Our Broken Immigration System: Why It Has Failed and How It Can Be Fixed

Among the issues Mr. Ruthizer will tackle are the following: - Should 11 million people here in violation of U.S. law be rewarded with a legal status, and if so, what kind of a status? - What does a “pathway to citizenship” mean, and can it be designed in a way that does not favor these persons over the 4.5 million immigrants now waiting for visa backlogs to clear? - Should we raise or even eliminate the H-1B quotas for foreign national professionals to expand growth and development of the U.S. economy, or would this depress wages and work opportunities for U.S. candidates? - Is it time to eliminate certain family immigration categories like brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens in favor of expanding other categories? - How shall we choose our immigrants? Is a point system elitist and unfair? Is there a better system than the current labor certification system, in place for more than 60 years, requiring a showing that there are no minimally qualified U.S. workers? Should we reduce the family quotas in favor of having more employment-based immigration? - Shall we have a temporary worker program that requires workers to leave families behind and come for a limited period with no possibility of staying permanently? - How can we enforce the immigration laws in the future when past enforcement efforts have failed so badly? We will have a full discussion of all of these issues as we explore what makes for a fair and workable immigration system for the 21st Century. With more than 30 years of experience in the field, Mr. Ruthizer, Co-Chair of the firm's Business Immigration group, is recognized as one of the country’s leading immigration lawyers. Mr. Ruthizer is a past president and general counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He is a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, where he teaches an advanced seminar in immigration law and policy. He is a frequent lecturer on business immigration law and has authored or co-authored many publications in the field. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association (Past Chair, Immigration Law Committee), the New York City Bar Association, the International Bar Association, the ABA Section of International Law and the American Foreign Law Association. Mr. Ruthizer was the recipient of the Legal Aid Society’s 2003 and 2010 Awards for Outstanding Pro Bono Service and Legal Services NYC’s 2008 Pro Bono Award.