Broken legal immigration needs resuscitation.
By Sujeet Rajan
NEW YORK: When the far right slimeball of a politician Texas Sen. Ted Cruz displays immaculate debating skills on stage to try secure the Republican nomination for president – he seems to have the hide of an elephant when it comes to thick skin, wings made of unflappable leather as it never gets ruffled, and a peculiar condescending smile even when rightly humiliated by his opponents on his flip-flopping on myriad issues – remember he is the one who killed the bipartisan immigration reform bill, which would have given succor to hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants in this country, paved the way for further economic development.
Cruz even gloated about his destructive legal immigration tactics, on stage, in the last debate in South Carolina.
Cruz, who, going by reports, seems to be deeply disliked by his own party cadre, is the last person the GOP wants to see elected as their nominee. Go past that suave, polished demeanor of the insidious Cruz, and you will find it downright appalling that this man has the gall and temerity to even talk about increasing the number of visas for foreign workers, like H-1B and L visa workers.
In reality, Cruz is the hypocrite who along with his like-minded (anti-immigrant) chums in the Senate, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Al.), Sen. Steve King (R-IA), Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), among others, shot down the 2013 bipartisan initiative on immigration reforms in Congress which would have seen the US according due accord to those legal immigrants who have contributed immensely to this country, but are showed scant respect when it comes to granting permanent residency.
For most people like Cruz, these skilled legal immigrants are the work-horses to be slogged mercilessly and squeezed for money every year for immigration fees which keeps the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) self-sufficient.
What Cruz and his despicable chums in the Senate would really like to do is to put skilled legal immigrants in the country on a roller-coaster ride with the promise that they would be granted permanent residency, a Green Card, when the ride comes to an end. Perhaps, after 20 years, when the immigrants have raised families, bought houses, and lived a nerve-wracking life of uncertainty while on that roller coaster ride, with at time unbearable emotional and psychological turmoil, they would discover to their dismay that Cruz had pushed a button, with that condescending smile of his, to put the ride into perpetual motion.
What Cruz and his immigrant-hating ilk really want is to never give any stability to legal immigrants; take a giant wrecking ball and swing it at all the skilled legal immigrants who are standing in line for years and decades in hope for a Green Card. All with that wonderful, beastly smile of his.
In this presidential cycle, going into the primaries, it seems the real champions of legal immigration are Republican businessman Donald Trump and Democrat, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. They have staunchly defended the rights of legal immigration. However, both have never really outlined their plans as to how would they really bring about immigration reforms, which are critical to make this country great again. Gain their favor with immediate future voters.
Here’s what Clinton and Trump need to outline when they talk of immigration reforms, be it through Congress or through executive action, like President Barack Obama has done on numerous instances, including granting certain H4 visa holders Employment Authorization Documents. That highly laudable move of Obama allowed spouses of skilled workers on H4 visas – some who have even doctoral degrees to their name – a chance to work, contribute to society and their household, not just languish at home:
- Assure Green Cards to those who deserve it: Tens of thousands of immigrants, especially from India, are waiting in line for years and decades to get a Green Card, with no relief in sight. Why is that? Because the antiquated, broken EB2 and EB3 system keep retrogressing or is worse than even a snail, when it comes to moving up priority dates. The DHS at present is overwhelmed with applications, with not enough staff and personnel to handle the hundreds of thousands of applications they receive every year.
Trump and Clinton should make new policies to reflect the needs of the present. The inadequate and discriminatory system of a certain number of visas allocated for Green Cards, according to country-wise system which is unfavorable to India and China, should be done away with. Skilled legal immigrants, who have degrees from the US, employed here and been law abiding residents for at least 10 years, should be granted an automatic Green Card. If not that, then for those immigrants who have been residing legally for 10 years, employed and law-abiding, should be allowed to move up the stuck EB2 and EB3 system by a year, every year, till their priority dates become current. That way nobody will lose hope. Most would hope to get their Green Card in at around 15 years, if not 10 years.
- Make it easier for legal immigrants on EAD Cards to change employers: Despite the recent announcement by the DHS, with proposed rule changes presumably to make life easier for EAD card holders to renew their document – especially when it comes to getting back the renewed cardswithin 90 days – it’s still very vague. Why harass and intimidate primary renewal applicants to prove that they will be employed after the expiry of their present EAD cards? Which corporate office in America will declare that a specific employee would remain employed in the future, especially if there is no contract in place? It’s an absurd condition. The DHS should either remove it, or amend it.
Trump and Clinton should make rules for automatic renewal of EAD card, as long as the applicant has pay stubs to show that they are currently employed and in the same field of work, at the time of application for renewal.
- Ensure that F-1 visa students are not exploited by unscrupulous universities and employers: The idea of a diverse community of students in a classroom in an US education institution is just hyperbole and a thing of the past, it seems nowadays. Dubious and controversial universities like Silicon Valley University and Northwestern Polytechnic, both located in California, seem to cater overwhelmingly to only students from India, who desperately want a degree under their belt, especially with a post-graduate degree in IT.
The students who are already enrolled in these two universities, and more like them, paying good money for their so-called education, are not at fault. It’s the job of the DHS to wean out the dubious universities from the ones who really deserve accreditation. What’s the point of giving an F-1 visa for these two universities through the US embassy or their consulates in India, and then deporting those very same students, when they come to the US? It only shows that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing in the State Department, especially when it comes to the burgeoning industry of universities filling their coffers through enrollment of international students.
Trump and Clinton should order a review of all universities and colleges who have overwhelming number of students from India, or from some other country, like China. Check to see if they are up for accreditation or not. Assure that in their presidency this kind of ridiculous instances of deporting students and ruining their lives, do not happen. They also need to ensure that students who graduate from accredited universities are not exploited by bad employers.
In fact, the quota for students who graduate from US universities – which is at present 20,000 annually and is subject to the lottery system when there are more applicants than the allotted quota – should be done away with. Students, who after their period of Optional Practical Training (OPT) is over, get a job offer which follows the norms of industry standards and pay scale – should be given an automatic H-1B visa, to be scrutinized every two years for any wrong-doing. Even those students on OPT should be allowed to work only with escalating pay-scale offers and benefits every year, to ensure that employers don’t take advantage of students to keep their businesses going.
Why subject students on F-1 visas who have gained skills in the US to be forced to go back to their home country, despite a job offer in hand? That is another form of forced deportation. Also, this would remove the growing chasm between STEM and non-STEM students. It’s wrong to presume that the US can only propagate, or allow those students to work here who have STEM-related degrees. The world has not yet come to that stage, robots or no robots. It’s good to encourage more students to take up STEM-related degrees. It’s downright wrong to inculcate values in society that students who go in for non-STEM related programs have no career prospects, and give them less OPT time-frames than STEM students. OPT time-frames should be made equal for all graduate students of US universities.
Trump and Clinton could also encourage Congress to initiate a comprehensive immigration reforms bill which would add that 20,000 quota of visas for students to the quota of regular H-1B visas, so that the number of foreign workers every year is upgraded to 80,000. This would also assuage the demand of multinationals in the US who have been clamoring for more visas to hire skilled workers from overseas.
It’s important for Clinton and Trump to remember that the issue of illegal immigrants and work permits for them – for at least 5 million or so going by reports – is likely to be resolved by the Supreme Court this summer. While that is good news for those sidelined folks, who have been traumatized for long and been living in the shadows, curbing their growth in society, perversely, it doesn’t help the cause of legal immigrants.
If the Supreme Court sides with the Obama administration on granting temporary stay and EAD cards to adult illegal immigrants who are covered under Obama’s executive powers, then in some years’ time, these illegal immigrants-turned legal immigrants would start to apply for a Green Card. The DHS system of EB 2 and EB3 would then start to get even more clogged. retrogression of priority dates might even move back to 1990, maybe to the disco era of the eighties.
No wise man ever said that it’s important to get a Green Card and permanent residency in the US after one dies, and is buried or burnt.
Trump or Clinton, whoever gets the presidency, should try to help legal residents reach their full potential. Help this country even more with their resultant contributions.
(Sujeet Rajan is Editor-in-Chief, The American Bazaar)
3 Comments
The whole idea of classifying STEM vs NON-STEM is plain short-sighted and without any rationale.
Ted Cruz looks much better since he decided to change for the better on the H1b visa issue. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I will have to give him a closer look.
Ted cruz is not done with H1b Visas. He is loyal to his masters. He 10 months back was asking to increase the h1b quota to 350,000. Because his masters in NY and silicon valley asked him to do so. Now when it came to making rule that people stuck in the h1b visa for last 10 years and have applied for status be given EAD with which they can change employers. This Created a turmoil within corporates. Because now this age old slave H1b would make similar demands as the Native worker and would not be that lucrative. There would be great econonomic loss for these corporations. So they employed Cruz, Orin hatch, John coryn, chuck grassley and few other of their cronies to make sure that the slaves don’t get the ead and remain on H1b as slaves and keep the american worker out of JOB.