NEW YORK, CMC:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he plans to take his push for immigration reform to Chicago and Boston this week.

He disclosed that at Chicago forum scheduled for Tuesday morning a discussion will be held with former White House Chief of Staff William Daley.

Both events are the work of an immigration advocacy group called the Partnership for the New American Economy.

According to the Mayor, students from the Caribbean and other countries get advanced degrees in the US and then return home because they don’t have green cards.

“They start businesses, which create jobs overseas when we need those jobs here,” he added. “This is insanity. We need people to create jobs here” he said on radio here.

His comments came as the Obama administration began to process applications from hundreds of thousands of young illegal Caribbean and other immigrants expected to seek two-year deferrals of deportation.

On June 15, President Barack Obama said certain young people who came to the United States as children and meet other key guidelines may be eligible, on a case-by-case basis, to receive deferred action.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it is finalising a process by which potentially eligible individuals may request consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals.

USCIS director Alejandro Mayorkas said applicants will be charged US$465 for each request. He said applications, which will also include requests for work permits, will be considered individually, with each immigrant undergoing a criminal and national security background check.

Mayorkas said information from the applications would not be used for immigration enforcement, which is handled by a separate agency.

Fraudulent Application

However, he said Caribbean and other immigrants found to have serious criminal histories or to pose national security risks would be prosecuted for deportation, and anyone submitting a fraudulent application could face criminal prosecution.

Mayorkas said illegal immigrants can apply whether they are already in deportation proceedings or they have never been detected by the authorities.