South Korean soldier patrolling the border with the North. (Source: The Telegraph)

In case you thought illegal immigration was a strictly American phenomenon, take a look at the following stories: Nigeria deporting Chinese textile workers, China deporting North Korean refugees and North Korea deporting desperately attempting to keep its own people from running away.

The odd situation on the Korean Peninsula today dates back to the end of World War II, when the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Korea into two parts, conveniently ignoring the overwhelming opposition of the entire Korean people. In 1950, North and South Korea went to war, each supported by major powers like the US, China, the Soviet Union, and Luxembourg (their 44 soldiers truly made all the difference).

Sixty years later, support for reconciliation between the North and South is still strong. South Korea even has a Ministry of Unification entirely dedicated to this issue. But there’s a little problem:

GDP Per Capita in North and South Korea, 1950-2003 (Source: Intellectual Takeout)

South Koreans are 18x richer than their brethren in the North. By comparison, the income difference among Americans and Mexicans is a factor of three. How do you make it so that 25 million North Koreans won’t pick up and move south as soon as reunification happens?

Now that’s a real immigration problem.

Mohammad Alhinnawi

The Law Office of Amira Al-Alami

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). Source: Cleveland.com.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) just barely passed in the House of Representatives last week. There are now two versions: the Senate bill passed by a Democratic majority and a House bill passed by Republicans. Members of the House and Senate are now supposed to meet and figure out how to reconcile the two bills.

The big differences between the bills relate to two groups generally loathed by conservatives: gays and undocumented immigrants. The Democratic version was passed first and expands VAWA to protect LGBT individuals. It also keeps provisions of VAWA that provide a path to citizenship for undocumented women who report abuse and assist police in their investigation of assailants.

Of course, Republicans reacted by passing their own bill excluding gays from the Act, eliminating the path to citizenship for women, reducing the number of temporary visas available for women cooperating with police investigations, restricting legal options for Native American women, and feeding baby kittens to hungry alligators!!

So the last one was a joke, but in all seriousness, Republican legislators just keep reinforcing their public image as a party working tirelessly for old white people, xenophobes, homophobes, and millionaires. Even today, 1 in 5 women are victims of rape or attempted rape and 1 in 4 have been beaten by their partners. The kind of violence addressed by VAWA is not hypothetical.

Mohammad Alhinnawi

Law Office of Amira Al-Alami

Greek bankruptcy and the potential breakup of the eurozone have been sending shock waves across the globe. With Greece in mind, a number of Republicans have been citing U.S. debt as an apocalyptic risk needing to be addressed. In reality, the national debt is not an imminent threat and the projected growth in federal government spending is a consequence of America’s uniquely inefficient healthcare system. Nonetheless, it never hurts to create new revenue streams, and an immigration tariff could fit the bill.

As Alex Nowrasteh writes, an immigration tariff is “a fee levied on every work or green card issued.” Rather than using current systems based on officer decisions and lotteries, immigrants would pay a fee to enter the United States. Anyone is eligible provided they pass a background check. They would have to save or borrow to afford the cost of entry.

Currently, about one million immigrants enter the United States every year. With a fee of $50,000, an immigration tariff would generate $50 billion dollars in new revenue yearly. In its simplicity, an immigration tariff is appealing. But there seem to be obvious problems with this idea.

Presumably, there are far more than a million people who would pay a tariff to obtain a U.S. visa. At that point, how do we decide who to admit? Do we use priority dates and lotteries? Admission by profession or family ties? How do we address the issue of fairness for poorer immigrants? In a lot of ways, it seems to lead us right back to the system we already have in place.

Andrew Martin and Lehren’s New York Times article on student loans is a MUST READ. Keep in mind that the situation is even grimmer for undocumented students, who are usually not eligible for financial aid.

Mohammad Alhinnawi

The Law Office of Amira Al-Alami

In recent years, there has been a vigorous debate among economists about the power of foreign aid to mitigate world poverty. But there’s no question about the single most effective way to pull people out of poverty in developing countries: immigration to developed countries. Immigrants to the United States from poor countries experience multifold increases in income, standard of living, health and education.

With a GDP per capita of $4300, Honduras is the second poorest country in Latin America. Hondurans would greatly benefit from looser American immigration policy, but we’re unlikely to see that happen soon, so the Honduran government is taking a different tack. It’s attempting to turn huge swathes of Honduras into “charter cities.”

Adam Davidson at the New York Times explains that charter cities are “economic zones founded on the land of poor countries but governed with the legal and political system of, often, rich ones.” Basically, the world’s poor are leaving rural areas and moving to cities by the billions. But poor countries are “saddled with laws and crucially, customs” that keep them poor. So, charter cities are exclusive zones that are run based on the laws and economic systems of rich countries (e.g. English common law, Swedish social welfare systems, Singaporean foreign investor rules, etc.)

There are historical examples of successful charter cities, especially in China. The British separated Hong Kong from China in the early 19th century and placed it under a common law system. Today, citizens of Hong Kong are six times richer per capita than their brethren living on the Chinese mainland. Shenzhen was a poor backwater when the Chinese government designated the city as a ‘Special Economic Zone’ in 1980. Today Shenzhen has over ten million residents and a GDP of $150 billion.

But for each successful city, there are spectacular failures, like Ordos, China’s biggest ghost town:

Mohammad Alhinnawi

The Law Office of Amira Al-Alami

Bright lights, big city… or country we should say! For great talents, there’s just no place like the United States. You can hit it big in Britain or Japan, but you have to cross the Atlantic to reach the top. Whether it’s music, acting, fashion, sports, medicine or research, working in America provides opportunities to gain fame, fortune and fandom unlike anywhere else in the world.

But you’re going to need an attorney to get in, and the Law Office of Amira Al-Alami possesses the expertise and experience that will propel you to reach your dream, the American Dream. Amira Al-Alami has helped clients ranging from folk-singers to surgeons pursue their dreams in the United States.

We represent musicians! Mikaela Dewar was already a popular singer-songwriter in her native New Zealand but she wanted to follow in the path of New Zealander and Australian musical trailblazers who established successful careers in the US, like Olivia Newton-John, Johnny O’Keefe and Keith Urban. The Law Office of Amira Al-Alami helped her extend her O-1 visa and later obtain lawful permanent residency in the US.

We represent doctors! Dr. Randall Farac graduated from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. After completing medical school in New York, Dr. Farac entered the field of osteopathic surgery. Having successfully obtained two H-1B visas that allowed him to continue his work in the US, the Law Office of Amira Al-Alami is supporting Dr. Farac in acquiring permanent employment authorization on the path towards a green card.

Are you a horse jockey? We do that too! At 27, Carlos Huerta is already a star at one of America’s top race tracks, Los Alamitos Race Course. He began his career in Mexico years earlier, but knew he was destined for greater things. When he walked into the Law Office of Amira Al-Alami, his goal was to earn a one year P-1 athlete visa. Instead, he walked out with an approved three year O-1 visa petition.

We want to help you! Top models, fashion designers, distinguished professors, victorious athletes and virtuoso artists; we know you have a bright future ahead of you. You need a seasoned attorney on your side. Call the Law Office of Amira Al-Alami and schedule your consultation today.

Mohammad Alhinnawi

The Law Office of Amira Al-Alami

The Republican presidential primaries are over, but the contest for vice president has only just begun. Senator Marc Rubio (R-Florida), said to be one of the front-runners, has just introduced his version of the DREAM Act. The original DREAM Act proposal, granting conditional permanent residency to many undocumented minors who pursue a college degree or serve in the military, obtained a majority of votes in the Senate (55-45), but was filibustered by Republicans in 2011.

We know that there are steep losses associated with strict immigration laws, but those losses don’t become clear until we see real people suffer because of them. Enter Daniela Pelaez:

• “Pelaez came to the country from Colombia with her family at the age of 4…[she] will graduate from North Miami High in June and has received a full paid scholarship to Dartmouth University this fall. A court ordered Pelaez and her sister to be deported from the country…She is currently undergoing an appeal that will be decided in the next eight months to keep her in the country permanently.”

Rubio has presented his DREAM Act revision as a compromise to help people like Daniela. Rather than providing permanent residency, Rubio’s proposal would give undocumented minors a non-immigrant visa. On the face of it, Rubio’s plan seems like an improvement on the current situation, but as Mary Giovagnoli explains, the devil is in the details:

• “Rubio…[is] arguing that Congress can give undocumented youth “nonimmigrant” legal status and then let them find their own path to citizenship….[But] there is no actual ‘line’ that eager young people can simply join to become lawful permanent residents….Because most lawful permanent resident visas are tied to a family or employment relationship, DREAMers will have to find a way to qualify for the small number of available slots.”

Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce has reported that the United States will need 20 million more college graduates in the next 15 years. With that fact in mind, how does it make any sense to deny qualified students the opportunity to pursue a college degree, much less, deport them?

Mohammad Alhinnawi

The Law Office of Amira Al-Alami

In the latest news, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments about SB1070, otherwise known as the Arizona immigration law. Judging by preliminary reports and what we know about the court’s ideological makeup, there’s a good chance that some of the harshest provisions of the law, like Section 2B (requiring state and local law enforcement to check the immigration status of anyone they stop), will be upheld.

The stated goal of SB1070 is “attrition through enforcement,” meaning that Arizona will whittle away at its population of unauthorized immigrants through severe measures aimed at making their lives, well, unlivable. Even setting aside the dubious logic behind ‘self deportation’, SB1070 is a solution searching for a problem.

The Pew Hispanic Center reported last month that “the net migration flow from Mexico to the United States has stopped and may have reversed.” Michael Barone on RealClearPolitics makes the case that this more or less marks the end of mass illegal immigration:

• “The Pew analysts hesitate to say so, but their numbers make a strong case  that we will never again see the flow of Mexicans into this country that we saw between 1970…One reason is that Mexico’s population growth has slowed way down. Its fertility rate fell from 7.3 children per woman in 1970 to 2.4 in 2009, which is just above replacement level. Meanwhile, Mexico’s economy has grown…far faster than ours — 5.5 percent in 2010 and 3.9 percent in 2011.”

So if the ostensible goal of SB1070 is to stop illegal immigration, it’s pretty much irrelevant compared to larger economic forces. In an almost karmic example of reaping what you sow, Arizona’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants is hammering the state’s $10 billion agricultural industry. Monica Lonzo reports that hiring restrictions have

• “hit at the heart of an industry that relies on a workforce of mostly undocumented immigrants for seasonal harvesting. American workers aren’t stepping in to fill the void, even at a time when nearly 14 million people across the country are unemployed. That’s because native-born Americans are generations removed from harvesting fields and tend to have higher educational levels. Simply put, they aren’t willing to pick crops.”

Mohammad Alhinnawi

The Law Office of Amira Al-Alami

From Angelo Paparelli

Dear Friends in AILA:

Charles Dickens was right. We live and practice immigration law in the worst and the best of times.  Never before have we had fingertip access on our smartphones to the latest immigration developments. Nor in the last four decades have we faced as many existential threats to our clients and our careers.  Through social media and the web, immigration consultants and notarios entice our clients with false promises, while the federal government flouts the law on formal rulemaking and publishes ill-considered policies by press release and web posting. Government auditors make unannounced site visits on the clients we represent.  Immigrant detention has become a lucrative business supported by coordinated campaigns of interests groups and state legislatures, while deaths in detention continue.  Prosecutorial discretion and stateside waiver processing seem like so much vaporware.  The immigration community sees consular officers and service centers exercise arbitrary power, issuing kitchen-sink RFEs and robotic denials.  Congress is stuck in partisan bickering.  Even the watered-down DREAM Act failed.

In times like these, AILA must be strong, vigilant and effective.  It must be THE authoritative voice for enlightened immigration reforms and a champion for the rule of law and our clients’ rights.  It must also be a champion for the best interests of all our members.

For these reasons, I urge you with utmost passion and sincerity to vote for Annaluisa Padilla as National Secretary in the coming election.

You may not know Annaluisa well, but I do. For the last several years have I admired her innumerable contributions to our common cause as AILA Chapter Chair, in which capacity she also served on our national Board of Governors, as a committed and capable colleague and as a Board Member of the Mexican American Bar Association.  Rarely can one immigration lawyer bring together the support of prominent, seasoned practitioners with far-flung interests ranging from litigation and removal defense to business immigration.  Litigators and removal experts such as Peter Schey and Peter Williamson, versatile practitioners like past President, Carlina Tapia-Ruano, scholars like Steve Yale-Loehr and Dan Kowalski, business practitioners and AILA leaders like Josie Gonzales, Bernie Wolfsdorf and Daryl Buffenstein, numerous AILA past Presidents, and yours truly, are unanimous in our support for Annaluisa as AILA’s next National Secretary.

We joined AILA for several reasons - CLE, new ideas and strategies born of camaraderie and shared experience, liaison and advocacy, to name a few.  But AILA is only so strong as the wisdom, talents and expertise of its leaders and its committed members. 

At this critical time in our nation’s history, I am urging you to vote for Annaluisa Padilla to serve as AILA’s next National Secretary.   She has the intelligence, passion, competence and media savvy to lead AILA with unprecedented distinction at this perilous time. I urge you to vote for the leader who will best serve our nation’s and our own needs as AILA’s secretary - Annaluisa Padilla.

Please do not procrastinate.  Vote as soon as you receive your ballot by email.

Regards,

Angelo A. Paparelli

To learn about her priorities and goals for AILA, view here:

http://www.annaluisa4ailasecretary.com