Asylum qualification impossible

Representative McMorris Rodgers claims recently to have “negotiated” the Goodlatte bill for immigration and says this will end the horrifying separation of families. That bill includes a requirement to electronically verify the immigration status of everyone working in the U.S. How? A chip under the skin?

It provides only temporary legal status for some unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. as children; they can renew it every three years but won’t be able to use it to apply for a green card or ultimately for citizenship. So much for Rodgers’ earlier promise to support a plan that protects DACA. It leaves “dreamers” in legal limbo. The very poorest will be dropped out of DACA status.

The bill criminalizes visa overstays. Entering the U.S. illegally is a federal misdemeanor, but an overstay on a legally acquired visa is not. Even a mistaken overstay could result in imprisonment.

The bill eliminates the diversity visa lottery and most existing categories of family-based immigration, including parents and adult unmarried children of U.S. citizens.

It narrows the definition of asylum so much that qualification is nearly impossible.

There is no explicit wording to keep families intact. And she’s proud of this legislation?

Greg Presley

Spokane