A public policy blog on America's dysfunctional immigration system
When respected, albeit left-leaning, members of the punditocracy, like Chris Matthews and Maureen Dowd, begin to make hard right turns, it’s time to pay close attention.
Yesterday, in reaction to the Christmas Day suicide bomb attempt on Northwest Flight 253 as it approached Detroit, Matthews, the host of MSNBC’s Hardball, came closer than ever…
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandates an inclusive mathematical formula for apportioning “Representatives . . . among the Several states”. It requires a decennial census count of “the whole number of persons in each State” excluding untaxed Native Americans. As the New York Times reports, a push is on, using Christmas-themed posters …
The Congressional starter pistol on comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) has been fired skyward with the release of a 644-page mish-mash of proposed changes to the Immigration and Nationality Act that will both please and infuriate pro- and anti-immigration combatants in the Capitol and throughout the land. Introduced by Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL), the bill…
Since the early days of this blog, I’ve chastised immigration bureaucrats who use specious reasoning to treat small businesses petitioning for employment-related immigration benefits more harshly than their large-cap counterparts.
The latest assault on fairness and reason is reflected in a trend affecting several categories of employment-based visas — the H-1B (Worker in a Specialty…
Just when U.S. employers thought the bad vibes emanating from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) could get no worse, the agency tasked with deciding whether to approve or reject requests for immigration benefits has come up with VIBE — its new Verification Initiative for Business Enterprises which costs a whopping $35,506,760.43.
Just imagine .
Stealth protectionism on the immigration front is surfacing again in Congress. Two odd bedfellows — self-described socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (D. VT) and A+ anti-immigration lawmaker, Chuck Grassley (R. IA) — are at it again. Earlier in the year, the duo inserted the Employ American Workers Act into the stimulus legislation (the American Recovery…
[Blogger’s Note: With the surrender by Lou Dobbs last Wednesday of his role at CNN as an anti-immigrant advocacy journalist, and his refusal to rule out a run for political office, It’s time to reprise my reasons for blogging about our nation’s dysfunctional immigration policies, first published on October 24, 2004. Despite the…
Until recently, travelers to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Permanent Program have enjoyed seemingly hassle-free entry to the United States. If you hail from (or now hold citizenship in) one of 35 favored countries, the process is simple. Go online to a website, ESTA (Electronic System of Travel Authorization), answer a few…
Reports on immigration lawyer listserves are mounting. Shocked and frightened lawful permanent residents (LPRS) are reporting similar incidents in calls to immigration lawyers. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), apparently in cooperation with state and federal police agencies, has at last merged many of the country’s previously siloed law enforcement databases and, as a result…
Our lawmakers are again behaving badly in public over illegal immigration. This time the tussle threatens passage of health care reform legislation. The latest contentious debate, as the New York Times reports, revolves around a slew of issues.
Among these is whether unauthorized migrants — who will be subject to the mandate that…