Immigration Law

BILLS ARE MOVING IN CONGRESS

By Greg Siskind

As the August recess approaches (and with the reality of few bills likely moving once the presidential campaign gets in to full swing), immigration bills are seeing some progress. Here's what to watch -

1. HR 6034 - eliminates the widow penalty in family immigration cases. The House subcommittee has approved and the full Judiciary Committee is scheduled to move this week.

2. HR 5924 - the nurse immigration bill would temporarily allocate green card numbers for nurses and create a training fund to increase the number of American nurses. Markup could happen this week as well.

3. PEPFAR AIDS relief bill - there will be an attempt in the Senate possibly today to strike a provision in the bill that would eliminate the HIV ground of removal (I've been writing about this if you follow this blog).

4. S. 3257 - the extension bill. The bill, sponsored by Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Specter (R-PA), would extend the life of the EB-5, special immigration religious worker, Conrad 30 and E-Verify programs. The bill has only been introduced, but as none of the bills make serious substantive changes to these programs, it could move quickly.

Though I'm on holiday, I'm keeping an eye on these and will report as there is news.

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on July 16, 2008 (boomark / email).