11/06/2019

Last week, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with nine other key Senators sent a proposition to Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, John Cornyn (R-TX), prompting him to hold hearings to address the nation’s backlog of green-card applicants. The proposition comes in light of a dormant Republican Senate who have largely ignored the issue of immigration reform, and even hurt its prospects, by holding only one hearing on the issue this year and voting on only one bill concerning it.

Specifically, the Senators requested that the Subcommittee hold a hearing to receive testimony from experts and impacted communities on relevant pending legislation, including S.386, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act; S. 2091, the Backlog Elimination, Legal Immigration, and Employment Visa Enhancement (BELIEVE) Act; and S. 2603, the Resolving Extended Limbo for Immigrant Employees and Families (RELIEF) Act. 

Green-card immigration backlogs are a serious issue, and there is no doubt that they harm the national economy. With this new highlighted attention to address immigration, we can at least be excited that the Senators in Washington are concerned with the long waiting times that have impacted immigrant communities for years. As the focus develops in Congress and immigration becomes a targeted discussion point among the public, our office will stay updated with the latest news to provide our clients with the most relevant information in applying for their cases.