By now, you've probably heard one of the latest buzzwords in the immigration debate: chain migration. You'll hear it constantly now. Some horrendous threat that must end in order to move on the #DreamAct. (Plus a wall.)

But how new is it? And what does it actually mean? Humza Kazmi and I investigated.

First, the term "chain migration" exists nowhere in the immigration law. Not in the Immigration & Nationality Act, the CFR, field manuals, memos, or FAQ's. The term for individuals sponsoring their family members is called (surprisingly): family-based immigration. Our immigration laws only allow spouses, parents, children, and siblings to be petitioned for. You must be a permanent resident or US citizen in order to do it. Sometimes the wait is 1 year or so. Other times, decades. There's no direct way to sponsor an uncle, grandparent, etc.

​The term "chain migration" has no basis in the law. It is a made-up term. But made up by whom?

 Interestingly, the concept was known in Nazi Germany. Propaganda posters showed the multitude of babies born to "inferior" races - and the charts look eerily similar to the ones used by the White House to warn o the dangers of multiplying immigrants.

The idea behind chain migration is much older.

In 2006, CIS (Center for Immigration Studies), in an article by James Edwards, Jr. (of the Hudson Institute) cited Roy Beck and began using the term "chain migration." CIS, of course, is an alter ego of NumbersUSA and both are tied to FAIR and ultimately their founder, Dr. Tanton, whose private papers I am seeking to unseal in a FOIA lawsuit I filed against the University of Michigan.

CIS began to use the term in more and more and more papers, pushing this #CampOfTheSaints myth that immigrants were just going to take over the world. Terms like chain migration suited the concept very well.

A Google Trends search on the term shows about when Trump first picked it up in November. Now, all of a sudden, it's a national emergency.

The term chain migration belongs in the same dustbin as illegal immigrant, criminal alien, and anchor baby.

IT IS A SLUR. A dehumanizing slur. Do not accept the framing. A lot of thought went into creating this term, and it goes back a long time.

It completely removes - mock, even - the idea of family unity. Even die-hard alt-right types know it's hard to sell "End Family-Based Immigration!" So - like "death taxes" - they came up with a much more convenient label. Never mind that it doesn't exist in the law. (Yet.)

It creates the false impression that an immigrant can immediately bring not only nuclear family members, but extended family members. A US citizen bringing a sibling takes 13+ years. A parent for an adult child may take 10 years or more. The only "quick" ones are spouses, children under 21, and parents of US citizens - they take just over 1 year. Of course, this assumes no delays caused by other reasons, such as the CARRP program for Muslims, lost files, or visa refusals.

I've heard Democrats use this term, and this fact has been thrown at me as proof that a) it's not a racist term, or b) Democrats are racist.

I don't care who uses it. It's a racist term, cooked up by those who've been clamoring for Muslim bans and ICE raids for decades. Ones who crippled the immigration law, turning it into a lumbering sloth that works neither in the national interest nor, as it stands, by common sense. And we're supposed to swallow some vague notion of "security" before being graced with an audience to talk immigration reform.

Sorry not sorry. Not buying the white sheet framing. Security comes from prosperity on either side of the border - walls don't help do that. Don't say things like "chain migration is what American immigration has always been about." It's not. It always centered around families. The least we can do is to honor that and not use a dehumanizing term. Dehumanization, after all, was a necessary precursor to near every genocide in history.

Labels matter. They create frames of thought. Repeating terms like "chain migration" reinforce that frame, limiting discourse to dangerously dehumanizing terms. Break free of the limits imposed by groups like CIS, FAIR, and NumbersUSA when talking about immigration. And learn a thing or two about the actual immigration system and how it (doesn't) work before opining on what you think immigrants should do.

A HYPOTHETICAL CASE STUDY

Let's take the example of a 35 year old Dreamer, #DACA expiring Mar 2018. He came to US with his parents at age 4. He has no criminal record, and has never left the US. He goes to see an immigration lawyer his family has been working with for years.

First: Our Dreamer is privileged, because many cannot afford counsel. Though they're maligned as "lawbreakers," the government doesn't provide them lawyers.

OK. Let's figure out how to help our Dreamer!


​
"Leave and come back legally."

Leaving will trigger a 10 year bar to reentry. A waiver (forgiveness) exists, but our Dreamer doesn't qualify. He has no parents or spouse who are US citizens or green card holders. An uncle is, but that doesn't help. Let's say he has US citizen kids. Well - to qualify for this waiver, hardship to kids doesn't count. He's out of luck.

"Afraid to go back? File for asylum!"

General fear of return is insufficient to win asylum. It must be on very particular grounds. Despite being federal, asylum law doesn't operate the same in all states. Failure to win asylum results in being placed in removal proceedings. And that's if Dreamer had no prior contact with ICE. If he has, he likely has an in absentia order of deportation. That means he would be barred from applying for asylum, unless he can show conditions in his country of origin have changed to create a new type of fear he didn't have before. Filing such a motion, if denied, would put him on the radar for deportation. 

"Just wait for the law to change."

Probably the best advice so far; "best" being relative. In the meantime, can't go to school, work legally, or drive. The #DreamAct has failed for 17 years and counting.

"Get married!"

And set down deeper roots into a country refusing to let him stay?

Even if he did, he still needs to win a waiver and return home to reenter. That waiver wasn't allowed to be filed inside the US until 2013. And still need to show hardship to USC spouse. Hardship to our Dreamer is legally irrelevant.

"Don't you have TPS or something?"

Only some Dreamers do; depends on their country. The largest proportion of Dreamers are Mexican and Mexico has never been designated for TPS. (And probably never will.) But this is being taken away by the administration, country by country, determined to leave #dedocumented as many immigrants as possible.

"Go talk to immigration."

In other words, serve yourself up to ICE. Not a good idea. They're not there to help. You're not setting up a payment plan with the IRS. Walk in, and you're on your own, buddy. No lawyer either.

"Ever been a crime victim? Maybe you can get a U Visa."

No, thank God. So no visa for me?

Nope.

Wait...I remember one time my work permit and valid SSN were stolen. I spent months fixing it. Does that count?

No. Not a qualifying crime. Sorry.

"Get your employer to sponsor you."

You're not eligible for a green card inside the US if you have more than 6 months of unlawful presence. So your employer could start the process but you couldn't file for the green card, so what's the point in starting? Also, you can't leave and come back because of 10 year bar. By the way, your employer has to test labor market first and give job to qualified US workers first.

"I'm from El Salvador. I've saved up $120k. Can't I invest and create a business that'll hire US workers?"

No. El Salvador isn't on the treaty investor country list.

"I'm from Honduras. Can I?"

No. Honduras is on the list but unlawful presence prevents you from getting a visa.

"What about the 10 years law?"

No such thing. Please don't listen to rumors on the street or what you read on the Internet. There is no law that prevents you from deportation if you've been here for more than 10 years. One of the dangers lurking for Dreamers and people like them is the bad advice floating around. One of the most persistent rumors is the "10 year law" - that if you're here for 10 years (and, in some versions, have kids here) then you cannot be deported. No such law ever existed.

"What if I serve in the military?"

There was a program called MAVNI that allowed getting citizenship for certain noncitizens with certain skills. But It expired in 2016. The current administration has failed to renew it. So, you can't serve.

"Can't I change status to a student visa?"

No. Unlawful presence requires you to leave. And once you do, you trigger the 10 year bar to reentry. You can't switch to ANY other status, actually. All for the same reason.

"Good news! I found out my grandpa became a US citizen and filed for all of us back in May 2001! I'm good now, right?"

So close, but no. Unlawful presence makes it impossible to qualify for a green card even though you have an approved petition. If it was filed before 4.30.01 you might have been ok under an old law that was never renewed. But May is too late.

"Ok my brother was born here. He can file for me, right?"

Yes, he can file a petition, but no, it won't lead to a green card. You still have to leave. And when you do, you trigger the 10 year bar. You can't get a green card inside the US. Besides, sibling petitions take 13+ years to become current. Filing a petition, then, gives ICE 13 years to find you.

I could go on and on. Immigration lawyers reading this will identify with a lot.

Remember: This isn't your granddaddy's immigration system. It is usually impossible to comply with. It is full of legal pitfalls. One mistake and boom! You're in immigration court fighting to stay.

So before you judge the 800,000-some Dreamers, or the rest of the 11 million plus undocumented population, or the forcibly dedocumented, or the ones currently in legal status struggling to remain so, ask yourself: "Were they given a fair chance to fix their status?"

I've always advocated for clients to become US citizens as soon as possible.
Sometimes I get asked, "So once I'm a citizen, I'm good, right?" And I say, "Yes, generally. There is always a chance of denaturalization (revoking citizenship) but that is relatively rare."

Enter Operation Janus. I will not be alarmist, but I can no longer give such advice.

On September 8, 2016, the Office of Inspector General reported that 858 people had been granted US citizenship based on incomplete fingerprint records. Normally, fingerprints are checked against both immigration and FBI digital databases, but neither of these databases included all older, paper records. So some people's fingerprints may have matched older records but because they were not in either database, it failed to generate a positive hit, and was therefore never investigated.

Another 148,000 records were identified by ICE as not having been digitized (and hence not in the databases normally checked). These were of people who were fugitives, had criminal records, orders of deportation, or were otherwise potentially ineligible for citizenship. Some of those, perhaps, tried to (and maybe became) citizens.

On January 5, 2018 the first casualty of Operation Janus lost his citizenship: Baljinder Singh (aka Davinder Singh) of India. Two other Operation Janus cases (Parvez Manzoor Khan and Rashid Mahmood, both of Pakistan) in September apparently remain pending.

The DOJ is investigating 315,000 cases in which people were granted citizenship without the proper fingerprint data available. USCIS intends to refer approximately another 1,600 for denaturalization prosecution. It remains to be seen how they will decide which cases to pursue - most of these 315,000 may have been granted citizenship on incomplete data, but now the data will be checked and perhaps nothing will turn up. If there is any irregularity, however, prosecution becomes possible, and if there is a hint of fraud, it becomes likely.

Denaturalization can be prosecuted whenever citizenship was "unlawfully procured" - it does *not* require there to be fraud. Mistaken grants of permanent residence or citizenship count as "unlawful procurement" of citizenship. So it will be up to the DOJ to decide whether to prosecute. I need not remind you that Jeff Sessions heads the DOJ.

This will seemingly affect mostly people who have been US citizens for decades, where there is an older, non-digital fingerprint record that may not have been checked - until now.

Main takeaways from this story:

1. Old issues can and will come back to haunt you. If you're on the path to citizenship, remember this and remember it well.
2. Citizenship is not truly final. Do not be lulled into a false sense of security.
3. It will be interesting to see the breakdown by country of former nationality of Operation Janus.

Attorney Lily S. Axelrod correctly points out: this is not a reason to panic, and it's certainly not a reason not to file for citizenship. What it does mean is that sound advice is very important. It also means citizenship is not an straightforward as it used to be.