Singapore’s massive use of guest workers, and the country’s related quick population growth, have become hot political issues. The government has taken minor action to reduce the number of guest workers used but the recent guest worker riot is likely to spur further debate.
An estimated 6.5 million illegal aliens could receive amnesty under ideas being publicly shared by House Republican leaders, according to a nonpartisan research group. The National Foundation for American Policy based its estimate mostly on statements made by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).
On Sunday, January 5th, National Economic Council director Gene Sperling and CNBC's Mad Money host Jim Cramer briefly touched on immigration on Meet The Press with David Gregory. Cramer charged that the U.S. government cares more about finding jobs for new foreign workers than for unemployed Americans, and the government data backs him up.
In a Telemundo interview that will air Jan. 12th, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte says he sees “no reason” why illegal aliens shouldn’t be legalized if border and interior enforcement measures are “up and operating.” Goodlatte also broadly discusses the GOP immigration principles Speaker Boehner said will be released soon.
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.
The House of Representatives returns from its winter recess this week, and according to a memo sent to House Republicans by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), immigration, while on the to-do list, will not be a priority at the start of the session. Instead, the House will focus most of its attention on a farm bill, the 2014 budget, health care, and Iran.
This is the time of year when many pro-amnesty advocates in the pulpit and the press misuse the Bible to try to try to advance their cause. This year, churchgoers are fortunate to have access to a much different explanation of scripture, thanks to the emergence of a group called Evangelicals for Biblical Immigration and to a fascinating panel recently sponsored by the Heritage Foundation to inform congressional staffers and the media.
With the House approving a budget deal before its December 13 deadline, some are trying to predict how the deal, and the process of getting to a deal, will impact immigration in 2014. House Speaker John Boehner took a harsh tone with some of the conservative groups that oppose the deal, and many of those groups also oppose an amnesty. Still, 70% of his caucus approved the deal, making it much less controversial than amnesty.
Yesterday, Judicial Watch hosted an Amnesty panel, featuring Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), the Center for Immigration Studies' Mark Krikorian, and NumbersUSA's Rosemary Jenks. The panel discussed the impact of passing and amnesty, who's really behind the push, and provided an update on the the prospects of passage in the 113th Congress.
On Wednesday, Pres. Obama spoke at length about his desire to address an issue NumbersUSA has been talking about since its inception -- income inequality in the United States. But, the President choses to ignore the impact of adding 33 million (NumbersUSA's estimate) new workers, who are mostly low-skilled, will have on wages.
Multiple reports indicate that House leaders plan to bring immigration bills to the House floor after the primary filing deadlines pass. Breitbart News cites a nonpartisan political news website in Texas, Quorum Report, that is reporting that House Speaker John Boehner told Texas business leaders about his timeline. It's unknown if Boehner was referring to the Texas primary filing deadline, which is in January, or to another deadline. Speculation of the House moving on immigration has increased this week with Boehner's hiring of a pro-amnesty immigration advisor.
Senator Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., issued a statement today in response to President Obama’s speech on the decline in economic conditions for U.S. workers. He said the President’s rhetoric on wages is undermined by his immigration plan which hurts American workers.
Speaker John Boehner has announced the hiring of Rebecca Tallent to serve as immigration advisor in his Speaker's office. Tallent worked as a staffer and later as Chief of Staff for Sen. John McCain. She left McCain's office earlier this year to become the immigration policy director for the Bipartisan Policy Center where she also chaired the organization's immigration task force.
A recent op-ed published in the New York Times by Paul Collier, a professor of economics and public policy at the Blavantnik School of Government at Oxford Universityin England, says that the migration of individuals from poorer countries can help the countries they came from if they return, but it hurts if they never return. Collier directs his op-ed at Facebook and FWD.us founder Mark Zuckerberg and his claim that America is losing out because of our immigration policy.
The Senate bill does not say what President Obama thinks it says, but he has probably read similar language in immigration polling. Most polls that find support for a "path to citizenship" use language just like Obama has. One of the problems with those polls is that, like Obama's statements, they don't describe the actual legislation that Congress is considering.
Roy appeared on Jorge Ramos' primetime news program on the new television network Fusion where the two discussed legal immigration numbers, the employment situation in the United States, and the Congressional debate on immigration reform.
A new, non-partisan group based in Washington D.C., Americans4Work, is shedding some light on the impact that both legal and illegal immigration have on America's most vulnerable, especially minority groups, the disabled, and post-9/11 veterans. Earlier today, the group held its first public event at the National Press Club with Senator Jeff Sessions, former Rep. and Lt. Col. Allen West, and Temple University Law Prof. Jan Ting. While most of the discussion was spent on how to get jobless Americans back to work, the immigration issue was a recurring theme.
Six GOP Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary nominee Jeh Johnson about the administration's lack of enforcing immigration laws. The Senators posed more than 50 questions asking Johnson for his opinion on how former Secretary, Janet Napolitano, dealt with enforcement and whether or not he would pursue a more aggressive approach to enforcement.
Roger Daltrey, the lead singer of the Who, has blasted the former Labour-led government of the United Kingdom for allowing in large numbers of foreign workers. Daltrey, who has also criticized the current government for failing to tackle high immigration numbers said immigration has "undercut" workers.
U.S. STEM professors say H-1B increases would have a dramatic impact on American colleges graduates in these areas
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.
House Speaker John Boehner told reporters this morning that the House will not conference with the Schumer-Rubio amnesty bill. Speaker Boehner has repeatedly said that they House will take a piecemeal approach to immigration reform, but this is the first time he has publicly said that the Chamber will not consider the Senate bill in any capacity.
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.
It didn't take long for some in the mainstream media to attribute the results of Tuesday's two gubernatorial elections to the immigration positions, and the support or lack thereof from Hispanics, of the Republican candidates. Shortly after both the races in New Jersey and Virginia were called, the New York Times and others, were ready with their post-election analysis.
With only 16 legislative days left in 2013, several House GOP lawmakers say that immigration won't make it to the floor by the end of the year, including House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, the third-ranking House Republican.
The AFL-CIO is pushing to add 33 million permanent job seekers via legalization and increased immigration over the next decade. Union leadership surely hopes the increase in foreign workers will also boost their membership (and revenue), but if that is their sole justification they aren't saying.
Earlier today, Pres. Obama brought several business executives to the White House to discuss ways to encourage the House to vote on the Schumer-Rubio amnesty bill, S.744, before the end of the year. The bill, which would result in 33 million new work permits being issued in the first 10 years by granting amnesty to 11-18 million illegal aliens and doubling annual legal immigration flows, is being sold by the White House as a way to boost the economy and create jobs.
On Sunday, October 20, Delaware's U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons joined Delaware's U.S. Representative John Carney to host a jobs fair. In their quotes to the media about the event, they sounded like three politicians who possess great faith in the ability of the U.S. workforce to meet the needs of employers.
Fairfax County, Va., is noted for having one of the finest public school systems in the nation. The foreign language programs, extracurricular programs, and experiences students have in the classroom are first-rate and (sadly) go far beyond what most other students in this nation can expect to have. However, all of that may be about to change.
A new report by the Center for Immigration Studies says that the Senate-passed immigration bill could add 17.3 million additional voters to the U.S. by 2036. Combined with current law totals, 32 million new voters could be added by that year. Since the last four presidential elections were decided by an average of 4.5 million voters, this influx could have a substantial impact on American politics.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tells a group of reporters that the Democrats' strategy is to help pass any immigration-related bill in the House, so they can conference with the Senate-approved Schumer-Rubio-Obama amnesty bill, S.744.
Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) along wtih more than half of House Democrats introduced a blanket amnesty bill that would grant work permits to the 11-18 million illegal aliens living in the United States and likely double annual legal immigration numbers. The bill is similar to the Schumer-Rubio-Obama amnesty bill, S.744, after it was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It has replaced, however, the Corker-Hoeven "border security" amendment with a bill introduced by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) that has already been approved by the Committee.
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.
Companies are springing up in China and the United States that enable the Chinese elite to hire American women to serve as surrogate mothers, Reuters news agency reports. The children born to surrogate mothers are eligible for US citizenship and will later be able to sponsor their Chinese parents for Legal Permanent Residency.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, pledged to move immigration legislation forward despite the busy House fall schedule. Speaking at a House Republican event for Hispanic Heritage Month, Goodlatte said the House’s piecemeal approach to legislating immigration changes would address enforcement and security; legal immigration; and the status of illegal aliens.
Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) has drafted a letter asking House Speaker John Boehner to make a public commitment that he will stay true to his earlier announcement to address immigration on a piece-by-piece basis. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Pres. Barack Obama, and members of the Senate Gang of Eight have all said that if the House passes any legislation, it can be used to advance the Senate-approved comprehensive amnesty bill.
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.
Analysts this week suddenly stopped talking about the inevitability of amnesty this year. Your efforts are paying off! While much of the media's focus during recess has been on the efforts of the pro-amnesty and open-borders groups, YOU have been quite active over the last five weeks standing up for American workers and the rule of law!
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.
House Republican leaders may have to delay consideration of immigration legislation, given the busy schedule that awaits the House when it reconvenes next week. In addition to debate over FY 2014 appropriations bills and a measure to raise the federal debt ceiling, a new agenda item -- military strikes in Syria -- will add to time pressures. Aides to Republican leaders told the Wall Street Journal that there are no plans at this point to bring immigration bills to the floor.
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?
Today marks the 19th day of August Congressional Recess in which the open-borders forces were supposed to have been able to change enough Republican Representatives' minds to get a full-scale amnesty and doubling of legal immigration to the floor of the House. I'm pleased to say that thus far there has been almost no sign of changed minds thanks in good measure to NumbersUSA activists who have attended more than 200 town hall meetings. These are constituents seeing their own Congressman and not a case of busing people in from the outside or staging political theatre as the other side has done so often.
