ABA Policies on Immigration Issues

    Immigration has been an ABA legislative priority since 1992. The ABA is actively engaged in improving the nation's immigration laws.

    Policy Overview

    The ABA supports legal immigration based on family reunification and employment skills, due process safeguards in immigration and asylum adjudications, and judicial review of such decisions. The ABA also supports the appointment of counsel at government expense to unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings, the restoration of public benefits to legal immigrants and refugees, and improving the wages, working conditions and legal status of farmworkers in the United States. The ABA opposes laws that require employers and persons providing education, health care, or other social services to verify citizenship or immigration status.

    ABA Policy established at the 2017 Midyear Meeting in Miami, FL

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    Urges the United States Department of State to interpret the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1401, to recognize those children born to intended parents, even if those legally recognized parents do not have a biological (genetic or gestational) relationship to the child, so long as at least one of the intended parents is a U.S. citizen who is legally recognized as the child’s parent by the country of birth or the intended parents state of domicile and the relevant resident or physical presence requirements are met.

    ABA Policy Established at the 2010 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California

    ABA Policy Established at the 2010 Midyear Meeting in Orlando, Florida