The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security held a hearing yesterday on E-Verify, which would create a huge database of every person eligible to work in America. Many members of Congress from both parties think a mandatory E-Verify system — along with ongoing increases in spending at the border—is a silver bullet for immigration enforcement. Right now it’s a voluntary system, but mandatory E-Verify would obligate all employers to run new hires through the system to verify electronically their eligibility to work in this country.

In view of the upcoming immigration reform (debate) recently announced by the President, the people of Kenya would like to be represented accurately. It is for this reason that we want to identify with members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) who may be able to shed light on our situation before congress.

While Congress debates immigration policy, the Army is offering a fast path to U.S. citizenship for some legal immigrants if they can fill certain critical jobs.

One of them is 23-year-old Carolyne Chelulei from Kenya, who went to the University of South Carolina Upstate on a student visa and joined the Army as a medical worker.

She is one of several hundred immigrants with temporary visas whose specialized skills make them eligible for a Pentagon program that repays service in uniform with an accelerated path to citizenship.

Germany sought on Wednesday to make it easier for skilled workers from outside the European Union to take a job in the country, trying to alleviate chronic shortages in areas such as engineering, train driving and plumbing.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet passed new immigration rules which, pending approval by parliament's upper house, aim to cut red tape for people in target industries, allowing them to get their qualifications recognised in Germany more easily.

The rules would come into effect in July.

A week before mandatory budget cuts go into effect, the Department of Homeland Security releases illegal immigrants being held in detention centers across the country as a cost saving measure.

That reportedly includes releases from detention centers in Louisiana, Texas and Florida.

For two decades, the federal government has worked to obtain accurate and timely data on individuals who have overstayed their period of admission to the U.S. After 9/11, Congress passed a law to develop a biometric entry-exit system, requiring some form of biometric — fingerprints, for example, — be collected when non-U.S. citizens enter and leave the U.S. The point is to match entry and exit records and determine which individuals are complying with their period of admission, and sanction those who are not.

A new driver's license expected to be issued to some illegal immigrants in North Carolina has prompted state lawmakers and immigrant rights groups to voice concerns over the proposal.

The proposed North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles license has a bright pink stripe and the bold words "NO LAWFUL STATUS."

Republican lawmakers may soon have to battle attempts to affirm same-sex “marriage” as part of the proposed immigration reform package. Media reports and many in Washington had begun to refer to immigration reform as a bipartisan issue. But evangelical leader Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), warned the marriage provision would be a deal-breaker.

Discussions from the White House and Congress indicate a high likelihood that the United States will reform the immigration system in the year of 2013. An actual bill has not yet been introduced. However, these reforms could include new pathways to citizenship, advanced border control and tougher employment verification systems.

The Legal and Political Department of the Kenya embassy in Washington, DC advices that If you are or know of a Kenyan in the United States that may be impacted by any changes in the US immigration system, to please consider the following tips:
 

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to apply retroactively a 2010 ruling that requires lawyers to tell immigrant clients that they can be deported if they plead guilty to certain crimes.

The 7-2 decision was a defeat for thousands of immigrants who might have been able to withdraw guilty pleas in cases alleging ineffective counsel.

These cases predated the court's March 2010 ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky that immigrants should be told some consequences of guilty pleas.