Pedro Ramirez, the student body president at Fresno State University in California, has had his immigration status revealed by the Los Angeles Times after the paper received an anonymous tip. One more illustration of why we need the DREAM Act right away.

Lots of activity to report. Congressional Hispanic Caucus leaders met this week with President Obama who said he wants a vote during the Lame Duck and would work the phones to round up votes. Harry Reid tweeted today that he'll offer the DREAM Act as a standalone bill which will hopefully help bring along a few of the "procedural" no voters from last September who indicated they like the DREAM Act but didn't believe in tacking it on to a budget bill. In the mean time, advocacy groups are apparently still arguing about the final language including answering whether college and the military the only forms of service acceptable and what is the cutoff age? Insiders are telling me that the prospects are actually pretty decent this time. But we've heard that before.

1000 H-1Bs were used last week and my exhaustion target advances a few more days to closer to mid-February 2011. Note, however, that the masters cap is still likely to run out in late December (it is now at 17,400 and should be reached December 28th or thereabouts) and I'm expecting regular cap usage to jump in January as those applicants use the regular quota. So don't be surprised if my exhaustion target date advances to January.