USCIS
Medicare’s Health and Well-Being Depends on Immigrants
Immigrants’ access to affordable health care is one of the most contested issues in the current immigration reform debate. Most advocates of comprehensive immigration reform point to the need to ensure that aspiring citizens have opportunities to access appropriate health care since such access will impact their ability to learn, to work, and to contribute to their communities. On the other end of the spectrum, anti-immigration groups tend to inaccurately emphasize that newly legalized immigrants would represent an excessive fiscal burden. This prediction is based on a misleading characterization of immigrants as “takers”—in other words, as disproportionate consumers of public resources. Several studies have shown that this is just not the case. In fact, non-citizens use public benefit programs at a lower rate than similar low-income native-born citizens. With regard to medical expenditures in particular, immigrants tend to use less health care than their U.S.-born counterparts. Read More
Will Immigration Reform Correct the Immigration System’s Gender Bias?
Within the current immigration system, many women confront systematic barriers when trying to gain legal status. This is one of the main conclusions drawn from a study conducted by social scientists Cecilia Menjivar and Olivia Salcido. Based on a 10-year-long research project on immigrant women in Arizona, the authors identify specific instances in which gender inequality is ingrained in the formulation, interpretation, and implementation of immigration laws. Read More
How the Senate Bill Seeks to Deter Future Waves of Unauthorized Immigration
The Senate Judiciary Committee continues to consider amendments to Title II of the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act’’ (S.744) today. For many, Title II is the bill’s core as it deals with the legalization of the undocumented population already living here and lays out the rules concerning future immigration, among other issues. Read More
Day 4 of Senate Immigration Mark-up Goes Late into Night
Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee began its fourth day—and likely last week—of the immigration reform bill’s mark-up. After spending most of the day finishing the Title 3 (interior enforcement) amendments, the senators began on the last part of the bill, Title 2 (legalization), which includes the path to citizenship. They considered 50 amendments and approved 30 of them; five were withdrawn. Read More
Keeping U.S. High-Skilled Temporary Worker Visa Programs Workable
When analyzing higher-skilled guest worker visa programs, such as the H-1B and L-1 programs, critics often fail to acknowledge the very different and important purposes that these programs were designed to serve, and the complicated requirements already in place to protect against abuse or exploitation. There is no denying that we can and should improve these programs and the strategies used to enforce them. However, given the well-established economic benefits of these programs, and the challenges employers face finding highly skilled workers, particularly in technical fields, it is essential that any proposed reforms not impose restrictions that may make these programs completely unworkable. Read More
The Charismatic Leaders Behind Immigration Reform
The tens of thousands of people who gathered Wednesday in front of the Capitol to rally for comprehensive immigration reform had two clear messages for Congress: reform must include a direct path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States, and “The Time Is Now.” Read More
Guaranteeing Access to Health Care to Immigrant Women: A Necessary and Wise Investment
In the current public debate regarding comprehensive immigration reform, the focus on immigrant access to health benefits has been almost exclusively limited to cost (which is undeniably an important aspect) and has rarely addressed the social gains that result from investing in a healthy population. For the most part, the health of immigrant women has been left out of the discussion, which is, in many aspects, problematic. Read More
H-1B Visa Cap Reached in Five Days
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Friday, April 5, just five days after the H-1B high-skill “visa race” began, that they had received more applications than could be approved under the cap of 65,000 for fiscal year 2014. Additionally, USCIS stated they had received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions on behalf of individuals who are exempt from the cap. As such, USCIS will no longer be accepting additional H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2014. At this point, USCIS will use a random selection “lottery” process to allocate the 65,000 visas from the applications received through April 5. Read More
Virtual March Will Push for Immigration Changes
New York Times February 26, 2013 High-tech leaders including the former heads of AOL and Mozilla are organizing a “virtual march for immigration reform” aimed at pressing lawmakers to enact sweeping changes to immigration laws. … The new effort, backed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York’s Partnership for… Read More
The Virtual March on Washington for Immigration
Wall Street Journal February 25, 2013 This is the year when immigration reform might happen, but leaders in the technology industry distrust politicians enough not to take chances. A group of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists is launching a “virtual march on Washington. They will be using the Internet and… Read More
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No one should face the immigration system alone
