👋 Hi, I am Marina Shepelsky, an immigration attorney from New York practicing immigration laws for all the 50 states of the US.
Committed to helping people with their immigration troubles, I’m here to get you out of the web of misconceptions built around the new immigration laws and policies.
❓ What’s new about the immigration Policy?
In recent times, there have been discussions between Democrats, Republicans, and the Senate about including the immigration reform/pathway to citizenship in 2021 (for amnesty, as many people call it) in the budget.
❓ Who is a Parliamentarian?
To be a bit descriptive, a Parliamentarian is a judge in the Congress who checks whether it is by the rules of Congress and Senate function to include things or exclude them in-laws that are being proposed.
💰 The present Senate parliamentarian is Elizabeth McDonough. Her position holds the power of restricting the Democrats by asking them not to include issues having to deal with immigration in their money bill(as defined as a money bill) that has to do with the country’s budget.
She published her statement by saying that it violates congressional rules and shouldn’t be allowed to go forward, which is considered a significant loss for Democrats and immigrants in general. Unfortunately for the immigrants, there are not enough votes in the Senate to overrule that and push it through the budget reconciliation bill.
❓ Does that sound too complex?
I’ll segment the sack of information into small piles to make it easier to understand the whole scenario.
📝 Democrats tried to include this amnesty in the budget bill because it would have been the quickest and the most effective way to get the amnesty a green light. It would have made it possible to get it passed by 2021, which could have rendered a lot of relief to about 8 million people waiting to get the legal stamp on their immigration documents, including essential workers.
Democrats made all kinds of promises to get Biden and ultimately getting the Democrats elected (you know, for the president’s office and Congress and Senate). They wanted to include immigration in the most upcoming law that would have been this budget reconciliation bill, or, to personify, basically a balancing of a checkbook for the country.
US economists supported it, and obviously, immigration attorneys and immigrants supported it too. The blueprints were all ready to define who would get legalized.
❓ What thrashed the hopes of about 8 million immigrants?
When the matter went on to the Parliamentarian’s desk, she acted more like an Arbiter. The Parliamentarian gave her statement, telling everyone that it violates the rules of what they’re allowed to include in the budget law.
Her explanation contained the following theoretical reasons to put a hold on the immigration changes by saying that it will distract and make this budget law impossible to pass.
❓ Then what can the Democrats do?
The Democrats are serious about this amnesty; they need to create a separate bill, not to include it in anything. Of course, some people made arguments that in 2005, specific immigration provisions were already included in the budget bill, but the present senator didn’t let it happen. People were hoping that the Democrats would push this through, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.
❓ The Disappointment and the Aftermath
Senate majority leader, Senator Charles Schumer from New York, and other Democrats expressed terrible disappointment. They were agitated, but they promised to keep fighting for new pathways to citizenship in the years to come.
☝ There are still attempts to hold additional meetings with the Parliamentarian in the coming days to find other ways to include citizenship opportunities, but the way the plan was presented favors low chances on its behalf to get it passed right now.
Only a few percentages are left in favor of getting it done in 2021.
❓ One good thing that happened regarding immigration
The one good thing that I have been holding for so long is that there have been talks about passing the DACA law as a separate law and not being included in anything with financial stuff. I’m not sure if that will pass this year, but it’s going to get passed for sure. It’s for kids who were brought to the United States when they were underage, and they ended up staying here, and they have no way to legalize.
There is no need for it to be included with the amnesty or with the budget to get it passed.
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Shepelsky Law Group
US Immigration Experts
Tel: (718)769-6352