The Washington Times reported today that on the thorniest of political issues, Obama has embraced the enforcement-first position on immigration that he criticized during last year’s campaign.  He’s now saying that he can’t move forward with the type of comprehensive bill he wants until the voters are convinced that the borders can be enforced.

We quote:  “If the American people don’t feel like you can secure the borders then it’s hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be….Well, you’re just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.”

Acting USCIS Deputy Director, Michael Aytes, recently responded to questions about employment-based visa wait times in a recent Leadership Journal article that’s been posted on the DHS website.  You’ll all be glad to hear that USCIS has set a 4-month processing goal for I-140 petitions with an estimate of September 2009 for meeting that goal.  In recent months, we have noted faster case approval.

In late 2007 and 2008, employers filed more than 234,000 I-140 petitions.  The USCIS acknowledges the frustrations felt by many.  To address this, they are working toward making case volume information available online – but not sure when this might become available.

The 1st hearing, in a series of hearings to be held, took place on April 30, 2009 in the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees to address issues surrounding comprehensive reform in the 111th Congress.  The witnesses included former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former INS Commissioner Doris Meissner and reps from the business community, organized labor, religious institutions and anti-immigration groups.  They addressed the topics of unauthorized workers in the USA economy, worksite enforcement against employers and employees and temporary workers, including skilled foreign workers.

The hearings are the latest step in the Senate’s efforts to address coprehensive reform.

…Music to our ears to hear Obama state on his 100th day in office that he was moving “full steam ahead on all fronts” on immigration reform.  He told Telemundo reporter that he hopes to convene working groups to start building a framework for how immigration legislation might be shaped.  He further stated yesterday that Congress and DHS are aligning their priorities to focus on the root causes of undocumented immigration.  Obama stated at his 100th day news conference yesterday:

“We want to move this process.  We can’t continue with a broken immigration system.  It’s not good for anybody.  It’s not good for American workers.  It’s dangerous for Mexican would-be workers to cross a dangerous border.”

We link to articles and videos for more.

A Wall Street Journal opinion piece points out that an infusion of innovators is even more needed in a recession. “Companies founded by immigrants include Yahoo. eBay and Google. Half of Silicon Valley start-ups were founded by immigrants, up from 25% a decade ago. Some 40% of patents in the US are awarded to immigrants. A recent study by the Kauffman Foundation found that immigrants are 50% likelier to start businesses than natives. Immigrant-founded technology firms employ 450,000 workers in the US.

As of 04/28/2009, USCIS reports that it has received 45,000 petitions towards the 65,000 H-1B quota for FY 2010.  The agency has already received 20,000 or more cases that are eligible for the advanced degree quota exemption.  They will continue, however, to accept both advanced degree and H-1B cap filings until the entire annual H-1B quota is reached.

H-1B numbers have been used very slowly since April 1st.  Filings are expected to increase in coming weeks as students complete their degrees and become newly eligible for H-1B status.  Additionally, many employers may wish to change the status of F-1 students currently on Optional Practical Training (OPT) earlier than planned because of the unexpected availability of numbers.  Employers should assess their further FY 2010 H-1B hiring needs ASAP to take advantage of the open quotas and to properly prepare their cases.

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today introduced the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act – narrowly-tailored bipartisan legislation that would reform the H-1B and L-1 guest-worker programs to prevent abuse and fraud and to protect American workers.
“The H-1B visa program should complement the U.S. workforce, not replace it,” Durbin said.  “Congress created the H-1B visa program so an employer could hire a foreign guest-worker when a qualified American worker could not be found. However, the H-1B visa program is plagued with fraud and abuse and is now a vehicle for outsourcing that deprives qualified American workers of their jobs.  Our bill will put a stop to the outsourcing of American jobs and discrimination against American workers.”

The Durbin-Grassley bill would mend the H-1B visa program, not end it, making reasonable reforms while not reducing the number of H-1B visas that are available.  Congress intended H-1B visas to benefit the American economy by allowing U.S. employers to import high-skilled and specialized guest-workers when no qualified American workers are available.  While initially successful, loopholes in the program have allowed foreign guest-workers to displace qualified American workers.

Some claim that the H-1B program helps to create American jobs, but it is currently being used by some companies to outsource American jobs to foreign countries.  Under current law, an outsourcing company can use American workers to train H-1B guest-workers, fire the American workers and outsource the H-1B workers to a foreign country where they will do the same job for a much lower wage.  In fact, Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has referred to the H-1B as “the outsourcing visa.”

For more information on the H-1B legislation reform:
Read this story from the Sen. Durbin website

Mexico City, April 25, 2009 – Mexico and the United States are cooperating closely together as Mexico works to contain the current outbreak of H1N1 influenza. At the invitation of the Mexican government, a team of experts from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has arrived in Mexico to work with their counterparts to identify and limit the outbreak of H1N1 influenza. The United States has imposed no additional constraints or limitations on travel between the United States and Mexico. Travelers are encouraged to comply with suggestions by Mexican public health officials and to practice good health and sanitation.

In accordance with measures announced by the City of Mexico to limit the congregation of large crowds, the Embassy in Mexico City has decided to suspend processing of the approximately 5100 non-immigrant visa appointments scheduled Monday, April 27 through Wednesday, April 29.

For more information on the Embassy taking precautionary measures:
Read this press release from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico

Remade in America: This is one segment in a series about the newest immigrants and their impact on American institutions

The question comes from one of dozens of engineers around a crowded conference table at Google. They have gathered to discus how to bujild easy-to-use maps that could turn hundreds of millions of mobile phones into digital Sherpas – guiding travelers to businesses, restaurants and landmarks

His plane gets in at 9:30,” the group’s manager responds. Google is based here in Silicon Valley. But Sanjay G. Mavinkurve, one of the key engineers on a map project, is not. His wife doesn’t have a visa, so he lives in Canada.

For more: http://projects.nytimes.com/immigration/

There is a new, potential plan in the works for comprehensive immigration reform that could involve a major change in strategy. In a recent report in the LA Times, the CIR bill would look very similar to prior years, but a new independent commission would be created to assess employment-based visa numbers.

The new commission would assess labor and industry data to decide how many foreign workers should be allowed into the country. The system would replace a maze of special temporary worker visas that are granted each year to high-tech specialists, agriculture workers and other foreigners brought into the U.S. by foreign and domestic firms, according to the article.

This potential proposal could cause a disruption among Republicans like John McCain to drop their support for CIR.

For more information on this article:
Read this story from the LA Times