unemployment

A new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that there is no evidence of a labor shortage to support the recent H-2B visa increase. DHS Secretary John Kelly announced this week that he will use the authority granted by Congress to approve an additional 15,000 H-2B visas over the annual 66,000 cap.

In a New York Times op-ed entitled “Fix Immigration. It’s What Voters Want” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., argues President-elect Trump “has a clear mandate not only to stop illegal immigration, but also to finally cut the generation-long influx of low-skilled immigrants that undermines American workers.” He says the nation needs an immigration policy that focuses less on powerful special interests and more on everyone else.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., yesterday warned that the omnibus appropriations bill would quadruple a foreign worker program replacing Americans, expand the refugee program amid serious national security threats, and ignore the existence of dangerous Sanctuary Cities.

Chairman of the Senate's immigration subcommittee, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), and Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), wrote an op-ed in Roll Call calling for the GOP to curb immigration.

A federal district court denied an injunction request by technology workers under President Obama’s guest-worker program for spouses of H-1B visa workers. The plaintiffs, Save Jobs USA, said citizens would lose out jobs to the new guest workers but Judge Tanya Chutkan denied them an injunction, saying plaintiffs could not demonstrate the guest workers would directly compete with them for jobs. The merits of the case have yet to be decided.

President Obama has proposed unilateral changes in the L-1B visa program that would bring in hundreds of thousands of new foreign guest workers that would compete with or displace American tech workers. Obama claims his proposal will “benefit our entire economy and spur additional investment,” but it could add to the unemployment lines while doing little to increase foreign investment.

A new study from the Center for Immigration Studies found that more than 18 million new immigrants have entered the United States either legally or illegally since 2000, while only 9.3 million jobs were added over the same period of time. That represents two new immigrants for ever job created in the past 14 years.

This past weekend, the Orange County Register ran a Q&A with NumbersUSA's Roy Beck. The interview, conducted by staff writer Roxana Kopetman, touched on the ongoing immigration debate in Congress, our recent evangelical poll and the disparity between church leaders and their followers, and the future of immigration policy in the United States.

As House Republicans prepared to leave Washington for a three-day retreat, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has sent them a 30-page memo entitled "Immigration and the GOP Agenda." In it, Sessions argues against House action on immigration reform for any number of reasons that include a lack of trust in the Obama administration, the already high levels of legal immigration, wage stagnation, and the enormous growth in social welfare programs.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., published an op-ed in USA Today that criticizes President Obama for pushing Republicans to pass an immigration reform plan that hurts American workers while claiming to be concerned about their plight. He called upon Republicans to set aside the demands of business groups and “stand alone as the one party defending the legitimate interests of American workers” in the immigration context.

Breitbart reports that Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is calling on House Republicans to put the interests of American workers ahead of lobbyists, political consultants and Democrats who want who want a comprehensive amnesty. He said the House was the last line of defense for Americans whose wages and livelihood would be put at risk.

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) has introduced an amendment to the unemployment extension bill currently being considered in the Senate that would add up to 50,000 new green cards per year with no offsets. His amendment includes the full language for S.310, the Startup Act 3.0, which would create 50,000 provisional green cards for foreign students who graduate with a degree in a STEM field and an additional 75,000 visas for entrepreneurs, which can also become permanent green cards.

In honor of Veterans Day earlier this week, Walmart CEO, Bill Simon, announced that his company would help put veterans returning from the Middle East back to work. However, Walmart has pushed all year for passage of a comprehensive amnesty bill that would double annual legal immigration numbers and grant amnesty with work permits to more than 11 million illegal aliens.

The overall jobless rate has remained steady over the past several months, but veterans returning from the Middle East are finding it increasingly more difficult to find work. In September, the jobless rate for post-9/11 veterans was 10.1% - nearly 50% higher than the national rate, and more than a million veterans are expected to return from overseas and join the job market by 2016.