About a week after the Boston Bombing, in which two radicalized young men set off bombs at the Boston Marathon, some on Capitol Hill are calling for a freeze on immigration reform plans.
Those who support putting immigration reform on hold use an argument that connects the horrific events that took place at the Boston Marathon with foreign born individuals living in the United States. The connection was made because one of the suspects was in the U.S. on a green card, and the other had become a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2012.
What Immigrants Can Expect?
With the tone and rhetoric used to discuss the issue of immigration reform following the Boston Bombing, immigrants in the U.S. and foreign nationals hoping for eventual U.S. residency or citizenship might be concerned over how the event will affect them and their lawful efforts to come to or stay in the U.S.
What anyone watching these reports needs to keep in mind is that they are delivered through a medium which rewards high viewership with dollars, and much of what is seen on TV these days, even on so called “news” networks, is often played up and over inflated hype.
Most politicians are too smart to believe that an isolated act of horrible violence committed by two men born in a foreign country is somehow a reflection on all people born in foreign countries. Most politicians understand that hard working, law abiding citizens of any country can become a huge asset to the United States if they are given the opportunity to pursue their dreams.
Only Get Information from Professionals
People should do their best not to believe everything they hear on TV unless the information can be corroborated by a professional with the credentials to form a respectable opinion. Foreign citizens hoping to come to the United States and those already living in the United States should stay in touch with a credentialed immigration attorney if they have concerns about how immigration reform may affect them, and for updates to immigration policy as they are announced.
Over the next few months, anyone keeping an eye on immigration reform will no doubt hear about plans and proposals for a new immigration policy, but none of this will matter until a plan is agreed on and passed in both houses of Congress.
EB5 Visa Changes Proposed
Among proposed changes to current immigration policy are changes to the EB5 investor program. The EB5 investor program awards foreign citizens who make a substantial investment into the U.S. economy with the chance to live and work in the U.S. under an investor’s visa. Proposed changes to the program would expand the number of EB5 visas that could be issued, would eliminate per country quotas, and would allow the government to recapture and reissue EB5 visas that were allocated in the past but never issued.
Prospective EB5 investors can also keep in touch with an immigration attorney to stay up to date on changes specifically to the EB5 program.
