Immigration Fact Check: Responding to Key Myths

Business Wire, May 25, 2007

* About whom there are reasonable grounds for believing has committed a serious criminal offense outside the U.S.

FACT: The bill would, for the first time, give the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Justice (DOJ) tools to keep certain aliens out of the United States solely on the basis of their participation in a gang. No conviction is required - if an individual has associated with a gang and helped "aid" or "support" its illegal activity, then he or she is not allowed to remain in the country - even if he renounces his gang affiliation.

5. MYTH: The bill contains a new category of visas for family members that includes a waiver for "family members in hardship cases," which will exponentially increase extended-family chain migration.

FACT: The bill would end chain migration - preferences for siblings and adult children would be eliminated. In addition, visas for parents of U.S. citizens would be capped.

FACT: After the family backlog is cleared in the first eight years after enactment, the bill will eliminate about 190,000 extended family visas per year. By contrast, the category of "extreme hardship" cases is capped at 5,000 visas per year.

FACT: The number of family members that could qualify for the waiver is exceedingly small - such individuals could migrate only if they would otherwise experience "extreme hardship" that cannot be relieved by temporary visits. For example, the category might extend to families that have a member with a disability.

6. MYTH: Illegal workers who remained in the country after they were ordered deported by an immigration judge are eligible for Z visas.

FACT: Illegal workers who ignored deportation orders are not eligible for the Z visa program, except in exceedingly rare cases in which they can demonstrate their departure would "result in extreme hardship."

FACT: The determination of what constitutes "extreme hardship" lies entirely within the discretion of the Secretary of Homeland Security, who has no interest in allowing this exception to be abused.