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Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases    
The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release January 29, 2013 FACT SHEET: Fixing our Broken Immigration System so Everyone Plays by the Rules
America’s immigration system is broken. Too many employers game the system by hiring undocumented workers and there are 11 million people living in the shadows.  Neither is good for the economy or the country.

It is time to act to fix the broken immigration system in a way that requires responsibility from everyone —both from the workers here illegally and those who hire them—and guarantees that everyone is playing by the same rules.  

President Obama’s commonsense immigration reform proposal has four parts. First, continue to strengthen our borders. Second, crack down on companies that hire undocumented workers. Third, hold undocumented immigrants accountable before they can earn their citizenship; this means requiring undocumented workers to pay their taxes and a penalty, move to the back of the line, learn English, and pass background checks. Fourth, streamline the legal immigration system for families, workers, and employers.  

Together we can build a fair, effective and commonsense immigration system that lives up to our heritage as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.

The key principles the President believes should be included in commonsense immigration reform are:
-  Continuing to Strengthen Border Security: President Obama   has doubled the number of Border Patrol agents since 2004 and today border   security is stronger than it has ever been.  But there is more work to   do.   The President’s proposal gives law enforcement the tools they need   to make our communities safer from crime.  And by enhancing our   infrastructure and technology, the President’s proposal continues to   strengthen our ability to remove criminals and apprehend and prosecute   national security threats. 
-  Cracking Down on Employers Hiring Undocumented Workers:   Our businesses should only employ people legally authorized to work in the   United States.  Businesses that knowingly employ undocumented workers are   exploiting the system to gain an advantage over businesses that play by the   rules.  The President’s proposal is designed to stop these unfair hiring   practices and hold these companies accountable.  At the same time, this   proposal gives employers who want to play by the rules a reliable way to   verify that their employees are here legally. 
-  Earned Citizenship: It is just not practical to deport 11   million undocumented immigrants living within our borders.  The   President’s proposal provides undocumented immigrants a legal way to earn   citizenship that will encourage them to come out of the shadows so they can   pay their taxes and play by the same rules as everyone else.  Immigrants   living here illegally must be held responsible for their actions by passing   national security and criminal background checks, paying taxes and a penalty,   going to the back of the line, and learning English before they can earn their   citizenship. There will be no uncertainty about their ability to become U.S.   citizens if they meet these eligibility criteria. The proposal will also stop   punishing innocent young people brought to the country through no fault of   their own by their parents and give them a chance to earn their citizenship   more quickly if they serve in the military or pursue higher education. 
-  Streamlining Legal Immigration:  Our immigration   system should reward anyone who is willing to work hard and play by the rules.    For the sake of our economy and our security, legal immigration should   be simple and efficient.  The President’s proposal attracts the best   minds to America by providing visas to foreign entrepreneurs looking to start   businesses here and helping the most promising foreign graduate students in   science and math stay in this country after graduation, rather than take their   skills to other countries.  The President’s proposal will also reunify   families in a timely and humane manner. 

Continuing to Strengthen Border Security
-  Strengthen border security and infrastructure.  The   President’s proposal strengthens and improves infrastructure at ports of   entry, facilitates public-private partnerships aimed at increasing investment   in foreign visitor processing, and continues supporting the use of   technologies that help to secure the land and maritime borders of the United   States. 
-  Combat transnational crime.  The President’s proposal   creates new criminal penalties dedicated to combating transnational criminal   organizations that traffic in drugs, weapons, and money, and that smuggle   people across the borders.  It also expands the scope of current law to   allow for the forfeiture of these organizations’ criminal tools and proceeds.    Through this approach, we will bolster our efforts to deprive criminal   enterprises, including those operating along the Southwest border, of their   infrastructure and profits. 
-  Improve partnerships with border communities and law   enforcement.  The President’s proposal expands our ability to   work with our cross-border law enforcement partners.  Community trust and   cooperation are keys to effective law enforcement. To this end, the U.S.   Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will establish border community liaisons   along the Southern and Northern borders to improve communication and   collaboration with border communities, boost funding to tribal government   partners to reduce illegal activity on tribal lands, and strengthen training   on civil rights and civil liberties for DHS immigration officers. 
-  Crack down on criminal networks engaging in passport and visa fraud   and human smuggling. The President’s proposal creates tough criminal   penalties for trafficking in passports and immigration documents and schemes   to defraud, including those who prey on vulnerable immigrants through notario   fraud. It also strengthens penalties to combat human smuggling rings. 
-  Deporting Criminals. The President’s proposal expands   smart enforcement efforts that target convicted criminals in federal or state   correctional facilities, allowing us to remove them from the United States at   the end of their sentences without re-entering our communities. At the same   time, it protects those with a credible fear of returning to their home   countries. 
-  Streamline removal of nonimmigrant national security and public   safety threats.  The President’s proposal creates a streamlined   administrative removal process for people who overstay their visas and have   been determined to be threats to national security and public safety. 
-  Improve our nation’s immigration courts.  The   President’s proposal invests in our immigration courts. By increasing the   number of immigration judges and their staff, investing in training for court   personnel, and improving access to legal information for immigrants, these   reforms will improve court efficiency.  It allows DHS to better focus its   detention resources on public safety and national security threats by   expanding alternatives to detention and reducing overall detention costs.    It also provides greater protections for those least able to represent   themselves. 

Cracking Down on Employers Who Hire Undocumented Workers 
-  Mandatory, phased-in electronic employment verification.   The President’s proposal provides tools for employers to ensure a legal   workforce by using federal government databases to verify that the people they   hire are eligible to work in the United States.  Penalties for hiring   undocumented workers are significantly increased, and new penalties are   established for committing fraud and identity theft.  The new mandatory   program ensures the privacy and confidentiality of all workers’ personal   information and includes important procedural protections.  Mandatory   electronic employment verification would be phased in over five years with   exemptions for certain small businesses. 
-  Combat fraud and identity theft.  The proposal also   mandates a fraud‐resistant, tamper‐resistant Social Security card and requires   workers to use fraud‐and tamper‐resistant documents to prove authorization to   work in the United States. The proposal also seeks to establish a voluntary   pilot program to evaluate new methods to authenticate identity and combat   identity theft. 
-  Protections for all workers. The President’s proposal   protects workers against retaliation for exercising their labor rights.    It increases the penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers   to skirt the workplace standards that protect all workers.  And it   creates a “labor law enforcement fund” to help ensure that industries that   employ significant numbers of immigrant workers comply with labor   laws. 

Pathway to Earned Citizenship
-  Create a provisional legal status.  Undocumented   immigrants must come forward and register, submit biometric data, pass   criminal background and national security checks, and pay fees and penalties   before they will be eligible for a provisional legal status.    Agricultural workers and those who entered the United States as children   would be eligible for the same program.  Individuals must wait until the   existing legal immigration backlogs are cleared before getting in line to   apply for lawful permanent residency (i.e. a “green card”), and ultimately   United States citizenship. Consistent with current law, people with   provisional legal status will not be eligible for welfare or other federal   benefits, including subsidies or tax credits under the new health care   law. 
-  Create strict requirements to qualify for lawful permanent resident   status.  Those applying for green cards must pay their taxes,   pass additional criminal background and national security checks, register for   Selective Service (where applicable), pay additional fees and penalties, and   learn English and U.S. civics.  As under current law, five years after   receiving a green card, individuals will be eligible to apply for U.S.   citizenship like every other legal permanent resident. 
-  Earned citizenship for DREAMers. Children brought here   illegally through no fault of their own by their parents will be eligible for   earned citizenship.  By going to college or serving honorably in the   Armed Forces for at least two years, these children should be given an   expedited opportunity to earn their citizenship.  The President’s   proposal brings these undocumented immigrants out of the shadows. 
-  Create administrative and judicial review. An individual   whose provisional lawful status has been revoked or denied, or whose   application for adjustment has been denied, will have the opportunity to seek   administrative and judicial review of those decisions. 
-  Provide new resources to combat fraud. The President’s   proposal authorizes funding to enable DHS, the Department of State, and other   relevant federal agencies to establish fraud prevention programs that will   provide training for adjudicators, allow regular audits of applications to   identify patterns of fraud and abuse, and incorporate other proven fraud   prevention measures. 

Streamlining Legal Immigration
-  Keep Families Together. The proposal seeks to eliminate   existing backlogs in the family-sponsored immigration system by recapturing   unused visas and temporarily increasing annual visa numbers.  The   proposal also raises existing annual country caps from 7 percent to 15 percent   for the family-sponsored immigration system.   It also treats same-sex   families as families by giving U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents   the ability to seek a visa on the basis of a permanent relationship with a   same-sex partner. The proposal also revises current unlawful presence bars and   provides broader discretion to waive bars in cases of hardship. 
- Cut Red Tape for Employers.  The proposal also   eliminates the backlog for employment-sponsored immigration by eliminating   annual country caps and adding additional visas to the system.  Outdated   legal immigration programs are reformed to meet current and future demands by   exempting certain categories from annual visa limitations.
-  Enhance travel and tourism.  The Administration is   committed to increasing U.S. travel and tourism by facilitating legitimate   travel while maintaining our nation’s security.  Consistent with the   President’s Executive   Order on travel and tourism, the President’s proposal securely streamlines   visa and foreign visitor processing.  It also strengthens law enforcement   cooperation while maintaining the program’s robust counterterrorism and   criminal information sharing initiatives.  It facilitates more efficient   travel by allowing greater flexibility to designate countries for   participation in the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens of designated   countries to visit the United States without obtaining a visa.  And   finally it permits the State Department to waive interview requirements for   certain very low-risk visa applicants, permitting resources to be focused on   higher risk applicants and creates a pilot for premium visa   processing. 
-  “Staple” green cards to advanced STEM diplomas.  The   proposal encourages foreign graduate students educated in the United States to   stay here and contribute to our economy by “stapling” a green card to the   diplomas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) PhD and   Master’s Degree graduates from qualified U.S. universities who have found   employment in the United States.  It also requires employers to pay a fee   that will support education and training to grow the next generation of   American workers in STEM careers. 
-  Create a “startup visa” for job-creating entrepreneurs.    The proposal allows foreign entrepreneurs who attract financing from   U.S. investors or revenue from U.S. customers to start and grow their   businesses in the United States, and to remain permanently if their companies   grow further, create jobs for American workers, and strengthen our   economy. 
-  Expand opportunities for investor visas and U.S. economic   development.  The proposal permanently authorizes immigrant visa   opportunities for regional center (pooled investment) programs; provides   incentives for visa requestors to invest in programs that support national   priorities, including economic development in rural and economically depressed   regions ; adds new measures to combat fraud and national security threats;   includes data collection on economic impact; and creates a pilot program for    state and local government officials to promote economic   development. 
-  Create a new visa category for employees of federal national   security science and technology laboratories.  The proposal   creates a new visa category for a limited number of highly-skilled and   specialized immigrants to work in federal science and technology laboratories   on critical national security needs after being in the United States. for two   years and passing rigorous national security and criminal background   checks. 
-  Better addresses humanitarian concerns. The proposal   streamlines immigration law to better protect vulnerable immigrants, including   those who are victims of crime and domestic violence.  It also better   protects those fleeing persecution by eliminating the existing limitations   that prevent qualified individuals from applying for asylum. 
-  Encourage integration. The proposal promotes earned   citizenship and efforts to integrate immigrants into their new American   communities linguistically, civically, and economically. 
Blog posts on this issue-   February 06, 2013 5:46 PM EST   Keep   Up to Date on President Obama's Immigration Proposal  Want to learn more about comprehensive immigration reform? Check out this   new issue section.  
-   February 06, 2013 5:24 PM EST   President   Obama Names Sally Jewell to Lead the Department of the Interior    In his remarks at the White House, the President also highlighted the   accomplishments of outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar 
-   February 06, 2013 12:36 PM EST   In   Munich, Vice President Biden Highlights Transatlantic Relationship with   European Allies    Vice President Biden travels to Europe to stress our strong cooperation   with our allies there and highlighted our many joint accomplishments over the   last four years.  
- view all related blog   posts
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