“Why don’t they just adjust their status?” Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto says that question ignores a major barrier built into U.S. immigration law: for some immigrants who have accrued unlawful presence, leaving the country to pursue legal status can trigger a three- or 10-year bar on returning. Cortez Masto is pushing legislation that would eliminate those reentry bars as part of a broader overhaul aimed at giving some long-term immigrants with deep ties to the U.S. a path to legal status. Her Fairness for Immigrant Families Act was introduced in July and has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
