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2713 FACT SHEET: Fixing our Broken Immigration System so Everyone Plays bythe Rules | The White House

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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 byhiring undocumented

workers and there are 11 million people living in the shadows. Neither is good for the economy or the country. Scie adel ai

time to actto fixthe 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 BLOG POSTS ON THIS ISSUE

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.

February 06, 2013 5:46 PM EST
Keep Up to Date on President Obama's
Immigration Proposal

Want to lear more about comprehensive
immigration reform? Check out this new issue
Together we can build a fair, effective and commonsense immigration system that lives up to our heritage as a section.

nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.
February 06, 2013 5:24 PM EST

President Obama Names Sally Jewell to
Lead the Department of the Interior

‘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 securityis stronger than ithas 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 byenhancing 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 onlyemploy
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 bythe 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 wantto playby the rules a reliable way
to verify that their employees are here legally.

Earned Citizenship: Itis 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
ofthe line, and leaming English before they can ear 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 broughtto 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 bythe 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 stayin this country after graduation, rather than take their skills to other
countries. The President's proposal will also reuniy 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

In his remarks atthe
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.

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2713 FACT SHEET: Fixing our Broken Immigration System so Everyone Plays bythe Rules | The White House

smuggle people across the borders. Italso 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
(OHS) will establish border community liaisons along the Southern and Norther 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 preyon wilnerable immigrants through notario

fraud. Italso 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. Atthe 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. Italso provides greater protections for
those least able to represent themselves.

Employers Wh. mented Worker:

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. Itincreases 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 eared 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 eam 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

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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 pattems 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. Italso treats same-sex families as families bygiving 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 forei
visitor processing. Italso 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 stayhere 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 employmentin the United States. It also
requires employers to paya 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 permanentlyif 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
developmentin 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
winerable immigrants, including those who are victims of crime and domestic violence. Italso 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.

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