The United States issued a warning on Wednesday to immigrants who are considering crossing the border into the country that they will not be eligible for any immigration reform laws that may be passed next year. The reform bill that was passed by the Senate back in June offers a pathway to US citizenship for around 11 million undocumented immigrants – but the cut-off point is for those who came to the country before December 30th, 2011.
The Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary of international affairs, Alan Bersin, says that smugglers are not above telling immigrants that they should cross over prior to immigration reform being passed, although he admits to having no evidence that this is actually occurring.
“It seems to be that it is supremely important that people who are crossing, or trying to cross… they have to realize they will have no right to take advantage of any immigration reform law that gets passed,” Bersin points out. The US Embassy in Mexico City’s Department of Homeland Security attaché, Edgar Ramirez, has also stated that immigrants should not believe the false promises made to them by smugglers.
Many lawmakers in the United States have been worried that immigration reform could result in an influx of immigrants crossing the border, believing they will be able to be protected by any new laws, but so far there has been no surge in illegal crossing attempts since the bill was passed by the Senate six months ago.