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Houston Immigration Lawyer Following Senate Judiciary Committee Decisions On Immigration Reform

Jun 11, 2013

Houston, TX (Law Firm Newswire) June 10, 2013 – While lawmakers are debating amendments to the immigration reform proposal, there are a number of politicians who feel it is an unworkable issue.

Republican lawmaker Steve Stockman has stated that he believes “a gang of millions” will push back against the current Senate immigration bill crafted by the “Gang of Eight,” a bipartisan group comprised of eight senators. Stockman believes the immigration deal, as it currently stands, will fail, because people do not support it and it is “fundamentally unfair,” both to current immigration laws and to immigrants who came into the country legally.

“There will be a number of compromises that will have to be made before everyone is on board,” commented Houston immigration attorney Annie Banerjee. “Hopefully, everyone is equally invested in making immigration reform a workable reality. Employers, hopeful workers and those in the U.S. tech sector invested in the future of immigration employment are all closely monitoring how this will play out.”

Stockman is just one of a number of conservative House members who have preemptively denounced the Senate immigration bill, claiming it provides unfair amnesty to undocumented immigrants. But most Democrats, as well as a number of Republicans, feel the time has come to comprehensively tackle U.S. immigration policy.

Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee has been slowly working its way through the Gang of Eight’s immigration reform proposal. They have, so far, rejected the proposal submitted by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, which would increase how many high-skilled foreign-born workers could enter the U.S. The senators also declined to adopt the proposal that companies hire U.S. residents prior to considering guest workers with H-1B visas.

The U.S. currently admits 65,000 high-skilled workers every year through the H-1B visa program. The committee rejected one proposal which would raise the number to 325,000, but retained the Gang of Eight proposal which suggested that number be raised to 110,000.

Other committee-approved amendments included an increase in funding for science education with money from immigrant employers. Sen. Hatch proposed that the fee paid by employers for H-1B workers be raised from $500 to $1,000, with the additional money going to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.

Lawmakers also defeated a proposal by Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions that would track immigrants leaving the U.S. with fingerprinting technology.

Annie Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer specializing in helping people become United States citizens. The law offices assist in visas and other legal immigration requirements as well. To learn more, visit http://www.visatous.com.

Law Offices of Annie Banerjee
131 Brooks Street, Suite #300
Sugar Land, Texas 77478
Phone: (281) 242-9139

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