Facts on Immigration Reform
Posted Jan 16, 2004

At The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C., we have been receiving many questions following President Bush's January 7, 2004 announcement regarding positive immigration reform. The President's announcement was the subject of our article, Bush Announces Commitment to Immigration Reform, posted on MurthyDotCom on January 8, 2004. Most people want to know whether the proposed changes will help or hurt them or their cases. Those who are out of status wonder whether they will be able to fix their problems. Those who have cases pending ask whether they will suffer further delays if more cases are allowed to be filed with an already over-burdened system. Still others are just asking us what we think.

While we would like to be able to fully address these questions, there is not sufficient detail available at this time. The President made a proposal. While we feel that this is a positive step, there is a big difference between a proposal made during a campaign year, and a concrete change in the law. Congress will be back in session in a few days, and we will all be watching this issue quite closely. For the time being, however, there is no draft legislation to review. There is no way to guess, therefore, how any particular person will be treated if and when the changes are put into place. Those interested in more details of the plan may wish to review the White House Fact Sheet on Immigration Reform, and continue to check the official White House WebSite for further news releases. The White House WebSite also contains the President's remarks, announcing the new immigration proposal. We ask our readers to be patient and check MurthyDotCom and the MurthyBulletin for updates on this important issue.