Source: http://www.ilw.com/articles/2012,0201-endelman.shtm
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 22:43:17+00:00

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As part of his emerging re-election strategy, President Obama has issued a series of executive orders designed to take action on serious national problems without support from the Congress. In each case, the President has justified his actions with the rallying cry of “We Can’t Wait!” The press has taken note of this renewed executive vigor and the President’s poll numbers have begun to rise a bit as Americans are reminded once again of how powerful a bully pulpit the Presidency can be when its resources are fully engaged. One wonders if the same initiative could not produce equally dramatic results in the immigration arena. What if, for example, the President issued an executive decree that henceforth derivative family members would no longer be counted against the immigrant visa quotas, both family and employment-based? That single stroke of the pen would revolutionize United States immigration policy and, at long last, restore equilibrium to our imbalanced immigration system.
At this point, if one files a labor certification in 2011 under the employment-based third preference for India, it will take 70 years before the green card materializes! The adult son or daughter who was born in Mexico of a US citizen does much better relatively under the family-based first preference, but the wait is still close to 20 years! Such a hopeless wait is simply untenable for an employer who has unsuccessfully tested the US labor market for much needed skills in short supply. It is similarly inhumane for a parent to yearn for so long to reunite with her son. Mind you, we are talking here about legal immigration, and those who rail against unauthorized immigrants accuse them for not getting into the line. But when the avenues for legal immigration are few and the lines endless, the system has broken and we are dealing with a situation, in the face of Congressional paralysis, that is going from bad to abysmal. We acknowledge that the House recently passed H.R. 3012, the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act on September 22, 2011 by a landslide vote of 389-15, which if passed, will eliminate the employment-based per country limits and increase the family-based per country cap from 7% to 15%. , H.R 3012,on the other hand, will not increase the overall number of immigrant visas. While it may reduce the waiting times for China and India in the employment-based preferences, nationals of all other countries may experience backlogs, especially in the employment-based second preference. Thus, the problems of backlogs will still remain. While we acknowledge that only Congress can create more avenues for legal immigration, is there a legal basis for an interpretation that would dramatically reduce, or even eliminate, such a long wait under the EB and FB preferences? We think there is.
It is certainly true that family members are not exempted from being counted under INA § 201(b) as are immediate relatives of US citizens, special immigrants, or those fortunate enough to merit cancellation of their removal. Yet, we note that the title in INA § 201(b) refers to “Aliens Not Subject to Direct Numerical Limitations.” What does this curious phrase mean? Each of the listed exemptions in INA § 201(b) are outside the normal preference categories. That is why they are not subject to direct counting. By contrast, the INA § 203(d) derivatives are wholly within the preference system, bound fast by its stubborn limitations. They are not independent of all numerical constraints, only from direct ones. It is the principal alien through whom they derive their claim who is and has been counted. When viewed from this perspective, there is nothing inconsistent between saying in INA § 203(d) that derivatives should not be independently assessed against the EB or FB cap despite their omission from INA § 201(b) that lists only non-preference category exemptions.
We do not claim that derivative beneficiaries are exempt from numerical limits. As noted above, they are indeed subject in the sense that the principal alien is subject by virtue of being subsumed within the numerical limit that applies to this principal alien. Hence, if no EB or FB numbers were available to the principal alien, the derivatives would not be able to immigrate either. If they were exempt altogether, this would not matter. There is, then, a profound difference between not being counted at all, for which we do not contend, and being counted as an integral family unit rather than as individuals. For this reason, INA § 201(b) simply does not apply. We seek through the simple mechanism of an Executive Order not an exemption from numerical limits but a different way of counting them.
Other objections present themselves. Skeptics will remind us that, when Congress wished to carve out family members from a quota, even apart from INA § 201(b), it knew how to do so. Take a look at how family members of special immigrant Iraqi translators were treated. In §1244(c) of the Defense Authorization Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-181, Congress explicitly stated that only principal aliens would be charged against the 5,000 visas allocated to Iraqi translators. Is this a problem? Not really since §1244 of the Defense Authorization Act of 2008 was clearly emergency legislation designed to extract Iraqi translators from a dangerous situation. The United States properly felt a moral obligation to extract these people who had worked with us and could not allow inadequate visa allotments to jeopardize lives. So §1244 is clearly sui generis. By fortunate contrast, the INA is not emergency legislation.
Another argument can be lodged in opposition to our proposal that President Obama need not wait for Congress to act. We are properly reminded that INA §§ 201(a) (1) and 201 (a) (2) mandate that “family sponsored” and “employment based immigrants” are subject to worldwide limits. Does this not cover spouses and children? After all, the definition of “immigrant” in INA § 101(a) (15) includes “every alien except an alien who is within one of the following classes of nonimmigrant aliens.” Then the rest of the subsection goes on to categorize the various nonimmigrant visa classifications from A to V. True enough but all is not lost. While the term “immigrant” under INA §101(a)(15) (a) (15) includes spouse and children, they were included because, in concert with their principal alien family member, they intended to stay permanently in this their adopted home. No one ever contended they were or are non-immigrants. However, this does not mean that such family derivatives are either “employment based” or “family sponsored” immigrants. No petitioner has filed either an I-140 or I-130 on their behalf. Their claim to immigrant status is wholly a creature of statute, deriving entirely from INA § 203(d) which does not make them independently subject to any quota.
[I]n interpreting a statute a court should always turn to one cardinal canon before all others. . . .[C]ourts must presume that a legislature says in a statute what it means and means in a statute what it says there." Connecticut Nat'l Bank v. Germain, 112 S. Ct. 1146, 1149 (1992). Indeed, "when the words of a statute are unambiguous, then, this first canon is also the last: 'judicial inquiry is complete.
Rubin v. United States, 449 U. S. 424, 430 (1981).
Curiously, there is no explicit mention or discussion of what became of INA § 203(d) in the Conference Report. We next look at House Report No. 101-723 that accompanied House passage of HR 4300 on October 3, 1990. S. 358 passed in lieu of HR 4300 after its language was amended to contain much of the text of the House bill. Under the proposed HR 4300, the 54, 000 visas that were then allocated under the employment-based preference would have been capped at 75,000 principals. Those family members accompanying or following to join were not included in this cap. Candor compels us to admit that the House exemption for derivatives was removed in Conference. Ultimately, Congress enacted INA 201(d) which set a numerical limit of 140,000 for EB immigrants but counting family under that expanded cap. If the House had its way, IMMACT 90 would have had a lower numerical limit of 75,000 EB numbers, but, since family members were not counted, the actual number of EB immigrants would have been higher than 140,000. However, it must be remembered that the House’s intent to exclude family members only applied to the EB not Family quota.
Despite the legislative history cutting against us, it still remains a mystery as to why INA §203(d) was enacted. There was no need to do so since family members were counted in the pre-IMMACT 90 quotas. Was INA § 203(d) introduced to ensure that family members would be counted especially after the House sought to exempt them? Or was it the converse? Could not it be equally the case that INA § 203(d) remains as a vestigial reminder of the House’s intent that was never taken out? The purpose of INA 203(d) then would be to make sure that, even though derivatives would not be counted against an enlarged EB cap, they would not be left out in the cold but still get the same “green card” benefits as the principal?
While the Constitution diffuses power the better to secure liberty, it also contemplates that practice will integrate the dispersed powers into a workable government. It enjoins upon its branches separateness but interdependence, autonomy but reciprocity.
These cases establish that by virtue of congressional delegation, legislative power can be exercised by independent agencies and Executive departments without passage of new legislation. For some time, the sheer amount of law- the substantive rules that regulate private conduct and direct the operation of government- made by the agencies has far outnumbered the lawmaking engaged in by Congress through the traditional process. There is no question that agency rulemaking is lawmaking in any functional or realistic sense of the term.
Immigration has historically been linked to foreign policy. Indeed, a core reason for the plenary federal power over immigration is precisely because it implicates real and genuine foreign policy concerns. This is another reason why the Executive enjoys wide, though not unchecked, discretion to effect changes in immigration procedures through sua sponte regulation. Indeed, it is perhaps only a modest exaggeration to maintain that the INA could not be administered in any other way: “The power of an administrative agency to administer a congressionally created…program necessarily requires the formulation of policy and the making of rules to fill any gap left, implicitly or explicitly, by Congress.” . Not only is it appropriate for the President to direct the formulation of immigration policy on technical issues of surpassing importance, this is the way it must be; this is what the Constitution expects. In perhaps the most famous judicial exposition of the need for pragmatic presidential initiative, we end our advocacy in confident reliance upon the still cogent observations of Chief Justice John Marshall in McCulloch v. Maryland,.
To have prescribed the means by which government should, in all future time, execute its powers, would have been to change, entirely, the character of the instrument, and give it the properties of a legal code. It would have been an unwise attempt to provide, by immutable rules, for exigencies which, if foreseen at all, must have been seen dimly, and which can be best provided for as they occur.
Not only would this serve as a brake against lawful permanent admissions from visa backlogged countries but, additionally, the numbers of naturalized citizens from these same sending nations will also be artificially depressed. Not being able to become lawful permanent residents in the numbers that would otherwise be theirs if dependents were not deducted translates into a loss of naturalization eligibility on a massive scale. This silent though no less insidious process will shape the political character of the American electorate in ways that we can now only dimly anticipate.
While modest recent EB-2 advances for China and India are certainly welcome, they result largely from EB-1 overflow and do not disguise the continued structural drag on the natural progression of priority dates resulting from the continued independent counting of derivatives. The degree to which this represents a modern version of the infamous national origins quota remains very much of an open, though enormously troubling, question.
All of this could be profoundly affected should the Senate follow the House of Representatives and, over a three-year period, eliminate per country caps on employment-based immigrant visas and raise the per country limit on family-based cases from 7 to 15%. Is HR 3012 the answer to systemic visa regression? Ironically, this is the brainchild of Tea Party favorite Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), a freshman who won his House seat by knocking off six-term Congressman Chris Cannon in a Republican primary that revolved around Cannon’s attempts to solve the problem of undocumented immigration. Senator Mike Lee from Utah, who unseated long-time Utah Senator Robert Bennett in 2010 for being too moderate, introduced an identical bill in the Senate. The "Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act," S. 1857, was introduced on November 10, 2011. It has been referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. While there seems widespread support for this bill in the Senate, Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, known principally for his crusade against the H-1B, has placed a hold on the bill so it is uncertain whether or when the Senate will act.
It is anticipated that removal of per country caps on employment-based migration would drastically reduce, perhaps eliminate, the green card backlogs for EB-2 advanced degree holders from China and India while significantly reducing EB-3 waiting times. Since HR 3012 would not be totally effective until October 1, 2014, most of the anticipated benefits should be felt with regard to future submissions, not pending cases. What is far less certain is the impact on the rest of the world. This is because HR 3012 does not create any new immigrant visas so that reductions in time for India and China may come at the expense of greater delays for natives of all other countries. . There are more optimistic assessments, however, from the National Foundation for Immigration Policy. Any estimates are highly speculative since the Visa Control Office within the Department of State has far more reliable statistics concerning I-140 consular processing than the I-140 caseload at the Nebraska or Texas USCIS Service Centers where the vast majority of demand is felt. Ironically, if waiting for Godot becomes a global concern rather than just a Chinese or Indian problem, the impetus for comprehensive immigration reform may acquire powerful new momentum.
A cursory review of recent history does provide possible reason for cautious optimism. Prior to January 1, 2005, the EB numbers were always current because the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (“AC 21”) recaptured 130,000 numbers from 1998 and 1999. Per Country limits were postponed under a formula until EB demand outstripped supply. So, despite the surge of 245(i) cases, the lack of per country limit did not cause the system to seize up and stop.
If HR 3012 eliminates much of the EB backlog for India and China without replacing it with an equally long queue for the rest of the world, then the problem of counting derivatives will lose much of its salience. It will be downgraded from a fundamental flaw to a minor annoyance. If, however, EB backlogs continue to stretch from here to eternity, then not much would have changed and the tyranny of priority dates will remain. As of this writing, no one knows whether or when Congress will act nor what the final shape of any new law will be. We must be ready for change but plan for more of the same.
So too, where, as here, Congress adopts a new law incorporating sections of a prior law, Congress normally can be presumed to have had knowledge of the interpretation given to the incorporated law, at least insofar as it affects the new statute.
2See e.g Obama uses orders to bypass Congress, Financial Times, October 31, 2011, available at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6a5a3f66-03d2-11e1-bbc5- 00144feabdc0.html#axzz1h0MtZ5Nu (last visited Dec. 20, 2011).
3See Stuart Anderson, Waiting and More Waiting: America’s Family and Employment-Based Immigration System, National Foundation for American Policy Brief, October 2011, available at http://www.nfap.com/pdf/WAITING_NFAP_Policy_Brief_October_2011.pdf (last visited Dec. 20, 2011).
4Immigration Act of 1990, Pub.L. No. 101-649, 104 Stat.4978 (1990).
5H.R. 4300, 101st Cong. 2d sess. (1990); available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c101:H.R.+4300 (last visited Dec. 20, 2011).
6H.R. Rep. No. 101-955, pt.2, Sec. 121(1990).
7H.R. Rep. No. 101-723(I), Title I, Subtitle A (1990).
8Former Congressman Bruce Morrison (D-Ct), the House floor manager for IMMACT 90, told the authors on August 31, 2009 that there is no basis in IMMACT 90 to argue that dependents should be exempt. He does say that the House bill HR 4300 would have exempted dependents but the EB level in the House bill would have been much lower-75,000 principals multiplied by 1.5 to give a grand EB total of 187,000; however, this House proposal was rejected in Conference. The goal in Conference was to set a total number. The House conferees wanted more but former Senator Alan Simpson (R- Wyo) wanted less and did not like exemptions. Ultimately, the EB number was set at 140,000. See Informal Interview of Congressman Bruce Morrison by Gary Endelman on August 31, 2009 (on file with the authors).
9Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 635 (1952) (Jackson, J. concurring).
12Morton v. Ruiz, 415 U.S. 199, 231 (1974).
1317 U. S. 316 (1819).
14Unfortunately, the authors confirmed in a telephone conversation on November 21, 2011, that the USCIS Office of Immigration Statistics does not track the numbers of permanent resident admissions according to the size of family unit so our conclusions as to its effects are necessarily impressionistic though no less logical.
15Music and lyrics by Paul Simon (1977), available at http://www.paulsimon.com/us/song/slip-slidin%E2 %80%99-away (last visited 12/20/2011).
16See the January 1, 2005 Visa Bulletin notes that explain it all (Part D, Items 1 and 2), http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html > Archived visa bulletins > January 2005 (last visited 12/20/2011).
17434 U.S. 575, 581 (1978).
Copyright 2012, Cyrus D. Mehta and Gary Endelman. All rights reserved.
This article is a revised and updated extract from The Tyranny of Priority Dates by Gary Endelman and Cyrus D. Mehta, 15 Bender’s Immigr. Bull. 469 (Apr. 1, 2010). The online version of The Tyranny of Priority Dates dated March 25, 2010 is available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/45650253/The-Tyrannyof- Priority-Dates-by-Gary-Endelman-and-Cyrus-DMehta- 3-25-10.

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