without having to leave the country. is available to parents of U.S. citizens so long as they crossed our border lawfully. which advanced parole lets them do. So how hard will it be to get advance parole. which leads to a green card. which in turn leads to citizenship? Well. it is supposed to be very hard. Parole is kind of a temporary emergency pass that lets someone into the country for an extremely urgent reason. even though the law says that an immigrant in that circumstance cannot be admitted for one reason or another. In fact. there is a Federal statute passed by Congress that restricts the power of the executive branch of the Federal Government to use parole to a very narrow. very confined set of circumstances. That law. INA section 212(d)(5)(a). says that the executive branch may parole individuals into the United States "only on a casebycase basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit." That term "urgent humanitarian reasons" means conditions such as getting medical treatment or perhaps attending a funeral of a close family member. "Significant public benefit" usually means circumstances such as one being a witness in a crime and as such needing to come into the country to testify at trial. To be clear. it is illegalillegalto parole people into the country who dont meet that standard. But for deferred action recipients. here is the standard the President is using: A person warranting advance parole. which again also eventually leads to citizenship. must file a form 1131 with USCIS. The instructions for this form explain that deferred action recipients can get parole for "educational purposes. employment purposes or humanitarian purposes . I continue: Educational purposes include but are not limited to semester abroad programs or academic research.