Congressional Republicans have reportedly cut a deal to permanently double the number H-2B guest worker visas given out each year. These visas are used by employers to bring in foreign workers to take jobs in landscaping, food service, meat processing, hospitality services, janitorial and housekeeping work, and other lower-skilled, non-agricultural occupations.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government is considering reducing its annual legal immigration cap from 190,000 to 160,000, a 16 percent reduction. Morrison said “Australians in our biggest cities are concerned about population. They are saying: enough, enough, enough. The roads are clogged, the buses and trains are full. The schools are taking no more enrollments. I hear what you are saying. I hear you loud and clear.”
Pres. Trump told Politico that he won't support legislation that includes a DACA amnesty until after the courts make a final ruling on the challenge from the state of Texas. Texas and several other states are challenging the legality of the Obama-era executive amnesty that has granted work permits to 900,000 illegal aliens since 2014. Federal District Judge Andrew Hanen could issue a ruling at any time.
NBC News reported on a survey conducted by El Universal, a popular Mexican newspaper, that found about seven in 10 Mexicans have a negative view about Central American caravan migrants. It also found that 52 percent of Mexicans oppose giving work permits to the migrants, 52 percent want those without legal documents blocked from entering Mexico and 55 percent support cracking down on future caravans.
In blocking Central American caravans from entering the United States, Pres. Trump appears to be pursuing a popular solution, according to a national survey of Americans who voted in the midterm congressional elections.
The poll taken in the days after the election found most voters (58%) preferring that the caravan be stopped before its members cross the U.S. border from Mexico.
During a Monday phone call for reporters, Homeland Security officials said about 6,000 Central American migrants have already reached the border at Tijuana, and between 8,500 and 10,500 are still trekking north in at least three separate caravans. San Diego’s San Ysidro Port of Entry can process only about 100 asylum seekers per day, so the thousands waiting and still traveling will have to be handled over a period of many months.
San Francisco District Judge Jon Tigar temporarily blocked President Trump’s new rule which prevents illegal border crossers from requesting asylum. The judge ruled that federal law allows any foreign national who reaches U.S. soil to request asylum. The ruling is a setback for the Administration’s attempt to cope with the Central American caravan now arriving at the southwest border.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recently announced the results from a six-month pilot program designed to increase law enforcement presence on certain Interior lands along the US-Mexico border. During the last six months Interior officers apprehended 4,010 illegal aliens -- a 4,000 percent increase over a comparable period in 2016 -- and induced 224 foreign nationals to not enter the U.S., i.e., turn back.
Border patrol agents in Arizona apprehended 654 illegal aliens in just two days this week in Arizona’s Yuma Sector. The migrants, mostly family units or unaccompanied alien children from Guatemala, are not believed to be associated with the Central American caravan. Apprehensions in the Yuma Sector in October (3,600) are up over 150% compared to last year.
The number of foreign students and graduates participating in the Optional Training Program (OPT) hit an all-time high during the 2017-18 school year with more than 200,000 foreign students and graduates working in the U.S. OPT allows foreign students and graduates to work in the United States for 12 months (up to 36 months for students in STEM fields) to gain on-the-job experience.
