Leave it to comedian Stephen Colbert to send home the point that comprehensive immigration reform - particularly plans to legalize millions of farm workers - will not result in Americans losing jobs. From the AP:

In a tongue-in-cheek call for immigration reform, farm workers are teaming up with comedian Stephen Colbert to challenge unemployed Americans: Come on, take our jobs.

Farm workers are tired of being blamed by politicians and anti-immigrant activists for taking work that should go to Americans and dragging down the economy, said Arturo Rodriguez, the president of the United Farm Workers of America.

So the group is encouraging the unemployed — and any Washington pundits or anti-immigrant activists who want to join them — to apply for the some of thousands of agricultural jobs being posted with state agencies as harvest season begins.

All applicants need to do is fill out an online form under the banner "I want to be a farm worker" at http://www.takeourjobs.org, and experienced field hands will train them and connect them to farms.

According to the Labor Department, three out of four farm workers were born abroad, and more than half are illegal immigrants.

A few months back, I was contacted by a writer for the Lifetime dramedy Drop Dead Diva, a television show about a law firm in Los Angeles. They were interested in doing a story that related to immigration law and I helped out as a technical consultant. The episode on which I assisted aired this week and was quite entertaining. It was inspired by an actual case I handled a few years back by the way. You can see the show (Episode 4) online here or see a summary at IMDB. 

I've written an op-ed piece for the Memphis Commercial Appeal with my colleague Elissa Taub on the need for reforming the laws governing the immigration of doctors and nurses.

The 2,700-page health care bill approved by Congress certainly doesn't lack detail in describing how it plans to extend coverage to 32 million more Americans. But its failure to address one basic question could very well doom its chances for success in expanding access to health insurance: How will we handle a significant increase in patients -- a number equivalent to the population of Canada -- when we already are experiencing a drastic shortage of doctors and nurses?

The Council on Physician and Nurse Supply estimated the United States was facing a shortage of 200,000 doctors and 800,000 nurses before health care reform. Undoubtedly, the shortage now will be substantially worse. And without more doctors and nurses, the only obvious solution will be to ration health care -- something that is quietly happening already in small-town America.

The shortage can be blamed on a variety of factors -- a rapidly aging population, the retirement of a large number of baby boomer nurses and doctors, a decline in the average number of hours worked by doctors, an inadequate number of nursing and medical schools as well as shortages of faculty members, and the availability of new technology and treatments that mean more Americans are likely to seek out the services of a health care professional.

Happy Independence Day everyone!

Jeb Bush, the former Florida Governor and potential presidential candidate, has an informative opinion piece in yesterday's Washington Post that reminds Americans that most of the antis' complaints about immigration are as old as the Republic and that we need to pay attention to our past in order to maximize the benefits of immigration.

Many readers of this blog are my colleagues in the immigration bar. I want to let folks know that I was successful in my run for the Board of Governors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Many thanks to all those who voted for me. I'm looking forward to serving the organization!

Not a lot new, but an inspiring speech. Will it change the politics? I'm skeptical, particularly since the President didn't mention timetables or explain any Administrative fixes to show a seriousness about fixing immigration (other than enforcement). The only thing he said has improved is the length of background checks.

In fact, he said that we should not expect any Administration steps to deal with legalization before Congress acts. It seems obvious this was aimed at the Republicans who are upset about such rumors of using parole power or other authority.

The speech was clearly aimed at Hispanic voters who could devastate Democrats' chances of retaining control of both Houses of Congress if they stay home in November. But Hispanic citizens are upset that the White House is all action on enforcement and all talk on helping immigrants legalize. I don't see how this has changed as a result of this speech.