President likely to take executive action on legal immigration next month.
By Sujeet Rajan
NEW YORK: President Barack Obama is considering taking executive action on a broad swath of legal immigration next month, including freeing up more Green Cards for workers waiting in line for permanent residency, those sponsored by relatives and increasing the number of skilled immigrant workers, with the numbers being as high as 800,000 visas the first year.
An Associated Press report said Obama is considering the action after the requests made by tech, industry and powerful interest groups, which has been heard by administration officials at the White House through the summer. Some 20 such meetings were held. Coordinating these “listening sessions,” as the White House calls them, is its Office of Public Engagement, led by top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.
“The president has not made a decision regarding next steps, but he believes it’s important to understand and consider the full range of perspectives on potential solutions,” said White House spokesman Shawn Turner.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Obama could announce the measures soon after Labor Day.
According to the AP report, one of the more popular requests among business and family groups is a change in the way green cards are counted that would essentially free up some 800,000 additional visas the first year, advocates say.
Those who support changing the green card count say each year half of the 140,000 employment-based green cards issued go to spouses and children, unnecessarily reducing the numbers available to workers. If new rules go into effect, then the spouses and children would not count towards that cap.
Another proposal would “recapture” unused employment green cards from previous years, which could produce more than 200,000 new green cards, according to high-tech lobbyists and a document outlining proposals from Compete America, a coalition of high-tech companies.
“We have thousands of employees waiting for green cards. It is a hardship for them,” said Peter Muller, director for immigration policy for Intel Corp., who participated in one of the White House meetings, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Other requests have included removing the requirement that some spouses of U.S. citizens return to their native country for at least three years before they can apply for U.S. residency, as well as extending work permits to the spouses of all temporary H1-B skilled workers, who are on H-4 visas. Once that rule takes effect, almost 100,000 work permits would be issued to qualified dependents, said AP.
The Journal also reported that Alberto P. Cardenas Jr., a Houston attorney who attended this month’s meeting at the White House, said construction clients of his pressed administration officials to make sure any undocumented immigrants who are given new work permits are required to work for legitimate companies that follow the law and pay taxes.
According to Breitbart, the move by Obama could be going against what Americans want, at least going by polls.
A Reuters poll “found that 70% of Americans feel illegal immigrants threaten U.S. beliefs and customs, 63% believe more immigration at this time threatens the country’s economy, and 45% want fewer immigrants. A recent poll from The Polling Company found that 90% of likely voters feel that “U.S.-born workers and legal immigrants already here should get first preference for jobs.” Strong majorities of those who favor a pathway to legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants even believe that “jobs now held by illegal immigrants should go to American workers.”
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a bin opponent of increasing immigration, accused the Obama administration of “actively working against the interests of the American worker.”
“We have communities throughout America that are barely scraping by. Tens of millions of Americans are on welfare, unemployment, and public assistance,” Sessions said in a statement this week. “Yet the White House and their Senate Majority seem more concerned about the economic demands of large corporations, or the citizens of other countries, than about getting our own citizens back to work into stable jobs that can support a family and uplift a community.”
17 Comments
Poorly researched article. 800,000 H1B visas given out in 2013, due to excessive cap exemptions.
Please read this article in the NY times by Nobel laureate Paul Krugman – http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/opinion/krugman-jobs-and-skills-and-zombies.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
IT has been stonewalling citizen labor for 15 years. As a matter of fact, as of 1998, I watched the management hire less qualified H-1Bs which they continue to do to this day. The problem is, under it all, that Washington works for Wall St.
According to the census numbers at http://econdataus.com/svworkers.html , about half of software developers in Silicon Valley are already non-citizens. Is that not enough? And, as you can see from the third graph and table at http://econdataus.com/h1binfo.htm , over 80 percent of initial H-1B hires are under 35. Do we need to replace even more older American programmers with cheap, young foreign workers? Finally, most of the commentary at http://econdataus.com/skillsgap.html suggest that the claims of a skills gap by our CEOs is totally bogus. What there exists is a gap of honest information on this subject. We need to call business and our politicians out on this. Otherwise, all American workers will need to look over their shoulders as they approach 50.
No, it isn’t. And I’m watching the H-1B “essential” coworkers from years past be laid off for fresh batches. May 2014 Google HR said publicly that when they looking into their interviewers criteria for “qualified”, it included “young”, “male” and “white or asian”. Google said they were waiting for their peers to admit the same. It’s been dead silent since.
Three layers of ugly under proliferation of H-1B usage
– Google types, ageist, sexist, raciest
– Captive. Much of IT wants control, so promise an employment sponsor green card which holds labor captive for 7 to 10 years.
– Greed. AT&T are letting go 100 at a time and replacing them with “contract” H-1B June grads.
Yes, you can expect this to spread. Gone from IT, into medical and accounting already. The senate bill S744 quadruples H-1B, by doubling visas, plus now allows their spouses to work. And the allowing spouses to work will mean millions of new workers for the H-1Bs already here. 800,000 H-1Bs approved last year, when the “official” number is 65K, with the remaining “exceptions” to the 65K cap. You can see how much trouble this is going to be.
Companies which want H1 workers should first be asked to hire a certain percentage of local workers before they recruit non US citizens.This will safeguard the interest of local workers.
US immigration department only takes care of family based visas and other countries in the world gives visas to employment based. Dont think as individual but think of others who are waiting in the line for green card. Yes do stop H1 if you wish but after giving H1 dont stop green cards. See this stats man before you even write here http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/19/why-more-skilled-immigration-would-be-good-for-american-workers-too/
Green card means the damage is permanent.
stfu you pig-faced c*nt.
And you are a racist sexist swine. It looks like you got a Disqus account just for that purpose, exuding contempt.
The H1B Visa program is destroying the careers and families of the American middle class. It should be terminated immediately, not expanded.
What about the hardships for US citizens with technical skills that are bypassed in favor of foreign workers? Why is that issue not important? What about the hardships on the US citizens who are un or unemployed? Why do business interests trump those of US citizens?
Oh this S 744 bill is much bigger trouble than just the IT industry. It will give all spouses permission to work, and there is a huge number of H1Bs already here. As these people flood the labor market, it will likely decimate well beyond IT.
Yes, that is our corrupt congress at work.
stfu you pig-faced c*nt.
Again? Let me guess, you’re a dejected male obsessed with crass female genitalia references to vent against all those who rejected you. Well I’m sure a green card will take care of your problems. Find a third world woman for your third world mind. There are plenty of desperate who’ll submissively take you up on it.
Again? Is this your stereotypical cut and paste?
Typical liberal, disrespecting woman.