Today’s boycott proposed by the illegal immigrants in the United States, here is a timely article cross-posted from GodSaveAmerica.com.
1/3 of Those Using Status-Changing Program Not in U.S. Lawfully
By Jon Dougherty
An immigration reform group says new federal statistics show illegal aliens are elbowing out legal entrants in the use of a program granting resident status in the United States.
According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, government figures show one-third of new admissions into the U.S. are illegal aliens who are changing their status through an exemption in U.S. immigration law.
Photo: Illegal aliens overwhelm Border Patrol agent.
Initially approved by Congress in 1994 but suspended in 2001, Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act allows "qualified" immigrants to obtain legal residence in the United States without being forced to first leave the country and their families for as long as several years.
Despite the suspension, however, FAIR says illegal aliens continue to be given legal resident status under 245(i) because of the backlog of applications that existed when the suspension took effect.
Section 245(i) was initially supposed to be temporary, but Congress has extended it several times. A number of lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House and Senate – as well as the Bush administration – favor yet another extension. Legislation to extend Sect. 245(i) was introduced in the House last year.
"Illegal aliens aren’t just crashing our borders – they’re also storming our legal immigration system and displacing people who are playing by the rules and patiently waiting in line," says Dan Stein, executive director of FAIR.
An official with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, now part of the Department of Homeland Security, told WorldNetDaily anyone applying for an adjustment in status under 245(i) has to meet specific qualifications. The official said in some instances applicants were not required to be in the country legally to apply for the exemption.
BCIS rules say a stipulation for applying for 245(i) is that applicants did not have to leave the U.S. to pick up immigrant visas.
"Some of the people that were here already and had applied were waiting for their visas to become available," said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The 2002 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, published by the government, said 63 percent of all legal immigrants were family-sponsored last year, while 16 percent were admitted under employment preferences.
"More than 1 million immigrants were granted legal permanent status in 2002," said the report.
The report also shows that prior to 1990, immigration levels were at their highest around the turn of the 20th century; they were at their lowest in the 1930s and 1940s.
FAIR says many of those seeking status changes are in the country illegally, accounting for 32 percent of all "green cards" issued in 2002, the latest year for which figures are available. That means hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came to the U.S. legally but are awaiting permanent resident status under 245(i) will lose out to those who didn’t play by the rules, the immigration reform group contends.
And, the loophole also presents security problems for the country, FAIR said.
"With today’s national-security priorities, we can’t afford to have programs like 245(i) undermine immigration law enforcement, circumvent the normal screening process and reward illegal immigration," said Stein.
Source: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33763