WHITE HOUSE SUMMIT BACK ON THE CALENDAR

I had breakfast today with a few advocates and an Obama Administration official who noted that the immigration summit will now be held on June 25th. Encouraging. I also learned that the current expectation is that the immigration reform bill will likely start in the Senate and that Senator Reid is hoping for reform legislation to be considered in the fall.

Comments

[Bobby]

Gopundit, I don't even take the comments of LEFTIST COMRADES like yourself seriously. You know why? Because well read informed Americans and myself know that LEFTITS COMRADES LIKE YOURSELF are obviously a, 1) racist member of an ethnic interest group, like LA RAZA, 2)Loony far leftist, of the kind losing in, for instance, Europe everywhere, and will here in a few years,3)person profitting illegally from illegal immigration,(there are thousands)American or otherwise. It's LEFTIST COMRADES, like you, who are the NUTS that have brought this nation to its knees by interfering with its immigration and other laws. P.S. I'm not a Republican. I consider Republicans to have ruined the nation in terms of foreign issues, and leftist COMRADE Democrats like yourself to have ruined it domestically. You're doing a great job.

[Jim]

"Democrats will not have 60 votes in the Senate unless they can get some Republicans on board."

Good point. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt though and the presumption that he got a few Republicans tucked in as well.

We won't know for sure until that time comes.

All I know is there must be a CIR, with or without amnesty.

[GOPundit]

Bobby Said: "Because of the Economic and Social Mess, the Washington Establishment has put onto this nation,(it's totally their fault)the responsible thing to do would be to freeze immigration for 10 years, immediately put a stop to illegal immigration, and deport illegal aliens. But they won't. They won't lift a finger towards helping the taxpaying U.S. citizens. INSTEAD THESE TRAITORS ARE CALLING FOR AMNESYT OF MILLIONS OF ILLEGALA ALIEN FOREIGN NATIONALS AND SUBSEQUENT DISASTROUS CHAIN MIGRATION OF A HUNDRED MILLION MORE PEOPLE. Americans would do well to start waking up and take a good look, a really good look, at just who is leading them."

That is exactly what caused your party's ass to be kicked since 2006 and 2008. The country and its citizens have given the President and his party the full and complete mandate to go ahead with CIR.

Its time to keep Rabid Righwing nuts like you (Bobby, Ali etc..all NumbersUSA and VDARE and Murderous Minutemen fringe racist groups) to SHUT ur PIE HOLE!

[Bobby]

Because of the Economic and Social Mess, the Washington Establishment has put onto this nation,(it's totally their fault)the responsible thing to do would be to freeze immigration for 10 years, immediately put a stop to illegal immigration, and deport illegal aliens. But they won't. They won't lift a finger towards helping the taxpaying U.S. citizens. INSTEAD THESE TRAITORS ARE CALLING FOR AMNESYT OF MILLIONS OF ILLEGALA ALIEN FOREIGN NATIONALS AND SUBSEQUENT DISASTROUS CHAIN MIGRATION OF A HUNDRED MILLION MORE PEOPLE. Americans would do well to start waking up and take a good look, a really good look, at just who is leading them.

[john]

As the economy is showing no signs of turning the Gov now has to admit it needs 20 million illiegals into the system. They will buy all the GM hybrid cars that Americans dont want. They will buy all the empty new houses that Americans dont want and the banks want their pay checks every friday for check cashing fees and money transfer fees.Lets face it they are the only ones left with good credit. OHH and dont forget SOCIAL SECURITY, They will bail all of us out by paying into it.

[Ali]

By the way, Jim, I'm a lifelong Democrat and I oppose amnesty. I wouldn't bet on Senators from states such as Michigan supporting an amnesty bill, not even the crucial cloture vote. Democrats will not have 60 votes in the Senate unless they can get some Republicans on board.

[Ali]

It won't matter what bill Congress considers, if it considers any. As long as it's clear that this Administration is NOT ENFORCING THE LAW and that it is in fact gutting enforcement by not funding eVerify and by not following through on the executive order to makes its use mandatory, Congress will not get ANY immigration bill through. Congress STILL doesn't get it. Words mean nothing. We saw plenty of that with the 1986 bill. Promises, Promises. IF government can enforce the law, then let it. If it can't or won't, well, then, I guess we just don't need an amnesty. It would just lead to more illegal aliens like the last one did.

[Jimi]

"Just talk, just speeches" ~ Barack Obama

That's all you're going to get. Just as blacks have been exploited for votes with empty promises, so will the amnesty suporters. BO has your number. It's called "hope" as that's all he will ever deliver for you.
Smart folks will respond to actions, not words.

[Reality check]

Greg is wrong when he states that voting on CIR/amnesty is less risky than people think -- especially with the very high unemployment rate. If the recent WaPo/ABC poll had offered the choice between enforcement or legalization (instead of just legalization), enforcement would have won easily as it always does when offered as an alternative.

[guest]

Thank you Mr. Siskind! You are a great support on the internet to the whole immigrant community!

[Greg Siskind]

Folks - I have a great number of clients interested in the nurse bill and I know many of you here also care a lot about it. I promise you that I'm not holding back and will let you know about developments as I learn them.

Greg

[guest]

To legal_alien_from_roswell

I am also interested in the latest developing of HR2536. Dear Greg, any chance of this bill being attached to Health Care reform bill? Or passage of it as a standalone bill?

[Legal_Alien_from_roswell]

Kavitha

Why do you keep asking the same question in every second post? pressing the elevator button twenty times will not make it come faster..

[john]

the point system is flexible to allow or deny unemployed but skilled people. The score is set to adjust the level. Canada is more focussed on exmployment history and education whereas australia'ns focus on language and local experience. the whole point is government has a control on who should be here.

Well with regards to updating the national databank, in australia govt body captures almost tall the advertised positions and it is used to help the unemployed residents.If all companies need to submit their ads first into govt data banks, this will work. It will get rid a lot of problems such as
1.companies not hiring local workers.
2. wage discrepancies and slavery by the employer
3.Unnecessary wait and paperwork

Although majority of the Australian system is based on points they also have an employer sponsored componentto accomodate those exceptional workers not listed in the national data bank.
So the bottom line is point system is flexible to accomodate all these concepts. The whole immigration system will change from its current shape and I am not sure lobby groups will permit it.

[Kavitha]

Hi Greg,

Is there any info you can share with us on the progress of HR 2536 (Nurse Bill). Any chance of the committee meeting for debate and mark up in the near future?

[Comprehensive]

Nitin,

By advocating a point-based system, I am not playing into the hands of the antis. Rather, I’m trying to suggest a system which is fair to the employee and the employer alike and is good for the American economy. We’re talking about a skilled labor pool in the economy where an employer is free to choose its employee and vice versa. In a point based system, the employment offer would score the highest point. It will not be the bureaucracy which would deciding who will get the visa, rather the DOL job classification, as is being done today.

We should remember that US should not give us a visa just because we want to be employed in there. Rather it should give a visa to the person it needs in her skilled labor pool.

The point based system doesn’t prohibit building a long term relationship between the employer and the employee. But that relationship should not be forced upon the employee by the employer as the current system allows today.

To others:

The issue of country cap will definitely be revisited in a new system. We’re talking about a complete system overhaul.

[AD]

The points system is only good if they take out the 10% per country limits. The points system, with the per country limits, is nothing but a glorified diversity visa. Stuart Anderson of NFAP wrote about this when the bill came around. It is ridiculous to even think that a person from India/China might score 93 points and still wait behind a person from Krakovia who has 45 points. Get the country limits out. Then talk about merit. until then it is diversity in the name of vote bank.

[Nitin]

I think it is high time we stop viewing everything from a labor vs. employer type construct. There are at least a substantial number of high skilled workers, if not a majority, that don't feel that they are indentured servants. We have to realize that there are organizations that want to invest in people long-term, that believe in fairness and that believe in the fact that goals and objectives of their employees are aligned with their own goals. I think we play into the hands of the anti-immigrants if we look at immigration from the perspective akin to that of a class-warfare. The point against an Australia/ Canada type points system is that they leave it to the bureaucrats to decide who gets in and who does not. How frequently will the list of qualifications be updated? What is the process to make sure that new developments and changing market conditions are quickly addressed? If companies want to hire exceptional workers in categories that are not determined to be under-supplied, they will be denied in this system. Also, many immigrants who will not be employable or employed in their chosen field will be allowed to migrate.

[gg]

I dont think the new CIR 2009 bill is same as the one introduced earlier. Rep. Conyers and Rep. Lofgren are writing a massive CIR bill (House version) this time.

I think the emphasis is going to be on cleaning the current mess ( clearing all backlogs for legals + providing pathway for undocumented ) and an immigration system for the future which is enforcable. Its better to start with a fresh slate.

[john]

the point system is used in australia/canada. they have a national databank that shows the sought after jobs in a field. they keep on updating this list to reflect the market requirement.it works great in the sense that employees are not treated like slaves(as they do now in US).

the challenge is US is so big how to make a national data bank that can accomodate all the jobs. We are talking of maintaining a seperate department to do this job. but then you dont need all this lawyers.. and ofcourse all that complicated process

[Legal-immigrant]

@Nitin
"The employers have undue power over the employees waiting for the GC because of the huge backlogs and the unduly long process itself. If this is streamlined and quotas are increased or abolished (per country and overall), the power of the employers will diminish."

I wouldn't count on that. Its in the employers interest to keep the employees tied to a position and we all know (from the recent financial meltdown) how far the corporations can go in advancing their interests...

[Legal and no longer waiting]

"The employer sponsorship ensures that the person seeking permanent residency is clearly employable or already employed."

Are you talking about H1 or PR? If about H1 (assuming, the employer is completely out of the picture), then assuming one can get H1 without an employer, all you need to have a check-back at 6 month, which is automatically validated if the person found a job in the profession H1 was for. Now, when we were talking about H1 portability, nobody meant that employer is not in the picture at all. The first sponsorship should be done by an employer, after that, the employee can change jobs just like on EAD. The sponsoring employer cannot enforce any job contracts over one year, and when the beneficiary is extending H1 after 3 years, s/he should show a qualifying job. In the meantime, the simple desire to survive and succede will take care of employability.

If you are talking about PR point system, then the solution has been developed and tested in other countries - education gets you points, but employement or employment offer gets you more points. How much more we can discuss, and it's a very appropriate discussion.

[Nitin]

The points based system (although good in theory) is hard to implement. I believe it is not the right approach. Agreed that H-1B visa portability is a good idea but taking the employers completely out of the equation is not good. The employers have undue power over the employees waiting for the GC because of the huge backlogs and the unduly long process itself. If this is streamlined and quotas are increased or abolished (per country and overall), the power of the employers will diminish. The employer sponsorship ensures that the person seeking permanent residency is clearly employable or already employed. I would not trust the bureaucracy to make that determination. How do you compare a PhD in an arcane field to a masters in an up-and-coming field etc.? The fact that the employer and a job offer is required makes is market based and is also the reason that it has worked well in the past when the quotas were more than sufficient.

[Sri]

If Point System comes , then what about the applications already in. Some people apply in EB3 even they have Master's Degree, and some people apply in EB2. How they deal with those applications?

[Comprehensive]

"Point based system with country caps is worse than the present system."

I agree. Country caps (or quota if you look at it from another angle) was just a bad idea from start. However, as Ms. Legal said, if the system is implemented correctly, it will be a good thing.

[D]

"I thought the point-based system was great."

Point based system with country caps is worse than the present system.

[Legal and no longer waiting]

I agree with Comprehensive, point system, if implemented correctly, can be a very good thing. I also agree on H1 portability.

[Comprehensive]

I thought the point-based system was great. Any system that lets the employer handle immigration affairs (H1B, I-140 etc.) on behalf of an employee asks for forced servitude. Any system that doesn't provide whistleblower protection (H1B etc.) asks for abuse. Do I need to say more?

Let the employee handle his/her immigration matters. If they have a job offer, let them apply for their own temp/perm visa in a point based system. Make H1Bs freely portable. This will take almost all of the frauds and abuses happening in the system, will have a free market effect on salaries and will keep the antis at bay.

I wonder who would lobby for such a system.

[Greg Siskind]

The point system will go nowhere. Trust me on that. It's dead.

[D]

"Probably because they will use the Kennedy/McCain bill 2006 as a blueprint "

Wish that is true..point based system as designed was totally unworkable.

[Greg Siskind]

I think the logic is that the Senate has the harder job because they need 60 votes. Why twist arms (and put some House members at risk in the next election) to get Bluedog Democrats on board only to have the bill fail in the Senate?

Of course, I think that the polling data is not seeping in to the mindset yet. A lot of people still thinking this is a riskier vote than it really is. That will hopefully start to change as the new, stronger polling data holds up for a while.

[Another voice]

Probably because they will use the Kennedy/McCain bill 2006 as a blueprint for the bill and because Harry Reid needs to be at the front of this since he wants the Hispanics in Nevada to help him win re-election, he has a tough fight...

[Jim]

Greg, any significance om why it will start in the Senate?

I figure that it has something to do with the Senate possibly having the 60 votes or at least the majority to pass it?

Are they thinking that by starting in the Senate first (like what they did in the bailout)would give it a better chance?