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Jefrey Cancilla, Attorney: Speed is Essential to Success of Immigration Bill

As election season grows nearer, the likelihood of an immigration bill passing grows
smaller, notes Jefrey Cancilla, attorney and immigration law expert. President
Obama agrees, telling an assembled group of law enforcement ocials that there!s
a small window of time to get the bill through Congress before election season is in
full force, according to the USA Today.
"mmigration has long been a hot button issue in the #.$., and the upcoming mid%
term election isn!t helping matters when it comes to getting the bill passed.
&"t will hard press to get appro'al this late in the political calendar,& says Jefrey
Cancilla.
Passing the bill would be bene(cial in se'eral ways, and Cancilla and others hope
that Congress can work together to pass something before time is up.
The Bill Itself
)he immigration reform bill is nothing new. "t was passed by the $enate, which has
a *emocratic ma+ority, last June. $ince then, it has been held up in the ,ouse of
-epresentati'es, which has a ma+ority of -epublicans. .hile the $enate%passed bill
was pushed forward by a &/ang of 0ight,& made up of both -epublicans and
*emocrats and had support from both parties throughout the $enate, -epublicans
in the ,ouse are standing strong against it for a few reasons.
According to the USA today, ,ouse -epublicans, lead by ,ouse $peaker John
1oehner, ha'e their doubts about the law. 2or one thing, they are concerned that
Obama!s administration won!t efecti'ely crack down on entry in the #$ by
undocumented people. *oubt that the law would be enforced is keeping
-epublicans from e'en passing a law.
"n its current form, the bill passed by the $enate in 3456 includes a number of
diferent pro'isions. "t increases security at the border, in the form of checkpoints, a
greater number of personnel and drones. "t also creates a system called 0%7erify to
'erify the citi8enship of e'ery potential hire in the country 9#.$. citi8ens as well as
immigrants:. #nder the bill, people who entered the country illegally ha'e the
opportunity to pursue citi8enship. )he bill also gi'es +udges the freedom to e'aluate
cases on a case%by%case basis, instead of re;uiring them to stick to a script.
Benefts
2inally passing immigration reform would ha'e a number of bene(ts, according to
President Obama and a group of religious, business, and agriculture leaders in
Ari8ona. *uring his address to law enforcement at the beginning of <ay, Obama
stressed that the new bill would make it easier for ocials to do their +obs.
,e stated that the law would gi'e enforcement ocials a better idea of who is in the
country. "t would also make it easier for authorities to keep criminals from entering
the #.$.
)he senior 'ice president of the Ari8ona Chamber of Commerce, /arrick )aylor,
argued that the bill will &gi'e this economy a real shot of adrenaline.& )aylor and
other leaders in Ari8ona sent letters to Congress arguing that the bill would boost
the #$ economy by =5.> trillion o'er the next 54 years, according to the -epublic.
1usiness and religious leaders in other states, such as #tah, ?e'ada and Colorado,
also sent letters to their Congress, arguing the same thing.
hat!s "olding it #p
A number of factors are holding the immigration bill up. As Jefrey Cancilla, attorney,
points out, last year!s bill was &appro'ed by *emocrats, but not by -epublicans.&
According to the USA Today, one key feature of the bill is keeping many -epublicans
from 'oting for it@ the path to citi8enship for people who entered the country
illegally.
"n an efort to get the bill passed, Obama has stated that he is willing to negotiate
on the language and terms of the legislation, according to C??. ,ouse -epublicans,
including 1oehner, ha'e made it 'ery clear that they aren!t interested in doing
anything with the $enate 1ill, howe'er.
hat $ies Ahead
)he window for passing immigration form is getting narrower e'ery day. According
to Politico, the consensus is that if the bill doesn!t get passed in the next few
months, or o'er the summer, it!ll be a dead issue until after the 345A elections. )hat
won!t be the best of news for the -epublican party, according to )om *onohue, the
president of the #.$. Chamber of Commerce.
*onohue told C?? that if immigration reform doesn!t pass in 345B, the -epublicans
won!t (eld a presidential candidate in 345A.
$enator Chuck $chumer of ?ew Cork, one of the members of the &/ang of 0ight,&
shares the belief that if the bill isn!t passed soon, it won!t be passed for a long time.
)he upcoming midterm elections will likely change the makeup of both the $enate
and ,ouse. According to $chumer, 345> marks the start of the primary season,
during which time -epublicans tend to mo'e right.
"t really is now or ne'er for the current immigration reform bill. Dike many others
who are closely following the issue, Jefrey Cancilla, attorney, maintains hope that
the ,ouse can work with Obama to create a bill that is agreeable to both parties.
Amy 2reeman contributed to this article.

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