Unfinished Business: Legal Immigration as the Strategic Refresh For Legislative Reform

After years of waiting for Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform, many advocates have pinned their hopes on squeezing legalization and other reforms through budget reconciliation. However, as reconciliation winds its way through increasingly complex negotiations, we should not lose sight of other opportunities and options to make lasting reforms to the immigration system. Morning Consult/BPC polling in May found that economic and legal immigration present a promising option for bipartisan legislating. What was the trajectory of past bipartisan reform efforts, and how important is reforming our system for future immigrants?

Join us to hear how former congressional staffers view the political path forward, why legal immigration reforms such as visa recapture are so crucial, and how legal immigration reform might provide a surprising fix to other parts of our broken immigration system.

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Featured Participants

Panel discussion with:

Leon Fresco
Immigration Attorney, Holland & Knight; Former Counsel to Sen. Chuck Shumer
@FrescoLeon

Cesar Conda
Founding Principal and Policy Advisor, Navigators Global, LLC; Former Chief of Staff to Sen. Marco Rubio
@CesarConda

Sharvari Dalal-Dheini
Government Relations Director, AILA
@ShevDD

Reva Resstack
Research Assistant, Center for Global Development
@RResstack

In light of restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, BPC events have shifted to all remote formats, such as video teleconferences or calls.