b'IMMIGRATION REFORM AND THE CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTOR:A AWHAT DID PRESIDENT OBAMA ACTUALLY DO?A ASteve WatringPresident Obama made some big news on November 20, by giving a speech about his executive actionGiving that person the plan to fix the countrys broken immigration system. Politics aside, for many contractors this held out hope for expansion ofright to temporarily the labor pool.But what really was done?And when is it likely to take effect? stay and work despite While President Obama gave a speech and laid out a plan,that status.anyone that says he issued an Executive Order is wrong.There is no such animal on the White House website.There is nospeed things up.such animal recorded in the Federal Register where such thingsThird, even if the action plan becomes effective, the are recorded.What President Obama did was set forth hisundocumented workers will have to come out of the shadows visionary yet skeletal plan, and directed his various agenciesand make application.There is no way of knowing how many and other minions to set on a course to try to implement thatof these almost 5 million will decide to do that.Remember vision.Especially in Washington, the devil is in the details, andthat as planned this all will be happening during a presidential there are a lot of details to be fleshed out. election cycle, and that the next president can (and if they are For most employers, the most important part of Presidenta Republican probably will) undo whatever has been done. Obamas action plan is that it envisions expressly permittingFurthermore, even as envisioned, the permission to work will almost 5 million presently undocumented (aka illegal)only be granted for 3 years, and it will not change the persons immigrants to stay and work in the United States for up to 3status as an illegal immigrant. It is simply giving that person years if they meet certain requirements: the right to temporarily stay and work despite that status. What happens to the people that have taken advantage of 1.They have been in the U.S. for at least five years the program when time runs out?Of course, there also is no2.They have to come forward and register guarantee that an application will be granted, much less that 3.They have to submit biometric data (example- it will be granted anytime soon.Delays by the immigration fingerprints) system are legendary.A law abiding illegal immigrant 4.They have to pass a criminal background check(assuming you can simultaneously be law abiding and illegal), 5.They have to pay application fees may decide to stay in the shadows rather than outing 6.As of November 19, 2014 they had a child that was a U.S.themselves, and take their chances under the current system of citizen (anyone born in the U.S.) or a lawful permanentlax enforcement.resident The bottom line is that if a contractor is looking at the Presidents action plan as giving hope for expanding the labor If you are seeing this as increasing the pool of eligible pool, it is not going to happen immediately.If it happens at all, workers, that may be trueeventually.But not so fast. newly documented immigrant workers are likely to enter the First, even as envisioned, this portion of the action planpool slowly rather than in a tidal wave.is not to be implemented for 180 days. That ends up beingIf you are in human resources and concerned about how to around May 19, 2015.Thats a target.When it comes toadminister the new requirements, my best advice is to relax.meeting their own timelines, Washington bureaucrat yearsIts not going to happen for awhile, if at all.Remember that are somewhere between people years and dog years.Lookthe administration wants it to be easy for these workers to get at how well the government has done in hitting health carejobs, and part of that will be to remove barriers to them being law targets.Best guessdont expect immigration reformhired. These newly documented (yet still technically illegal) implementation for the 2015 construction peak season.Andimmigrants will be issued some kind of new identification thats without considering the other complications. similar to a green card. You will have to locate and download Second, depending on which side of the aisle you sit on,a new I-9 form complete with instructions.You will need to the action plan either is totally constitutional or grounds forhave a tracking system in place so that you know when the immediate impeachment.The truth probably is somewhere innewly documented workers 3 year work permit is up.You may between.The legal and political challenges are underway withhave to deal with some immigrants who have been working for more to come.Nobody can really predict how those will endyou under false identities and who now want to come out of up.The only safe bet is that it is not going to do anything tothe shadows.Even if you are confronted with that situation, it 16 www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer'