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US governmentImmigration Policy is broken.  We all agree.  How should we fix it and why haven’t we been able to fix it over the last two decades?   There is a multifaceted answer to this question, but Congress has been unable to agree on how to deal with the policy changes.  We have had numerous attempts and even many pieces of legislation passed that address one or more parts of the policy reforms.  Although successful in addressing some policy reform issues, Congress still needs to pass legislation to complete the needed reforms.

Why is it so difficult?   It might have something to do with the complex policy issues.  Immigration is about people coming into our country as visitors, family members, and employees of our businesses and even as refugees; people from different parts of the world — different cultures, religion, and ethnicities.  This human component seems to have stymied our legislators.

There is a fair amount of rhetoric about why our policies should be changed in one way or another, but a lot of the rhetoric doesn’t address the real policy issues in a systemic way.

We know what needs to be addressed.  For simplicity sake let’s break it down into four parts:

(1) border security;

(2) interior enforcement;

(3) legal immigration reform for the immigrant and non-immigrant visa system; and

(4) a plan for the current undocumented people in the U.S.

We should be able to come up with revisions to our current law that address these issues.  Indeed the Senate has passed two major comprehensive immigration reform bills in the last 10 years that does just that. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (S. 2611) was passed by the Senate in 2006. The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (S.744) was passed by the Senate in 2013. The House has also tackled these key issues in introduced bills and has proposed a step-by-step approach to a legislative fix. The architecture and blue prints for reform exist. We now need to address real policy issues and make our immigration laws function the way they should for our businesses, our economy, our families and for our national and our international obligations.

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Photo of Laura Foote Reiff ‡ Laura Foote Reiff ‡

Laura Foote Reiff has more than 32 years of experience representing businesses and organizations in the business immigration and compliance field. She is also a business immigration advocate and has long chaired prominent business immigration coalitions. Laura is Co-Founder of GT’s Business and

Laura Foote Reiff has more than 32 years of experience representing businesses and organizations in the business immigration and compliance field. She is also a business immigration advocate and has long chaired prominent business immigration coalitions. Laura is Co-Founder of GT’s Business and Immigration and Compliance Group which she co-led since 1999. She currently chairs the Northern Virginia/Washington D.C. Immigration and Compliance Practice. Laura is also Co-Managing Shareholder of the Northern Virginia Office of GT, a position she has held since 2010. As a global leader in the business immigration community, Laura has served on the Boards of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the American Immigration Council, the National Immigration Forum and is currently the Chair of the America is Better Board.

Laura advises corporations on a variety of compliance-related issues, particularly related to Form I-9 eligibility employment verification matters. Laura has been involved in audits and internal investigations and has successfully minimized monetary exposure as well as civil and criminal liabilities on behalf of her clients. She develops immigration compliance strategies and programs for both small and large companies. Laura performs I-9, H-1B and H-2B compliance inspections during routine internal reviews, while performing due diligence (in the context of a merger, acquisition or sale) or while defending a company against a government investigation.

Laura represents many businesses in creating, managing and using “Regional Centers” that can create indirect jobs toward the 10 new U.S. jobs whose creation can give rise to EB-5 permanent residence for investment. She coordinates this work with attorneys practicing in securities law compliance, with economists identifying “targeted employment areas” and projecting indirect job creation, and with licensed securities brokers coordinating offerings. She also represents individual investors in obtaining conditional permanent residence and in removing conditions from permanent residence.

Laura’s practice also consists of managing business immigration matters and providing immigration counsel to address the visa and work authorization needs of U.S. and global personnel including professionals, managers and executives, treaty investors/ traders, essential workers, persons of extraordinary ability, corporate trainees, and students. She is an immigration policy advocacy expert and works on immigration reform policies.

 Admitted in the District of Columbia and Maryland. Not admitted in Virginia. Practice limited to federal immigration practice.