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Bloggings On Immigration Law And Policyby Greg SiskindEditor's note: Here are the latest entries from Greg Siskind's blog. December 15, 2009
SCAMWATCH
GUTIERREZ IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL INTRODUCED
Still waiting on the actual text, but here's a summary from the folks at the Immigration Policy Center.
December 14, 2009
FUGITIVE WORKED AT ATLANTA USCIS OFFICE
Hat tip to Robert Gard for the link.
YOU WANT TO CREATE JOBS IN THE US? HOW DARE YOU!
A friendly reader in NY sent this story from CNNMoney.com. It talks about the Vivek Wadhwa entrepreneur visa, but the set up story about Internet entrepreneur at the beginning tells you a lot about what's wrong with our current system. By the way, the story links to a new grassroots web site www.startupvisa.com. Worth checking out.
NAFSA REPORT: MAKE SURE CIR DOESN'T LEAVE OUT NEEDED STUDENT VISA REFORMS
The fine folks at NAFSA have issued a report reminding people why the US needs to retain its commitment to international education and needs to fix many aspects of the current system. This sums up the importance of the subject:
The report is chock full of good ideas and worth the read.
ANOTHER CHARITY BARS KIDS OF IMMIGRANTS FROM GETTING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Lovely. Sad to see this happening in my home state. [UPDATE: The LA Salvation Army has dropped the no toys for immigrants' kids policy.]
December 12, 2009
IMMIGRATION DETENTIONS SKYROCKET
More evidence that enforcement efforts are in high gear:
The information comes from The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). The report also outlines a large increase in the number of detainees transferred far from where they live.
JANUARY VISA BULLETIN OUT
Here is my take on the latest Visa Bulletin. More forward movement in the family visa categories. A little forward movement in the employment numbers. Here are the highlights:
Family 1st - Advancement of worldwide, China and India numbers by nearly two years tp 01 April 2004. Mexico retrogresses six weeks to 15 August 1992 and the Philippines moves up six months to 1 December 1993. Family 2A - Worldwide, India, China and the Philippines numbers advance almost a year and a half to 01 January 2006. Mexico jumps two and half years to 01 January 2004. Family 2B - Worldwide, India and China numbers advances nearly two years to 01 December 2001. Mexico moves forward five weeks to 08 June 1992. The Philippines advance nearly a year to 01 July 1998. Family 3rd - Ten month retrogression for Worldwide, India and China to 22 May 2001. Two week retrogression for Mexico to 15 September 1992. Six month advance for the Philippines to 01 December 1991. Family 4th - Worldwide numbers and Chinese and Indian F-4 cutoff dates advance three weeks to 1 October 1999. Mexico moves one week to 22 November 1995. The Philippines moves five weeks to 1 May 1987. Employment 1st - All categories remain current. Employment 2nd - Worldwide, Mexico and the Philippines remain current. China advances 1 months to 1 May 2005. India is stalled at 22 January 2005. Employment 3rd skilled/professional workers - Worldwide, China and Filipino numbers advance two months to 1 August 2002. India advances seven weeks to 22 June 2001. Mexico advances one month to 1 July 2002. Employment 3rd unskilled - All numbers remain stalled 1 June 2001. Employment 4th - categories remain current. EB-5 remains current. There is also an interesting forecast at the end of the latest Visa Bulletin: WHAT ARE THE PROJECTIONS FOR CUT-OFF DATE MOVEMENT IN THE EMPLOYMENT PREFERENCES FOR THE REMAINDER OF FY-2010?
GUTIERREZ TO INTRODUCE REFORM BILL NEXT WEEK
Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) will introduce a major immigration reform bill on December 15th. This is not going to be the THE House bill, but the press release showing the supporters of the bill is impressive and indicates that Gutierrez will likely have an important role negotiating the final language.
"Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's
Security and Prosperity" to be Introduced December 15
IMMIGRANT HIGH SCHOOL NAMED NATION'S BEST PUBLIC SCHOOL
Wow! Congratulations to Newcomers High School in Long Island City, Queens, New York which is ranked #6 in US News and World Report's list of the 100 best high schools in America and tops among the 12 public schools that made the list. Newcomers is a school which only accepts students who arrived in the country within the past year. Nearly 22,000 high schools were evaluated for the report and the rankings factored in test scores and performance on Advanced Placement tests.
HOUSE COMMITTEE HOLDS HEARING ON DETENTION STANDARDS
The House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing today regarding the often deplorable conditions at ICE detention facilities around the country. The folks at the National Immigration Forum weigh in on the hearing.
BUCHANAN SEEKING TO FILL DOBBS' VOID
I'll give credit to Pat Buchanan. He was an anti before it became fashionable a few years ago and is still an anti even after the rest of the country has shifted back to the pro-immigration side. Now that Lou Dobbs has had a late in life conversion :-) to being pro-immigration, is Buchanan seeking to replace Dobbs as the darling of the crazies? Seems so and my friend Chuck Kuck at AILA has some choice words for Mr. Buchanan.
SKILLED WORKERS TO BE ADDRESSED IN IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL
See, I told you. Those of you worried that skilled workers would be left out of the bill have been worrying needlessly. I've been privately told some of what to expect in the package and there is much to like. Senators Schumer and Graham get that skilled immigrants end up creating far more jobs for Americans than they cost.
WITH THANKS
I just wanted to express my appreciation to all who sent condolences this past week. It has meant a lot to me. My father was an amazing person and it was a shock losing him at the relatively young age of 67 to melanoma. Aside from being a great dad, he was legendary in his field of marketing and gave me a lot of great advice over the years including encouraging me to take the risk of setting up my own law practice and launching one of the first Internet-focused law practices in the country. He also had a larger-than-life sense of humor that will leave those who knew him smiling every time we think of him. Miss you, dad.
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP: BORDER WALL COULD HURT ENDANGERED SPECIES
I don't usually pick up a lot of immigration news from Popular Science Magazine (which I've read since I was a kid). But they did report on concerns from Defenders of Wildlife that the wall could interfere with the habitat or migration of forty endangered or threatened species like jaguars and ocelots.
December 10, 2009
CENSUS ANALYSIS SHOWS IMMIGRANTS CONTINUE TO ACHIEVE AT HIGH RATE
The New York Times reports that a Census Bureau analysis of successive generations of immigrants shows that today's immigrants continue to follow the pattern of prior generations. Second generation immigrants continue to perform very well in terms of income and education.
SCAMWATCH: VISA FRAUD SCEME BROKEN UP IN BRAZIL
Eleven people arrested in a scheme that raked in an estimated $50,000,000. Here are details from the LA Times:
REPORT URGES LIBERALIZING H-1B QUOTAS, BUT ALSO TOUGHER ENFORCEMENT OF RULES
The Center for American Progress has released a report that urges an end to the "arbitrary restrictions" on H-1B visas and replacing the 65,000 quota with a market-based system where numbers rise in a strong economy and drop in a weak one. The report also recommends stronger enforcement mechanisms to prevent fraud and abuse.
ANTI-IMMIGRANT WASHINGTON TIMES LAYING OFF 40% OF STAFF
The paper is planning on cutting most of its beat reporting and become a free, opinion-oriented publication. The Washington Times is generally considered to have the most anti-immigration coverage of any newspaper in the country. The newspaper is likely now to have much less influence in DC.
FRANKEN GRILLS NAPOLITANO ON IMPRISONMENT OF ASYLUM-SEEKERS
Senator Al Franken (D-MN) asked DHS Secretary Napolitano about this during this week's Senate testimony by the Secretary. This policy is one of the more shameful parts of our asylum system. The US regularly imprisons individuals seeking asylum until their cases are heard by judges. This is a violation of international standards for the treatment of refugees and is an embarrassment to this country.
SUPREME COURT DECISION USES TERM "UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT" FOR FIRST TIME
In a unanimous decision penned by new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the nation's highest court used the term "undocumented immigrant" instead of "illegal alien".
The latter term had been used in dozens of opinions in the past. The
case only tangentially related to immigration issues, by the way.
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