AILA has recently published an excellent Powerpoint on why the system is broken.

We link to

Senators Menendez (D-NJ), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), introduced legislation to re-emphasize family unity in the US immigration system so that legal immigrants might reunite with their families and end decade long waiting times for legal immigrant visas.

The legislation would reinforce the historical emphasis on current wait times in the family immigration system by:

• Helping an estimated 322,000 spouses and children under the age of 21 of lawful permanent residents who are waiting in line to reunite with their families by reclassifying them as immediate relatives
• Addressing the decades-long backlogs for certain countries by raising the per-country immigration limits from 7% to 10% of total admissions
• Protecting widows, widowers and orphans by allowing them to continue to wait in line for a visa after the death of the sponsoring relative
• Utilizing an estimated 400,000 family-sponsored and employment-based visas that went unused between 1992 and 2007
• Respecting the contribution of Filipino World War II veterans by reducing their children’s wait times for an immigrant visa
• Promoting family unity by allowing more people who are already eligible for an immigrant visa to efficiently use our legal family immigration system
• Providing equal treatment for stepchildren and biological children by allowing stepchildren under the age of 21 to immigrate upon their parents’ marriage (current age is 18)

For more on this story

The Obama administration is expanding a program initiated by President George W. Bush aimed at checking the immigration status of virtually everyone booked into local jails.  By matching fingerprints to federal immigration databases, they hope to pinpoint deportable illegal immigrants before they are released from custody.

For more on this story

Due to numerous problems with technology and functionality, the Department of Labor has announced that it will postpone mandatory usage for Labor Condition Applications until July 1st, with the legacy LCA portal remaining active for usage through June 30, 2009 for H-1Bs, E-3 visas and H-1B1’s.

The current portal can be accessed at : http://www.lca.doleta.gov/ and the iCERT portal at:  http://icert.doleta.gov

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Business Week Magazine started a conversation about a hot topic this month.  We link to the first article in a series that will examine immigration issues amid a recession by Moira Herbst.

124,000 employers in the USA are enrolled in E-Verify, with 10,000 of them in California.  In this climate of workplace enforcement, it’s not surprising that 1,000 employers are signing up every week.  E-Verify is a web-based identification program that enables employers to check whether an employee is authorized to work.  More on this story …

The President held a meeting with 5 employers, a state health department and a union to discuss innovative ideas that are being implemented in the workplace to improve the health of workers and decrease the rising cost of health care

On 5/11/09, the President hosted a health reform meeting, both for the $2 trillion in national savings that was discussed, and for the stakeholders attending.  Few would have imagined them sitting across the table from one another not so long ago.

We link to the Brief Room Blog and video and to more about the landmark meeting and the letter from the President to health care stakeholders.

USA Today pubilshed a very frank and interesting article where they addressed the important issue of the limitations that are put on skilled immigrant visas and how this hurts USA competitiveness.

Around this time every year, thousands of foreign students graduate with degrees in science, engineering and technology from US universities; they want to stay in America, work and contribute to the economy.  So, do we welcome them and say “terrific”…NO!  The government tell them to take their brainpower and skills with them to other countries and companies that compete with the USA.  To read more

Pretty self-defeating immigration policy isn’t it!

This summary was prepared by the White House and sets forth proposed changes in the 2010 budget for immigration related funding.

92% of the requested budget is within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Transportation and Security Administration (TSA), and the U.S. Coast Guard.  We link above to the specifics.