Melanie and I joined two local groups in a counter-protest today near the Pro-amnesty “March for Dignity and Respect” on the closed National Mall. Then we headed down to the event organizers claimed would bring in tens of thousands of participants. Even with a top-name band playing – Los Tigres del Norte – they had a few thousand at best.
On Monday, September 30, Reuters reported that "IBM has agreed to pay $44,400 in civil penalties to settle allegations that certain of its online job postings preferred foreign workers with temporary visas over U.S. citizens."
The partial government shutdown that took effect at midnight has shut down the Department of Homeland Security's worker verification system - E-Verify. The online system will not be accessible during the shutdown and DHS has also shutdown the customer service arm of the system. The announcement was made on the USCIS website.
Summer Recess is over and Congress is now gearing up for a busy fall schedule. During the Congressional break, NumbersUSA activists attended over 400 town halls with nearly 150 lawmakers! Even though we dampened the momentum for amnesty during August, we still have a lot of work ahead of us.
A wonderful story by Hope Yen of the Associated Press yesterday leveraged government data to show yet another angle of the ongoing economic situation in America. Yen painted a clear picture of what is happening across the nation, piling on statistic after hard-hitting statistic. Naturally, a mention of our historic high immigration levels was AWOL.
In an op-ed published in The Hill on Wednesday, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) detailed the impacts the Gang of Eight's immigration bill, S.744, would have on legal immigration numbers and said the interests of all Americans are be pushed aside to satisfy the interests of business and ethnic groups. Sen. Sessions urged the House to completely disavow S.744 and move forward with a plan that would "refocus the immigration debate on the rights, needs, and concerns of U.S. citizens."
A large number of corporations that recently laid off American workers are now urging House leaders to import more foreign workers and legalize illegal aliens, according to the Washington Examiner. Jon Feere of the Center for Immigration Studies notes, "The companies claim (immigration reform) is an 'opportunity to level the playing field for U.S. employers' but it is more of an effort to level the wages of American citizens."
According to Robert Charette, author of "The STEM Crisis is a Myth," (IEEE Spectrum, August 30, 2013), The STEM crisis myth (often used by advocates for the Senate immigration bill) is not unique to the United States. The myth has gone global.
Last week media outlets coast to coast were covering news of what some called the largest fast food worker walkout in American history. In spite of the spiraling situation in Syria, the short-term strike took the headline on Drudge Report and was seen splashed on the front pages of major newspapers.Last week media outlets coast to coast were covering news of what some called the largest fast food worker walkout in American history. In spite of the spiraling situation in Syria, the short-term strike took the headline on Drudge Report and was seen splashed on the front pages of major newspapers.
A new mining company that is building a new steel manufacturing plant in Ohio just across the West Virginia border hosted a job fair on Wednesday that attracted 300 applicants. The company will hire about 50 workers.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle frequently tout the “labor shortage” line when pushing for comprehensive immigration reform. Some of these same lawmakers actually hold job fairs, knowing well that their state or district has unemployment problems. While others may not hold their own job fairs, they continue to say that “jobs” is their number one priority in Congress. Why then, are these politicians focused on making the unemployment and wage depression problems even worse in this county by passing amnesty and further increasing the flow of foreign workers into our labor market?
According to the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector, a recent White House report citing the economic benefits of granting amnesty and citizenship to illegal aliens is misleading and based on dubious assumptions. His study suggests the overall cost to taxpayers of such an amnesty is likely to exceed $6 trillion.
New anaylsis from the Center for Immigration Studies has determined that 57.5 million native-born Americans between the ages of 16 and 65 were not working during the second quarter of 2013. That figure is up 17 million from the second quarter of 2000. Proponents of the Schumer-Obama amnesty bill (S.744), however, claim that there are not enough workers currently living in the United States.
Reps. Raul Labrador (R-Id.) and Ted Poe (R-Texas) are working on legislation that could potentially double the number of low-skilled worker visas offered in the Schumer-Obama amnesty bill, S.744. The proposal could increase the number of guest worker visas from the 200,000 set forth by the Senate bill to 400,000.
The latest government statistics suggest that while the unemployment rate declined in July to 7.4 percent, the number of discouraged workers and those not in the labor force remains high. The report comes amid congressional discussions that could lead to amnesty for at least some illegal aliens in the country and legal immigration changes, both of which would dramatically increase the number of job seekers.
Bright, a company that collects resumes and attempts to match job seekers to open jobs, has found a large number of tech workers are looking for work in STEM fields despite claims that there is a shortage of high-skilled workers. According to its own analysis, Bright says they found evidence of labor shortages in a few specific engineering fields, but for the most part, there is a large available pool of high-skilled candidates for tech employers to choose from.
A new poll conducted by pollster John McLaughlin has found that 60% of Hispanic voters support amnesty only after the goal of stopping 90% of future illegal immigration has been achieved. Only 34% of Hispanic voters said they support an amnesty first plan similar to the Senate-passed S.744.
While Friday's jobs report was encouraging, 190,000 jobs added in the month of July, the data also showed some discouraging news - only 47% of Americans hold a full-time job. Of the 144 million Americans that hold a job, only 116 million are working full-time and only 58.7% of American adults hold a job.
Now, we must turn our full efforts to the U.S. House and another huge grassroots effort in July.There is no question that the five-month opposition that the grassroots has waged is having good results in the House, where the Senate bill is facing an increasingly hostile reception. At some point, politicians will no longer be able to look the public in the eye and be allowed by the media to claim that we must have tens of millions more foreign workers to deal with supposed labor shortages.
Republican supporters of the Gang of Eight's amnesty bill, S.744, have fought tirelessly to convince their GOP counterparts that the 11 million illegal aliens who receive amnesty under the bill won't be eligible for ObamaCare until they receive green cards 10 years down the road. But as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) pointed out yesterday, however, that's not the main "ObamaCare" concern with the bill. Instead, S.744 inadvertantly penalizes companies that hire American workers over amnestied illegal aliens beacuse of the "ObamaCare" tax.
CNBC's senior editor, John Carney, analyzed the Congressional Budget Office's immigration bill report and found that wages across all skill levels would decline for the first ten years after comprehensive immigration reform passed.
Along with a nationwide wage decline, Carney says that according to the CBO report, unemployment would initially rise after a CIR would pass.
A group of House and Senate Republicans held an extended press conference and rally on the East steps of the Capitol to rail against the comprehensive amnesty legislation under consideration in the Senate. They were joined by talk show host Glenn Beck and the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector, the author of the definitive long-term cost analysis on the Senate bill.
Higher unemployment. Lower wages. Higher interest rates. Continued illegal immigration. That's what the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office analysis concludes regarding the Gang of Eight's amnesty bill, S.744. In two separate analyses released on Tuesday, the CBO found that S.744 might have some long-term benefits on the U.S. economy, but in the interim, it will be a disaster for working Americans.
The Congressional Budget Office has released its analysis of the Schumer-Rubio-Obama amnesty bill, confirming the opponent's predictions that it would be devastating for American workers and would not end illegal immigration. Since the bill purposely delays green cards for some illegal aliens by 10 years, and the CBO only scores the fiscal impacts for the bill's first 10 years, the report says that the bill will not have a major impact on the national debt over the first decade.
An article that will be published in the June 24, 2013 issue of The New Yorker magazine reports that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sided with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the issue of a guest-worker program for the construction industry. Construction workers and the unions opposed an expanded guest-worker program unless it was tied to the unemployment rate, but the Chamber of Commerce was concerned that since unemployment rates tend to be higher in the industry, it would be a road block to the temporary visas.
A group of Black Leaders sent a letter to Congress on Monday warning them about the negative impacts the Gang of Eight's immigration bill will have on Black Americans. The group sent their letter to Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Senators from states with the highest levels of Black unemployment.
The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) has written a letter to members of the U.S. Senate asking them to oppose the immigration bill, S. 744. Specifically, IFPTE opposes the Schumer/Hatch amendment that passed during the Senate Judiciary Committe mark-ups earlier this month. The Schumber/Hatch amendment would increase the annual numbers of H-1B Visas.
Half of all grads from four-year colleges are working in jobs that don't require a four-year degree, according to a McKinsey study cited by Forbes. The McKinsey report is backed by a similar study from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that found 48% of U.S. college grads are underemployed.
In 2007, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) voted against amnesty for illegal aliens. Last Friday, in an interivew with the Washington Post, he expressed major concern with the Gang of Eight's bill after it was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Here's the 30-second video raising deep moral questions about what kind of national community we are going to be.
The Senate Gang of Eight immigration bill would offer a minimum of 33 million lifetime work permits in the first decade alone (11 million to current illegal immigrants, 11 million to new legal immigrants in a continuation of the current system, another 5 million chain migration relatives of immigrants who have applied but are waiting for their slot in other countries and 6 million new immigrants through new categories and expanded existing categories of immigration). The 33 million in a single decade is almost half of all immigrants who have ever entered the U.S. in its history.
On Tuesday, May 21st, state and local groups around the country will hold a series of press conferences to highlight their opposition to S. 744, the Senate’s comprehensive amnesty bill. The goal is to call attention to the bill’s many failings and to promote an immigration-enforcement approach to reform.
After dealing with most of Title I ("triggers" and border security) last Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee continues its markup of the Gang of Eight's amnesty bill, S.744, today. Today's markup will mostly focus on Title IV of the Gang's bill, dealing with the guest-worker provisions. Several of the issues to watch for today include changes to the existing H-1B high-skilled worker visas and worker protections outlined in the Gang's bill.
As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to review the guest-worker provisions of the Gang of Eight's amnesty bill, a national association consisting of electrical and electronics engineers is urging Congress to leave the H-1B visa quotas alone. The IEEE issued a statement on Monday to reject amendments that would further increase the number of H-1B visas issued each year and amendments that would weaken worker protections.
If you have ever doubted the "skills shortage" claims favored by the "Gang of Eight," President Obama, and the billionaire tech lobby, turn to the technology and business section of your newspaper. Wage suppression doesn't sell well in Washington - or with the public, for that matter - so the billionaire tech lobby has instead appealed for better access to foreign workers on the grounds that there isn't enough talent in the United States to meet their demands. But segments of the media have begun to speak truth to power.
A group of Americans, mostly Black Americans, in Georgia are suing several farm employers because they say the farmers prefer cheaper, foreign labor over U.S. workers. The workers claim that farmers, including Stanley Farms - one of the largest growers of Vidalia onions, that they were mistreated and paid less than workers from Mexico.
Last week, Sen. Jeff Sessions stood up for unemployed Americans during a floor speech in the Senate. The Senate Gang of Eight that's working on a bipartisan "comprehensive immigration reform" bill are working out the details on an expansive guest-worker program that could allow temporary workers to qualify for a green card after one year. Sen. Sessions said a guest worker program would hurt unemployed Americans, especially the most vulnerable Americans.
The jobs recession of the last several years has forced recent college grads to settle for low-skilled jobs in restaurants and retail stores. And new research from the National Bureau of Economic Research says that even as the economy improves, they may be stuck in those low-skilled jobs.
As the Senate Gang of Eight try to complete their "comprehensive immigration reform" bill that will include an amnesty for the nation's 11 million illegal aliens, an expansive guest worker program that would include visas for construction workers is the latest stumbling block. Business groups are concerned that the GOP Members of the Gang have given in too much to union demands.
An op-ed written by Clemson Professor Mark Thies and published in the Greenville News says the number of U.S. students enrolled at Clemson in STEM fields is up 60 percent over the past five years. Furthermore, he says that one-third of STEM graduates aren't working in the field and starting salaries within the field have remained flat since 2010.
In February, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO released a joint press release stating that the two sides have agreed to principles for immigration reform. But after recent meetings on Capitol Hill, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says he's unsure the two sides can agree on legislative language.
A new study conducted by Senior Quantitative Analyst Jason Arvelo with Bloomberg Government has found that there is evidence to support E-Verify's ability to deter the hiring of unauthorized workers. The study evaluates the impact that state-passed E-Verify laws had on different industries within those states.
