Video: Local Attorney Says New Immigration Program Could Help Mississippi

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Illegal immigration has been a hot button issue for decades but lawmakers in Washington D.C. just can’t seem to agree on immigration reform. President Obama recently took the issue in his own hands and signed an executive order to address the issue. Still, a local immigration attorney says the order could benefit the economy and stop employers who take advantage of workers.

“The employers will hire on folks who maybe can’t show appropriate papers and they will pay them undercut wages this will put them on a level playing field,” says Carol Armstrong, a long-time immigration lawyer.

Armstrong has been an immigration attorney for two decades. She emphasizes that the President’s new immigration program will mainly affect those brought to the states illegally as children and are now living and working in the US.

“It will also provide them with work authorization, which will allow them to gain legal work. Mississippi is an e-verify state so we have to verify all of our employers here,” says Armstrong.

Armstrong says allowing undocumented workers legal authorization to work will help boost the economy. She also says the belief that illegal immigrants take jobs from Americans is disproved by research and simply unfounded.

“The problem with it is, a lot of people want to take the position that the outsiders are coming in and taking away American jobs. A majority of the time, they’re doing jobs that Americans just won’t do,” says Armstrong.

It’s still unclear if illegal immigrants will be entitled to any benefits under President Obama’s program. The application process for the new immigration program is expected to be completed by Spring 2015.