01 Feb 1st Anniversary of the Law Office of Janice A. Flynn & US Immigration Reform
Today is the first anniversary of the opening of the Law Office of Janice A. Flynn. It’s been a really great year both professionally and personally. It just goes to prove that if you do what you love and follow what you feel is right all will fall into place. What’s really exciting about celebrating my anniversary this week is that it also coincides with President Obama’s remarks calling for comprehensive US immigration reform.
President Obama’s speech was given at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, Nevada on 29th January 2013 and calls for change now in the US immigration system and, in the words of President Obama will hopefully lead to, “smarter enforcement; a pathway to earned citizenship; improvements in the legal immigration system so that we continue to be a magnet for the best and the brightest all around the world. ”
Over the years there have been many calls to change the US immigration law system and I have to admit I am often not very optimistic about change but this year it seems a bit different. This time we have members from both the Democratic and Republican parties who are working together to make change. Perhaps they all know that we need talent from the rest of the world to make American more prosperous and stronger. Also, last June a DREAM Act of sorts was created with DHS Secretary, Janet Napolitano’s announcement of deferred action for certain childhood arrivals, aka DACA, which set into action a process to give temporary legal status to those who entered the US as children. For years, the DREAM Act would be proposed in Congress with it only to fail. It took a policy change to finally change things.
As an immigration lawyer I’m a bit biased towards immigrants but I genuinely want change that will help my clients and at the same time make America a better and diverse place that is safe to live and has a strong economy. All of the people I’ve helped have something to contribute to America. President Obama mentions that we need to remember that all of us American citizens, unless you are a Native American, have come from somewhere else in the world. If we were born in America, it’s likely our ancestors came to America for a better life. Let’s hope that Congress will keep this in mind and finally make a change to our system that will work on all levels and not continue to divide America into “us” and “them.”
It will be exciting to see what the year brings for American immigration law and also for the Law Office of Janice A. Flynn!