Immigrations Law Sherry Neal

Sherry Neal's presentation on immigration was tremendously eye opening as to the range of ways people can unknowingly be undocumented citizens and the problems that can ensue. This is a much more complex and diverse issue than I had previously fathomed. She described the history of immigration reform and what the issues are in getting people into the country and finding a way for people who are already here to be able to stay. One major issue that I learned about was the 3 year bar and the 10 year bar. She described how if you overstay your I 94 for 6 months-1 year you will be forced to leave for 3 years and then allowed to reenter. If someone overstays for more than 1 year, they will be forced out of the country for 10 years. Because of this, many times undocumented immigrants will choose to remain in the country and wait for immigration reform because they do not wish to leave for 10 years if a bill will pass in fewer years than this. I thought this discussion was quite eye opening as to why people may make the decision to stay.