Newsletter: 3 days left to weigh in on OPT

The lame duck Congress is about to begin and it’s more important than ever to remind your elected officials that they work for you.

Send Your Message

• Better enforcement starts with cooperation. A new House Judiciary report documents the failure of sanctuary policies. The full House should vote on the bill (H.R. 7640) to get agencies working together again.
• Secure borders are popular. The outgoing Republican majorities should finish the job they were sent to Washington to accomplish by codifying this secure border into law.
• Americans voted for economic security. The incoming Democratic majority should work toward a well-managed immigration system that prioritizes economic opportunity for all Americans, starting with the bipartisan reform first recommended 30 years ago: mandatory E-Verify.

You’ll find those actions and more at the link above. While you’re there, test out our new X Action campaigns, and share the Grade Cards.

Last Chance to Comment on OPT Rule

Please submit a comment in support of DHS’s proposed fees for the Optional Practical Training program (OPT). My Co-President Mike Hough submitted NumbersUSA’s comment, which recommends ending the program altogether.

NumbersUSA’s citizen lobby has contributed more than 1,000 comments on the proposed rule aimed at reducing the size of the Optional Practical Training program.

Comment here by Nov. 9!

Feel free to use this language:

Optional Practical Training (OPT) was created out of thin air and needs to be eliminated. However, until the program is terminated, I support the proposed fees. DHS is right that the F-1 visa “was never intended to provide a pathway to employment in the United States.” A student visa is for study, and it should end with the degree. OPT provides a multi-year work permit that Congress never approved. There is no statutory authorization for foreign students to engage in work in the United States. There are no wage requirements or numerical limits. And, there are no protections for American workers who must compete with foreign students seeking to work in the United States. The proposed fee will deter use of the OPT program and prioritize deserving American students.

This week, we published a paper, “Enact H.R. 2315. End OPT.” from guest author Zach Gordon, a graduate student from the University of Notre Dame.

From Zach’s paper:

“If the government’s policy priority is protecting the employment opportunities and economic interests of U.S. students and workers, the economic case presented here provides a substantial policy basis for Congress to end OPT.”

In Other News

• Reversing the Crisis: George Fishman analyzed data from the Deportation Data Project and concluded that interior removals under Trump are 479% higher than under Biden.

NumbersUSA In The News

My fellow Co-President Mike Hough told the Houston Chronicle that Congress’s failure to fix a broken immigration system justified President Trump’s executive orders, but that only Congress can make those changes permanent.

I made a similar point to the Daily Caller News Foundation about the H-1B program. In a feature on America’s STEM graduates, picked up by AOL, BizPac Review, IJR and others, I noted that fewer than half of American STEM graduates end up in STEM careers. The program, I said, “is clearly just displacing Americans and exploiting foreign guest workers.” Higher fees are a good first step. “If it can’t be fixed, then Congress is going to have to eliminate it.” I also pointed readers to Rep. Eli Crane’s End H-1B Visa Abuse Act, H.R. 8443.

ICYMI

• What the Midterms Mean for Immigration: We’ve got you covered here and here.
• California’s Chance to Stabilize: After years of rapid change and loss, California has an opportunity to ease the demands on its open space and resources – especially if Congress adopts a more moderate level of immigration.
• Texas Doesn’t Wait: As momentum builds in Washington, Texas’ Governor and Agricultural Commissioner are curbing new H-1B petitions.
• Roy On The Road: NumbersUSA’s founder checks in from President Grant’s childhood home. Which brings us to…

This Week In Immigration/Midterms History

1874 midterm elections. Years of mass immigration from Europe finally altered the political landscape in the North and doomed President Grant’s efforts to enforce the Civil Rights Amendments of the 1860s.

Republicans’ loose immigration policies had produced the cheap labor they desired. But the new immigrants “were diluting the influence of Black voters at the ballot box nationwide and eventually even replacing them in the North,” according to Roy Beck’s documented history, Back of the Hiring Line.

“President Grant lost much of his ability to continue his long crusade to enforce Black voting rights when Democrats won control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1874 midterm elections.”

Quotes Of The Week

“In the next few months, there’s going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I’m open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.” – Vice President Vance

“Why haven’t we done immigration, shut off H-1B visas? Why haven’t we codified Trump’s immigration executive orders? … There’s so many things that could have been done.” – Gov. Ron DeSantis on the outgoing Congress