(WXMI) — Congress has not passed immigration reform since 1996, nearly thirty years ago. But after spending the last two decades as an immigration attorney, Congresswoman Hillary Scholten hopes to change that with new legislation.
In February, the New York Times released a comprehensive investigation, showing how migrant children were being exploited, working in brutal jobs right here in Grand Rapids.
"When the story broke here about the child labor exploitation that was happening right here in our own backyard, I knew that this was a multi-system failure that needed a multi-system response to fix it," says Scholten.
Just months after that report was released, three Democrats and four Republican representatives have introduced "The Dignity Act of 2023."
The legislation addresses border security and infrastructure, along with how to grant legal status to undocumented immigrants already living in the U.S., and establishing new pathways for asylum seekers, economic migrants and unaccompanied minors.
Congresswoman Scholten says these pathways could also address a critical workforce shortage.
"I hear from individuals every single day across a multitude of sectors, that the number one problem facing their business is worker shortage. They can't find the workers from ag to tech, to the service industry. This would seek to fill that critical gap by putting work authorization in the hands of eligible workers already here, and on a pathway to restoring dignity, and giving them the option of eventually obtaining United States citizenship."
Specific pathways look like this: through the new "Dignity Program" and "Dignity Status," people can achieve legal status, along with work and travel authorization as long as they pay $5,000 over the course of seven years (the length of the program), pass a criminal background check and pay taxes.
"This is not an amnesty bill; this is having individuals go through an immigration process packing, passing a background check, paying a fine, and getting in line and going through the process just like anyone else," Scholten adds.
Other pathways include becoming a "Certified Agricultural Worker" to gain legal permanent resident status, or someone can serve in the military for a certain number of years in order to gain full citizenship.
Scholten says this bill is not perfect and would like future legislation to address reform surrounding the criminal prosecution and subsequent removal of undocumented immigrants.
"Our code of identifying individuals who need to be removed from this country for having violated the criminal laws is so complex and convoluted that from arrest to removal from this country, oftentimes for individuals is a several-year process, sometimes more than a decade. These individuals are detained in the United States at taxpayer expense. We need to simplify that process."
She proposes creating a more streamlined process while cutting through the bureaucratic red tape.
"Right now, there are pages in the United States Code that judges have to go through, re-litigate a criminal conviction; it's subject to endless appeal. And so that is one component that we have not yet been able to find agreement on. But as someone who spent years at the nation's top law enforcement agency, I saw firsthand how, you know, this can tear apart families and hamstring our courts from affecting justice," says Scholten.
Since the legislation touches on multiple areas, it's currently in front of several Congressional committees including Homeland Security, Ways and Means, Agriculture, Transportation and Infrastructure, the Budget, Education and the Workforce, Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Accountability, Intelligence, Financial Services, and Armed Services.
