Just like 2010, Congress failed to enact any meaningful immigration legislation in 2011, leaving in place a badly flawed immigration system and allowing some disturbing trends in immigration now.  President Obama’s pre-election promise of immigration reform never happened.
 
Some of the most notable events in immigration during 2011 were:
 
·         The US Supreme Court has decided to review Arizona’s controversial immigration law.
·         Georgia and South Carolina follow Arizona’s lead in passing tough state immigration laws.
·         The US Department of Justice finds that in Arizona, the Maricopa County Sheriff Office violated civil rights of Latinos and immigrants.
·         The Obama administration deported 400,000 illegal immigrants during 2011.
·         Death on the US/Mexico border continues.  Due to increased enforcement along the US-Mexico border, migrants continue to die horrible deaths in deserts and mountains in the region.
 
Some of the notable trends in immigration during 2011 were:
 
·         Congress has again failed to provide effective guest worker legislation, so states like Alabama have passed new laws that have chased out farm workers who fear being deported.   American farmers have to decide whether to face federal punishments for hiring illegal workers, or to lose their crops because of a shortage of legal workers.  An estimated 70% of all agricultural workers in the nation are here illegally.   
 
·         Republicans continue to insist that the only immigration policy they will support is border enforcement, but focusing on the border does not provide any solutions to the more important issues of immigration reform.
 
·         The current system for issuing visas and green cards is hurting America’s ability to stay competitive.    US officials aren’t doing enough to retain foreign students who earn postgraduate degrees in math and science from U.S. universities.   More ought to be done to keep the best and the brightest working in this country.   Congress is not paying attention to the fact that Immigrants are responsible for half of the Venture Funded Start-Ups in the U.S.
 
Immigration law is always controlled by politics, economics, emotions and prejudices.  If there are any important reforms in immigration law in 2012, it will be the result of both Democrat and Republican politicians trying to attract Latino voters.
 
Last month, Senate Democratic Leaders gave their predictions about Immigration Reform in 2012.   They said there will be only small advances toward immigration reform in 2012, even though this is the time when both Congress and President Barack Obama are trying to attract the support of the Hispanic community.
 
Of all the possible Republican presidential candidates, only former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come out in favor of legalizing those undocumented immigrants who have spent many years in this country.
 
The road to the White House in 2012 will require the support of at least 40 percent of Latino voters.   Hispanics, the country's fastest-growing minority, are frustrated with the politicians in Washington.
 
Even though President Obama’s election promise of immigration reform was never fulfilled, Democratic senators are trying to convince the public that Obama deserves the support of Latinos in 2012.  They say that the Republicans are just seeking to punish Hispanics.
 
The fact is that there will not be any advances in immigration reform until Democrats have the support of the Republicans.
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Q.1.  If there is any immigration reform in 2012, what is the likely focus?
 
A.1.  The Hispanic community will be campaigning for legalization of all the 12 million illegal aliens now in the US, but that is an uncertain goal.  Politicians may hope to satisfy the Latinos by passing some kind of Dream Act, allowing illegal alien children to eventually get Green Cards.
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Q.2.  What sort of change in the immigration law would help Vietnamese immigrant visa applicants?
 
A.2. The only helpful element in previous attempts at reform has been the proposal to classify the spouse and minor children of Permanent Residents as Immediate Relatives.   This would eliminate the waiting time and their cases could move as fast as the immediate relatives of US citizens.
 
ROBERT  MULLINS  INTERNATIONAL     www.rmiodp.com
Immigration Support Services-Tham Van Di Tru

9070 Bolsa Avenue,   Westminster CA  92683           (714) 890-9933        
779 Story Road, Ste. 70, San Jose, CA 95122           (408) 294-3888          
6930 65th St. Ste. #105, Sacramento CA 95823        (916) 393-3388       
42 Dang Thi Nhu, P. Nguyen Thai Binh, Q1, HCM       (848) 3914-7638