Sherry Neal - Attorney

Sherry Neal brought a wealth of knowledge regarding immigration reform and shared with us some interesting facts about how immigrants come into our country.  She first talked about the F1 status for foreign students and the unknown fact that they are welcomed not only for their wealth of knowledge, but for their full priced tuition payments.  She talked about the H1B Visa which is a work authorization type of visa where a company sponsors a professional or blue collar worker and how their kids can attend a public school for free.  Then she mentioned the undocumented immigrant who may have come on a visa, but didn't leave when the time allotment expired.  As a result of this, immigration reform has taken root in the United States government.  In 1986 the Immigration Reform/Control Act was passed by congress which began to penalize undocumented workers, but granted amnesty to nearly two million people thanks largely to President Ronald Reagan.  Atty. Neal went on to discuss the I94 Card which is the current way that the U.S. tracks the movement in terms of entry and exit dates for any foreigner entering this country.  There have been problems, though, in how this document is processed and enforced. The attachment of this policy that requires that undocumented immigrants leave the country if they have remained here illegally past six months whereby they must remain out of the country for three years before they can return, and then up to ten years if they have remained here illegally for more than a year.  For those who left as required, they may a day late and a dollar short of being on the path to citizenship if this new bill passes both the House and Senate and grants literally millions of people the right to call this country their permanent home.  Time will tell this tale.