I recently attended the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) annual conference in Boston, MA from June 18 - June 21 attended by over 3,000 Immigration Attorneys across the U.S. In our July 2013 newsletter (my report following last year's annual conference), I was delighted to be able to report on the status of DACA filings and the Supreme Court of the United States ruling where they declared Section 3 of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. At that time, huge strides were being made in the Immigration realm. As I write this newsletter greeting a year later, I am appalled by our Congressional Representatives failure to act.

On June 27, 2013, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) was passed by the U.S. Senate. Although the legislation is not perfect, it is a compromise, a compromise that is long overdue and very much needed. To date, the House has not acted on CIR nor do they intend to do so. If anything, they have stated that they will create their own immigration reform through piecemeal legislation, focusing on border enforcement first...yet, with the recent unaccompanied minor crisis at our Southern Border, they still have failed to act.

Within the past few months, we have had a significant increase of unaccompanied minors cross our southern border, which has been covered nationally by various news outlets. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics show unaccompanied minors have been crossing our southern border in large numbers for the past several years! 'Why?' is the question that is causing so much debate! Is it to seek new immigration benefits provided to minors (unfortunately there are no new laws or protections on the books for unaccompanied minors) or to escape violence, sex/drug trafficking and poverty? Are we faced with an Immigration Crisis or a Humanitarian Crisis? I highly recommend that you take the time to read some of the articles that are being published concerning this issue and from what you have read, formulate your own opinion and join the discussion.

We need Immigration Reform. We are a nation of Immigrants! We are losing the Global fight for STEM resources and are continuing to weaken our agricultural system! The United States has to compete in the Global market and economy, which means we need to have the best, the brightest in the STEM fields and a reliable agricultural workforce. We need to continue to urge members of the U.S. House of Representatives to work on real solutions to fix our immigration system by passing true Immigration Reform, which encompasses EVERYONE: workers, employers, students, families, and the undocumented. We have nearly 12 million undocumented individuals living in the shadows of America.

I am reminded of my days in law school when I marched in Jena, Louisiana in support of the Jena Six! At that time, I was told by many of my elders that you must take a stand for something, or you will fall for anything. Now is the time to take a stand!