Discussion On The Politics of Immigration Reform (Comprehensive Or Otherwise)

[gs1968]

As if things were not difficult already

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-va...rm-discussions

http://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/...eID_1502=45141

On a different note-the I-squared Act has 20 co-sponsors now although the bigger players like Grassley/Schumer/Durbin/Leahy etc have not signed on.Interestingly 13 of the 21 sponsors are first-term senators which may lead one to believe that they may have a different perspective on immigration issues especially EB

[rupen86]

As if things were not difficult already

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-va...rm-discussions

http://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/...eID_1502=45141

On a different note-the I-squared Act has 20 co-sponsors now although the bigger players like Grassley/Schumer/Durbin/Leahy etc have not signed on.Interestingly 13 of the 21 sponsors are first-term senators which may lead one to believe that they may have a different perspective on immigration issues especially EB

This was kind of expected. This is the area that he is most interested in and Durbin is his partner.

The most important one seems to be this.

Ensures that an H-1B application filed by an employer that employs 50 or more U.S. workers will not be accepted unless the employer attests that less than 50 percent of the employer’s workforce are H-1B and L visa holders.

[gs1968]

The fight is only just beginning

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/0...ainst-economy/

Presidential ambitions?
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/0...052.html?hp=r7

Senator Grassley starting to appear increasingly in the picture

http://www.rollcall.com/news/rnc_imm...html?pos=oplyh

Another article by a conserva-skeptic

http://theweek.com/article/index/241...gration-reform

[abcx13]

This was kind of expected. This is the area that he is most interested in and Durbin is his partner.

The most important one seems to be this.

Ensures that an H-1B application filed by an employer that employs 50 or more U.S. workers will not be accepted unless the employer attests that less than 50 percent of the employer’s workforce are H-1B and L visa holders.

I have absolutely zero problem with this. It's obvious that currently the main beneficiaries of the H1B program are Indian IT outsourcers - big and small.

[immitime]

Not only is the immigration debate a waste of time, so is border control. It reminds me of the continual talks for peace in the Middle East. There will never be border control nor illegal immigration control in the same way there will never be peace in the Middle East. We will just have more and more non-productive “talks” and “debates. If the bill comes up in Senate Sen. Grassley or some other Senator will fillibuster this for some reason, again if Senate was able to pass with cloture it will stuck in congress with another fillibuster by some Repub representative..

This can be fixed within a week by the present Administration.. what the Captain has to do is just sign an executive order to eliminate the family members from EB immigration quota.. back log will be reduced. Everyone is happy. Illegal immigration they need to deal seperately. Legal immigration people are tax payers without any voting rights!. But this is only a dream and never going to happen. We are always Hostages to some politics or Politricks!

[rupen86]

http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blo...reform-parade/

[rupen86]

Not only is the immigration debate a waste of time, so is border control. It reminds me of the continual talks for peace in the Middle East. There will never be border control nor illegal immigration control in the same way there will never be peace in the Middle East. We will just have more and more non-productive “talks” and “debates. If the bill comes up in Senate Sen. Grassley or some other Senator will fillibuster this for some reason, again if Senate was able to pass with cloture it will stuck in congress with another fillibuster by some Repub representative..

This can be fixed within a week by the present Administration.. what the Captain has to do is just sign an executive order to eliminate the family members from EB immigration quota.. back log will be reduced. Everyone is happy. Illegal immigration they need to deal seperately. Legal immigration people are tax payers without any voting rights!. But this is only a dream and never going to happen. We are always Hostages to some politics or Politricks!

If we put this in to perspective, we would be hoping for executive order from a person who put an amendment to replace merit based system with family based system.

[gs1968]

The new buzzword/mantra from House Republican Leadership is "education of fellow Republicans"
This from Speaker Boehner today

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/28...migration-deal

This from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte


http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/pol...complex-issue/

This appears to be a tactic to slow down or stall the process.Time will tell

[bvsamrat]

Thanks Q for providing a platform for sharing.

IMHO- No CIR will be successful and will not serve any purpose unless all or most of the following are implemented.Any temperory measures will improve situation for only 1-2 years and similar issues will crop up gain. (e) onwards these may be too much Utopic.

a) Tighten border security before passing laws to favor illegal immigration

b) Tighten H1B visa issuance and check each and every H1B visa regularly if the Visa applicant is working in same skill area/salary as per LCA. In case of any bench issue or salary non payment issue, take action immediately. but increase time duration so that H1B applicant can exit easily.

c) Check and verify PERM and skill category of job offered in GC is relevant to the major qualification of the applicable degree.

d) Any experience/qualification statement used for either H1B or I-140 should be strictly verified and any fraud statements should face civil and criminal action.

e) Categorize skill areas- Manufacturing/Health/services/IT etc. and provide EB quota based on previous statistics,requirement and any other criterion based
on research and long term projection (and not just immediate demand- which can be met by H1B anyway). Remove country quota and replace by skills quota, Research, publish and update lacking skills demand frequently. If a skilled surgeon with MS is eligible for Eb2 and if a consultant(worked in home
company and after transfer to a US company) being eligible for EB1, both cases should be reviewed and analyzed which will be more beneficial to US on long run. Salary cap alone need not be the criterion. Some special skills should be prioritized/promoted and utilized to train the locals in the same area.

f) If tax residence in USA for more than a fixed duration(5 years) should automatically offered GC. it is surprising that USA IRS can tax your world-wide
income but still would not consider you as a permanent resident!.

g)H1B renewal after 3 years should be reviewed with attention and this review should be enough for GC, without any need for separate PERM and I-140.Once again

h) if any specific sector is prone to misuse or found repeated misuse and receiving lot fo complaints, this sector should be given more specific attention and thorough investigation with severe penalties if found of wrong practices
.
i) A legal tax resident in USA, should be able to obtain a re entry visa rather than going to home country and coming back

J) Citizenship should be offered to legal tax residents of more than 8 years, irrespective of GC

K) Remove category of sponsoring brother/sister etc. in FB.

Not only is the immigration debate a waste of time, so is border control. It reminds me of the continual talks for peace in the Middle East. There will never be border control nor illegal immigration control in the same way there will never be peace in the Middle East. We will just have more and more non-productive “talks” and “debates. If the bill comes up in Senate Sen. Grassley or some other Senator will fillibuster this for some reason, again if Senate was able to pass with cloture it will stuck in congress with another fillibuster by some Repub representative..

This can be fixed within a week by the present Administration.. what the Captain has to do is just sign an executive order to eliminate the family members from EB immigration quota.. back log will be reduced. Everyone is happy. Illegal immigration they need to deal seperately. Legal immigration people are tax payers without any voting rights!. But this is only a dream and never going to happen. We are always Hostages to some politics or Politricks!

[gs1968]

Sorry to keep posting in bits & pieces but just saw this on my twitter feed

http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/...ry?id=18764590

[immitime]

All sounds good to the ears..

But they could not pass a bill to lift the country caps...Nothing is being done for taxpaying legal immigrants.

Thanks Q for providing a platform for sharing.

IMHO- No CIR will be successful and will not serve any purpose unless all or most of the following are implemented.Any temperory measures will improve situation for only 1-2 years and similar issues will crop up gain. (e) onwards these may be too much Utopic.

a) Tighten border security before passing laws to favor illegal immigration

b) Tighten H1B visa issuance and check each and every H1B visa regularly if the Visa applicant is working in same skill area/salary as per LCA. In case of any bench issue or salary non payment issue, take action immediately. but increase time duration so that H1B applicant can exit easily.

c) Check and verify PERM and skill category of job offered in GC is relevant to the major qualification of the applicable degree.

d) Any experience/qualification statement used for either H1B or I-140 should be strictly verified and any fraud statements should face civil and criminal action.

e) Categorize skill areas- Manufacturing/Health/services/IT etc. and provide EB quota based on previous statistics,requirement and any other criterion based
on research and long term projection (and not just immediate demand- which can be met by H1B anyway). Remove country quota and replace by skills quota, Research, publish and update lacking skills demand frequently. If a skilled surgeon with MS is eligible for Eb2 and if a consultant(worked in home
company and after transfer to a US company) being eligible for EB1, both cases should be reviewed and analyzed which will be more beneficial to US on long run. Salary cap alone need not be the criterion. Some special skills should be prioritized/promoted and utilized to train the locals in the same area.

f) If tax residence in USA for more than a fixed duration(5 years) should automatically offered GC. it is surprising that USA IRS can tax your world-wide
income but still would not consider you as a permanent resident!.

g)H1B renewal after 3 years should be reviewed with attention and this review should be enough for GC, without any need for separate PERM and I-140.Once again

h) if any specific sector is prone to misuse or found repeated misuse and receiving lot fo complaints, this sector should be given more specific attention and thorough investigation with severe penalties if found of wrong practices
.
i) A legal tax resident in USA, should be able to obtain a re entry visa rather than going to home country and coming back

J) Citizenship should be offered to legal tax residents of more than 8 years, irrespective of GC


K) Remove category of sponsoring brother/sister etc. in FB.

[rupen86]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...p-not-so-fast/

[immitime]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/us...nted=all&_r=1&

The proof is here.

Even if the Senate passes an immigration overhaul later this spring or summer, it still faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled House. A group of House Republicans told Speaker John A. Boehner last week that they were close to releasing a set of principles to guide their own legislation.

House Republicans would prefer to tackle an immigration overhaul in several smaller bills rather than one big bill. And many House Republicans want to offer illegal immigrants a legal status that stops short of a pathway to citizenship.

[gcq]

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/0...ainst-economy/

Jeff Sessions of Alabama acting up as if he likes skilled immigration. He is the one who blocked HR 3012 in senate. ( He and Grassley are R* disguised as anti-immigrants)

[isantem]

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/0...ainst-economy/

Jeff Sessions of Alabama acting up as if he likes skilled immigration. He is the one who blocked HR 3012 in senate. ( He and Grassley are R* disguised as anti-immigrants)

Just because somebody blocked 3012 is not necessary anti immigrant. Maybe you can call him racist because he does not want 70% of high skilled immigrants to be from India.

[bvsamrat]

I also agree that country cap is something agaist equal opportunity and it should have been passed!

But on CIR - MHO - Law makers do not get convinced to so called problems facing by Legal immigrants and these can be easily or even partly solved by doubling Visa numbers this year.

They always face this dilema - What if they double the number this year and by next year demand gets doubled?

This was the precise reason for putting H1B cap and hence lottery. Even this year the Cap is expected to reach within a week!

Actual facts show that despite all backlogs, the H1B and GC demand is ever increasing.

Only way - one will understand if there is any reduction in quality/skills making any deference in economic develpment due this back logs faced? and if the creamy layer looking elsewhere? I am sure some one is working on this and this would sail us through.

Or else why they should consider any change if they are getting numbers and demand is ever increasing?

Hence CIR should consider all these.Otherwise just increasing quota would not help - IMHO

All sounds good to the ears..

But they could not pass a bill to lift the country caps...Nothing is being done for taxpaying legal immigrants.

[rupen86]

From Oh Law Firm, good summary report of the progress so far.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/28...rtisan-backing

[gs1968]

To rupen86

Following up on your post from yesterday about the letter from the GOP Judiciary Committee Senators-this from the Salt Lake City Tribune today

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politic...h-lee.html.csp

It is very interesting to note that the only 2 GOP committee members who did not sign the letter are part of the "gang of eight". It is very important for the Bill to come out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a strong bipartisan backing to clear the whole Senate as we cannot take 55 Democratic votes for guaranteed. We all remember how close the last Bill came in 2007 before falling a few votes short.

[idiotic]

To rupen86

Following up on your post from yesterday about the letter from the GOP Judiciary Committee Senators-this from the Salt Lake City Tribune today

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politic...h-lee.html.csp

It is very interesting to note that the only 2 GOP committee members who did not sign the letter are part of the "gang of eight". It is very important for the Bill to come out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a strong bipartisan backing to clear the whole Senate as we cannot take 55 Democratic votes for guaranteed. We all remember how close the last Bill came in 2007 before falling a few votes short.

Pretty sure they will propose a amendment to just strike out the entire bill retaining only the bill number & title and replace it with H1B reform

[rupen86]

To rupen86

Following up on your post from yesterday about the letter from the GOP Judiciary Committee Senators-this from the Salt Lake City Tribune today

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politic...h-lee.html.csp

It is very interesting to note that the only 2 GOP committee members who did not sign the letter are part of the "gang of eight". It is very important for the Bill to come out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a strong bipartisan backing to clear the whole Senate as we cannot take 55 Democratic votes for guaranteed. We all remember how close the last Bill came in 2007 before falling a few votes short.

Interesting to note that Hatch is the sponsor of the I-Square act.

[abcx13]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...pace-too-slow/

[rupen86]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...pace-too-slow/

"Leahy’s comments come a day after six Republicans submitted a letter complaining that the immigration overhaul process is moving too quickly and asking Leahy to hold additional hearings into the matter."

If those who sent letter votes against the bill, can the committee still pass it ?

[idiotic]

"Leahy’s comments come a day after six Republicans submitted a letter complaining that the immigration overhaul process is moving too quickly and asking Leahy to hold additional hearings into the matter."

If those who sent letter votes against the bill, can the committee still pass it ?

Good snub to the six senators by Leahy. Kudos to him.

[gs1968]

To rupen86
There needs to be only a simple majority to report Bills out of committee to the Senate Floor. As the Democrats control the Judiciary Committee 10-8,the Bill cannot be defeated in Committee by the above 6 members.However it would help to have a near unanimous vote which would add legitimacy and make floor passage by the Senate and subsequently by the House easier.Of course if the Democrats were to rush the process there are other manouvers still available for the Republicans (hold/filibuster etc)

[gcq]

As for the hold/filibuster threat, there is a significant difference with CIR.
A cloture could not be invoked on HR 3012, since it was a minor bill and it did not make sense to go through cloture process.
When it comes to CIR, Harry Reid can invoke cloture as it is a major bill.