A Note from the Editors:

Information Sharing

Submitting a letter to the Editor is an effective way to share information and commentary with the Immigrant's Weekly community on issues concerning immigration law and policy. Letters to the Editor should be sent to: weeklyeditor@ilw.com. For Letters to the Editor guidelines, see here.

Articles

Presidential Papers Series: Memorandum of Disapproval for the Bill Providing Emergency Chinese Immigration Relief
President Bush sent this message to Congress on November 30, 1989.

DHS Says US-VISIT Program To Commence 9/30/04 For Visa Waiver Program Countries; DHS Seeks To Postpone Biometrics Requirement Until 2006
The DHS announced that visa waiver program travelers will be enrolled in US-VISIT by September 30, 2004, while the biometrics requirement deadline (machine readable passports) will be extended to 2006. For the press release, see here. For the fact sheet, see here. [ Ed. corrected 4/06/04 ]

A Colloquy On Bronx Medical And SVP Approach
Joel Stewart and Gary Endelman discuss the BALCA decision, Bronx Medical and Dental Clinic, 1990-INA-479 (Oct. 30, 1992).

DOS Announces Latest China's Travel Document Reciprocity Schedule
The Department of State announced its latest travel document reciprocity schedule with China.

Children Without A Country
Margaret Graham Tebo, Esq. of the American Bar Association writes about the plight of unaccompanied children in our immigration system.

Asylum Applications Processing Schedule
USCIS provided a schedule under which it will process pending asylum applications.

An Immigration Roundup
Jose Latour provides select highlights of immigration events in March 2004.

Policy Report From Congressional Research Service On Visa Waiver Program
The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress issued an updated report dated April 6, 2004 on the Visa Waiver Program.

DOS Cable On Determining Prevailing Wage Requirement For Visas Of Domestic Employees
The Department of State issued a cable providing 2004 prevailing wage statistics for alien labor certification requirements and instructing consular officers to rely upon these figures when determining whether employment contract provisions satisfy applicable prevailing wage requirements for domestics.

DOS Cable Presents Deferred Validity Date Option To Major H-1B And H-2B Issuing Posts
The Secretary of State issued a cable informing all diplomatic and consular posts of DHS's announcement of the Fiscal Year 2004 cap for H-1B and H-2B petitions and presented options to major H-lB and H-2B issuing posts that wished to employ procedures to address this possible flood of applicants.

Immigrant's Weekly Exclusive
Life After The H-1B Cap: Don't Let Your Organization Fall Victim To "The Cap"
David Nachman, Esq. writes "[] Periodic [H-1B] increases may have created a comfort zone for employers and may now leave some questions regarding whether they will be able to call upon highly-skilled foreign worker employees in the future."

Frequently Asked Questions About Employment Eligibility
Read responses from the USCIS on frequently asked questions about employment eligibility.

ILW Highlights

Processing Times Updated

Nebraska, California, Texas processing times were recently updated.

Letters to Editors

To write to Editors, send emails to weeklyeditor@ilw.com.

Dear Editor:
With respect to the item entitled, "ICE expands pilot program to deport illegal aliens", those people are not happy living here, split from their families and most of them are hard workers for ludicrious wages, everybody knows. Lets have a look: Illegal South Americans will not be removed, because their roots are in Congress and the White House. Europeans and Chinese also will not be removed because of political reasons and international treaties. So who will be removed? Middle Easterns, Pakistanis, and other people who come from complicated parts of the world. And finally ICE will have these "Mostly Muslim" people "mass deported". Congratulations. The terror threat never goes away, every American needs to think twice before taking a subway ride or a cab, and is in fear everyday. Instead maybe the US should try to improve the economies of these poor countries. This maybe more costly but this would create a more secure America in the long term and prevent those people from coming to US.

John Duff

Dear Editor:
I would like to know what is the latest with the Life Act? is there any information about it?

Ricardo Cuevas

Editor's Note: Try submitting your search into our advanced search engine and sorting by date to find the latest items related to the Life Act.

Dear Editor:
Rafaelo's letter is of the opinion that H1-Bs should get special handling for green cards because of the delays in processing. Actually, before the increase in the H1-B cap was enacted in 2000, a number of sources pointed out that the number of potential green card applicants would far exceed those possible to process under the existing quotas, and given the INS's poor capabilities. Proponents of the increase, including organizations such as the Immigrants Support Network, ignored these very real concerns and pushed for the increase, which they got. It's a good example of being careful what you wish for. H1-Bs now claim that they deserve special treatment because of problems which arise from their own short-sightedness in ignoring problems which they themselves contributed to.

Ali Alexander

Dear Editor:
I have to admit that I laughed when I read about the pro immigration group that descended on President Bush's open borders advocate Karl Rove. It was wonderful to see that for once of the political elite come face to face with what the average citizen must deal with. One of the reasons for high immigration is that the political and business elite, Democrat and Republican, want open borders in order to bring in cheap immigrant workers. To them an immigrant is their gardener, house keeper or fast food employee. The fact that high immigration undercuts the wages and reduces the working conditions of low income Americans is of no concern. The fact that immigration is ovewhelming public schools and lowering educational standards in of no concern. Their children attend private school. If the elite happens to be a Democrat its another plus. Immigrants mean more welfare programs , more government jobs, more school teachers and more votes. Never mind that they are selling out their core constituents: Minorities, low income workers, labor unions and degrading our natural environment. The political elite don't worry about overcrowded cities and the loss of open space. President Bush can go to his 1600 acre ranch in Crawford Texas for peace and quite and open space. The US Census Bureau forecast that our population could grow to over 500 million in the next 50 years. 90% of that growth would be caused by immigration, legal and illegal. The consequences to our children and grandchildren will be a debased natural environment, economic and social upheaval and a Third World country.

Jim Ludwick
McMinnville, OR

Immigrant Life

What Is An International Telephone Call?

An international call is a call placed to a different country than the one you are in.

Why Is Making a Telephone Call Important?

Calling family and friends in your home country can be an important way of staying connected with those you care about back home. It is also the quickest way to let them know you have arrived safely to your destination.

To learn more, see here.

Have a story that you'd like to share with us? Send your story as an immigrant to weeklyeditor@ilw.com.

This week's chat schedule

ILW.COM announces that as of Feb 3rd, all chats will be held at 5:00 pm Eastern Time.

When	Attorney
Tuesday, April 13 5:00 pm Eastern Time	Alice M. Yardum-Hunter, Esq.
Thursday, April 15 5:00 pm Eastern Time	Fariba Faiz, Esq.
Tuesday, April 20 5:00 pm Eastern Time	Stuart J. Reich, Esq.

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