Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff sat down with a handful of bloggers yesterday to talk about some of the issues facing his department, including completion of the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, compliance with Real ID and the prospects of immigration reform in 2008. Following his somewhat contentious testimony to Congress yesterday, Chertoff used the interview to dispel myths associated with the Real ID law, which has come under attack from liberals and civil liberties groups who incorrectly call it a national ID. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) accused …
Today is the first day the U.S. Citizenship and immigration Services excepts H-1B visa petitions for FY 2009. And if last year is any indication, it will also be the last. Congress authorized only 85,000 H-1Bs last year (65,000 for people with a bachelor degree or higher and 20,000 for those with a master’s or higher) and by early afternoon USCIS received over 150,000 applications. USCIS outright rejected all petitions received after close of business the next day. H-1B visas are given to highly educated foreigners who are sponsored by …
Arizona which has been a national leader in state-directed initiatives to combat illegal migration is now trying to address the other half of the problem–getting the economy the workers it needs. There are an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 illegal immigrants working on American farms, but only 75,000 legal H-2A workers according to the Department of Labor. Federal regulatory measures are overly bureaucratic and in need of major reform. As a result, the state of Arizona has recently suggested taking matters into its own hands and proposed the idea of a …
Great catch by Mark Krikorian today exposing some number fudging by the open borders crowd. Krikorian links to a post by Harvard Kennedy School George Borjas explaining his new paper examining claims by pro-amnesty advocates that immigration actually raises the wages of many native-born workers. Borjas summarizes his paper’s findings: The [pro-amnesty study] data includes currently enrolled high school juniors and seniors. They classify these high school juniors and seniors as part of the “high school dropout” workforce. Their finding of immigrant-native complementarity disappears if the analysis excludes these high …
In the Wall Street Journal today American University and the University of Nevada at Reno economics professor Brad Schiller offers a great corrective to those who claim inequality is growing in the United States. First Schiller notes that while the share of the pie the bottom 20% of the population is earning is smaller than it was in 1970, the pie itself is much larger. Factoring in economic and population growth, Schiller explains, “the average income of people at the bottom of the income distribution has risen 36%” since 1970. …
Slowly but surely Washington is acknowledging the high cost illegal immigration inflicts on local governments. Today the New York Times reports on a study by the University of Arizona and San Diego State University showing counties along the Mexican border spent $1.23 billion processing illegal immigrants through their justice systems between 1999 and 2006. Cochise County, Arizona, supervisor Paul Newman told that Times: “This is a huge problem because we can’t keep up fixing roads, the other costs of law enforcement, keeping up health agencies.” Heritage research shows the costs …
In 2007, 26 San Diego County residents were kidnapped and held for ransom in Tijuana, Roarito Beach and Ensenada. Some were recovered, some were hurt, and some were killed. Kidnappings are a popular tactic among organized, well finances and violent kidnapping cells. These kidnapping are sophisticated operations similar to terrorist cells. This line of business is not about terrorizing people or retaliating, it is about making money. Due to the rapid increase in crime in Mexico, U.S. citizens are warned to be cautious when vacationing or doing business. Local and …
Roll Call reports today that “House Democrats are crafting scaled-down immigration reform legislation” that creates new “five-year visas for illegal immigrants who pay fines and pass criminal background checks.” A major reason amnesty legislation failed last summer is because Americans knew the Department of Homeland Security could never process the millions of background checks the legislation promised, especially in the allotted 24-hour time frame. Many of the shortfalls in homeland security since 9/11 can be directly traced to Congress piling more missions and responsibilities on the DHS than it could …
Once again the president said all the right words. Broken borders are no longer acceptable. Immigration laws have to be enforced. The sanctity of citizenship must be maintained. And America needs the right legal processes to get the workers it needs to fuel economic growth. The White House said the same last year, right before it signed off on a massive “comprehensive” immigration bill that would have achieved none of those goals. The president needed to do more to send the right the signal on the kinds of legislation that …
Brian Darling previews President Bush’s final State of the Union address, noting that Iraq, free trade and taxes will be major themes of the speech. Darling also appeared on the National Association of Manufacturers’ “American Business With Mike Hambrick” to share his thoughts about the speech. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIwPLTGppis[/youtube] The White House, meanwhile, released excerpts from the address moments ago.
