Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) have introduced the American Jobs First Act, S.2394, that would make dramatic improvements to the H-1B visa program, including the establishment of a minimum salary and the creation of a cooling off period that would prevent employers from using the program within two years of employee strikes, lay-offs, furloughs, or other types of non-voluntary, not-for-cause dismissals. The legislation would also end the visa lottery.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) has published a report, The Integration of Immigrants into American Society, 50 years after the passage of the Hart-Cellar Act, which eventually resulted in an almost four-fold increase in immigration to the United States. The recent NAS report is similar to one it published in 1997 in that it trumpets the positives of immigration while ignoring the negative consequences of expansionist immigration policies. The report 18 years ago played up the fact that adding millions of immigrants “grows the economy” simply by increasing annual GDP, and it downplayed the enormous fiscal burdens and effects on American workers that result.
The new report deals with issues of assimilation, or as the NAS terms it, integration. Steven Camarota at the Center for Immigration Studies looked at the report and has written up his initial thoughts. Camarota, who is one of the nation’s foremost experts on U.S. immigration policy, was disappointed in the lack of balance in the NAS “findings.”
Multiple reports seem to indicate that the must-pass omnibus spending bill could quadruple the H-2B worker visa program. Congress must pass a spending bill this week to avoid a government shutdown.
Chairman of the Senate's immigration subcommittee, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), and Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), wrote an op-ed in Roll Call calling for the GOP to curb immigration.
A leaked memo reveals that Pres. Obama’s new executive action will fast-track thousands of work permits to green card applicants, even if the applicant is in the country illegally. This program will increase the number of foreign citizens who are able to obtain an employment authorization document (EAD) and work in the United States.
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced this morning he will resign from Congress at the end of October. The Speaker leaves behind a long history of pressing his caucus to legalize illegal aliens and increase already historically-high legal immigration levels. This, and his lack of interest in fighting President Obama’s executive amnesties, led to some of the biggest clashes within the House Republican Caucus.
In a recent interview with an Australian news outlet Tim Costello, CEO of the humanitarian organization World Vision, said the best way to handle the European refugee crisis is to secure the refugees in place so they can eventually return to their own countries. He dismissed resettlement as a primary goal because the refugees “want to go back home, not come [to Austrialia], not go to Europe.”
A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the EB-5 Visa program is at risk for fraud and is not providing the economic benefits it was supposed to create. The EB-5 visa program, which allows foreigners to obtain green cards if they invest at least $500,000 in American businesses, was designed to help create jobs and increase foreign investment in the U.S. economy.
A recent poll by CareerBuilder/Harris Poll of 2,321 hiring and human resource managers show that 73 percent of employers disapprove of issuing more H-1B visas for foreign workers.
The Center for Immigration Studies released a new report, based on monthly Census Bureau data, that shows the legal immigrant and illegal alien population in the second quarter of this year reached a record of 42.1 million.
In a continuation of a troubling trend, a Florida based company was found to be replacing American IT workers with foreign-workers this week. Catalina Marketing has replaced about 50 IT workers in favor of H-1B visa holders from one of the largest outsourcing firms used by companies in the U.S., Mindtree.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wrote an op-ed today for Breitbart.com, announcing that he will oppose the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill passed by the House unless it includes Sen. Jeff Sessions' (R-Ala.) amendment that unequivocally prohibits trade agreements from allowing new foreign workers to take U.S. jobs. The announcement represents a reversal in position for Sen. Cruz.
Using procedural sleight-of-hand, the House passed Trade Promotion Authority legislation that would facilitate the passage of trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and could lead to guest worker increases without congressional input. The measure now moves to the Senate, where it could face a filibuster during debate next week.
After failing last week to pass a package of legislation that tethered fast-track trade authority with aid to workers displaced by trade deals, the House plans to try again, possibly on Thursday, to move the legislation separately with assurances that both will become law. Roll Call reports the House Rules Committee is meeting today to adopt a rule that would govern floor debate on the measures.
The House voted down a financial aid plan for workers displaced by trade deals and, in so doing, dealt a blow to the fast-track trade authority sought by President Obama. The Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) measure was subsequently approved by a narrow margin but, under the rules for debate, the overall package could not advance unless both parts cleared the House.
In an attempt to generate more opposition to the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., issued a statement that highlights the dangers of the fast-track process. He said that under TPA, trade deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership or the Trade in Services Agreement could establish broad goals for increasing immigration and the President could implement those changes through executive action or easily change our laws through the fast-track process.
A bipartisan coalition of Senators announced that the U.S. Department of Labor has launched an investigation of Infosys and Tata, two foreign outsourcing companies. According to Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), these companies imported H-1B guestworkers to replace hundreds of American workers at Southern Cal Edison, one of the country’s largest power companies.
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, secured an agreement from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., to add new trade negotiation objectives to the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act that seek to ensure that trade deals will not change U.S. immigration law or expand access to visas. However this immigration "fix" does not allay the concerns of other Republicans who say the bill, which is separate from Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation, may not be signed into law and worry that a trade "living agreement' can be changed without recourse after congressional consideration.
Now we are getting somewhere. Last week, I expressed hope that the New York Times' series on Disney workers who were forced to train their foreign replacements would lead to similar reporting on less-skilled American workers harmed by policies of mass immigration.
"U.S. Workers Ask: Where's My Raise?" proclaims the Wall Street Journal in a serious June 3 analysis of many reasons for the stagnant wage situation for millions of Americans. But, as usual for mainstream media, the Journal totally ignored one of the most obvious factors: out-of-control immigration that adds to the country's giant labor surplus that allows employers to hold down wages.
Yesterday afternoon, the New York Times published a blockbuster story, "Last Task After Disney Layoffs: Train Foreign Replacements," by Julia Preston. The Times' story is a big deal. NumbersUSA members negatively impacted by the H-1B visa program have long expressed frustration that their plight was ignored by the mainstream media. Many of them have personally contacted reporters, left comments online, and written letters to editors in an effort to be heard. Their efforts are paying off. With the Times' story, their concerns have gone mainstream.
Proponents of Trade Promotion Authority legislation say built-in “safeguards” will allow Congress to protect American workers from the adverse impacts of immigration provisions in trade deals. But they know these safeguards are mere window dressing when a president refuses to be bound by the law and has latitude under a “living agreement” such as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) to change the deal without further congressional approval.
Senators voted to invoke cloture on legislation to set up fast-track procedures for the passage of trade deals negotiated by the president. The 62-38 vote ends debate on the bill and clears the way for a vote on passage, possibly before the Memorial Day recess. Prior to the vote, Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blocked two amendments Sen. Sessions offered to prevent the executive branch from abusing trade authority.
Ever since Scott Walker name-dropped Jeff Sessions, the question of immigration levels - and whether they should be increased, decreased, or left the same - has occasionally creeped into the national immigration conversation. We should have had this debate two years ago, when a gang of eight Senators introduced legislation to double future immigration, but the media never showed any interest.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) filed an amendment yesterday to the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill to "lock in assurances that this legislation cannot be used to change federal immigration law." Senate Democrats blocked the bill from coming to the floor earlier this week, however, after negotiations, the bill will come back to the floor for a vote.
The Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation that would grant Pres. Obama fast-track negotiating power over the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement was blocked by Senate Democrats today in a mostly party line vote. While NumbersUSA takes no position on trade bills in general, we oppose TPA because it would strip Congress of its authority to amend future free trade agreements, including any immigration provisions they may contain.
During Saturday's GOP Weekly address, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) called on Congress to pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). The move would state overall trade negotiating objectives of the United States while giving President Obama special authority to finish negotiating one of the world’s largest trade accords. During his address, he stated that “trade promotion authority does not give any president any new authority to expand immigration or change other laws without the approval of the Congress of the United States”
As relations between the U.S. and Cuba begin normalizing some have begun questioning the special immigration policies that favor Cuban migrants. Though the Obama administration has said the laws will remain in place, public opinion on the laws is shifting.
The U.S. Senate has no plans to write immigration legislation during the 114th Congress, according to the chairman of the committee in which it would originate.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the comments while laying out the panel’s agenda during a press conference Monday at the National Press Club.
A report released by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) shows that the Census Bureau's projections indicate that the current high levels of immigration will have an "enormous impact" on the U.S. population's demographic make-up and overall size.
A new report from the Congressional Research Service links the increase in immigration in recent decades to the decline of the median income for the bottom 90% of income tax filers. The report, prepared for the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, shows that as the percentage of foreign-born residents declined between 1945 and the early-1970s, the median income for middle-class Americans increased. But after the foreign-born percentage began to increase after 1970, middle-class wages stagnated before plummeting after 2000.
Gov. Scott Walker's (R-Wis.) position to protect American workers from the economic effects of mass immigration has received criticism from many as being one that will alienate voters. However, polling from Gallup has shown that a sizable number of American voters are not only dissatisfied with the current levels of immigration, but want to see them reduced.
During an interview on Monday, Wisconsin governor and potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker said that he would protect American workers from the economic effects of increases in both legal and illegal immigration. Walker joins former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum as the only potential presidential candidates to link high levels of immigration to American workers.
Mary Spicuzza -- Milwaukee - Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
In the wake of criticism that he has flip-flopped over illegal immigration, Gov. Scott Walker is now wading into the issue of legal immigration.
In an interview with conservative talk show host Glenn Beck Monday, the Republican governor and likely 2016 presidential candidate was asked about his shifting position on immigration.
Congress will soon take up “fast track” trade promotion authority legislation that would allow President Obama to submit trade agreements to Congress for a simple-majority vote without being subject to amendment. If passed, the first likely trade deal to come up is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which reportedly includes guest worker provisions Congress could not change.
Chairman of the Senate's immigration subcommittee, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post calling for "an honest discussion of immigration" and its effects on American workers and their families.
The Center for Immigration Studies released more data today on the amount of work permits issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) above and beyond the legal limits set by Congress. The data show that between 2009 and 2014, USCIS issued more than 7.4 million work permits to individuals who would not automatically receive a work permit because they were either in the country illegally or entered the U.S. on a visa that didn't include one.
A new study from the Center for Immigration Studies found that more than 18 million new immigrants have entered the United States either legally or illegally since 2000, while only 9.3 million jobs were added over the same period of time. That represents two new immigrants for ever job created in the past 14 years.
United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced a new program that will allow for the extended families of illegal aliens from certain countries to enter the United States legally.
The Obama administration has issued almost 5.5 million more work permits than Congressionally set limits allow according to a report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). The report shows that, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data obtained by a Freedom of Information request, from 2009-2014 the agency issued 5,461,568 new work permits to immigrants, beyond the 1.1 million legal immigrants and 700,000 guest workers admitted to the U.S. each year.
Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., has introduced H.R. 604, a bill that would eliminate the extended family visa categories (e.g., married sons and daughters of citizens, etc.), thus ending “chain migration” as recommended by the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission in 1997. Current immigration law allows U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to sponsor non-nuclear, adult family members, creating an endless chain of mass legal immigration.
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says the Obama administration's decision to renew diplomatic ties with Cuba won't impact immigration rules just yet.
President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the U.S. would normalize relations with the island's Communist government and open a U.S. embassy sometime next year.
In an op-ed for The Daily Caller, former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell rails against "Obama's pro-amnesty agenda". Blackwell calls Pres. Obama's unwillingness to institute a travel ban on Ebola-stricken countries "an extension of his larger, pro-amnesty, open border position."
Former U.S. Senator and potential 2016 presidential candidate, Rick Santorum, told the Iowa Republican Party on Thursday that the GOP needs to put individual Americans ahead of corporate profits and that means lowering legal immigration numbers. Santorum said that low-skilled immigrants are filling U.S. jobs and keeping wages down for working Americans.
While making a speech in Washington on Monday, U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez said that allowing an influx of foreign workers would boost wages and help the economy. This contrasts the findings of several studies.
At a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, Pres. Obama said it would be political "suicide" for Republicans not to embrace a mass amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, and he reinforced plans to move forward with a large-scale executive action that would grant amnesty and work permits to millions of illegal aliens after the November elections.
A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston shows that "for every foreign-born nurse that migrates to a U.S. city there are between one and two fewer native RNs observed working in the city."
Representing 1.5 million registered email activists and 2 million unique Facebook followers, NumbersUSA spent more than a million dollars in the three weeks running through Election Day putting this ad in front of citizens primarily in Senate battleground states through local broadcast TV and social media.
The clock runs out on S. 744 in January, but we have to get through the Fall and the looming lame duck session first. The lame duck has long been circled on the calendar as the most dangerous time for us, not just for legislative mischief but also for executive amnesty. As the mid-term election season heats up and boils over into the anticipated battles around the holidays, we're going to see the press-release-driven media fired up as well.
A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies examines Census data and has determined that one out of every five U.S. residents doesn't speak English in their homes. The number of non-English speakers at home in the United States is up 50% since 1990 when federal immigration policy dramatically increased the number of green cards given to foreign citizens every year.
