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Microsoft: ‘To Fill 6,000 jobs, We’ll Pay $10K Per Visa’
The Register September 28, 2012 Microsoft has entered the US immigration debate with a novel proposal for expanding the number of visas available for foreign techies: have companies pay the government a good chunk of change for an expanded number of them. Redmond’s general counsel Brad Smith, speaking on a panel discussing STEM (science, technology, […]
Read MoreCalifornia Governor Vetoes TRUST Act
In a disheartening development for immigrants’ rights advocates, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the TRUST Act on Sunday just hours before it was scheduled to take effect. The measure, which was intended to minimize the humanitarian impact of the federal Secure Communities program, would have largely prohibited state and local jails from detaining suspects on […]
Read MoreUse of Segregation in Immigration Detention has Harmful Effects
The U.S. immigration system continues to detain more and more noncitizens in federally-operated detention facilities, in private prisons, and in state and local prisons and jails across the country. Currently, DHS detains approximately 34,000 persons every night, the majority of whom have no criminal history. Over the last several years there have been numerous reports […]
Read MoreLegal Action Center Welcomes Ninth Circuit’s Decision on Child Status Protection Act
An en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of young adults who, due to long delays caused by visa backlogs, lost the opportunity to obtain their green cards before they turned 21. In accordance with arguments made in an amicus brief submitted by the Legal Action Center and the […]
Read MoreThe Harmful Effects of Using Border Patrol as Interpreters Along the Northern Border
Most people are aware of increasing collaboration between state and local police and federal immigration officers. Programs like 287(g) and the Secure Communities program, as well as state laws like SB1070, create a new role for local police, who are now put in the position of identifying immigrants for possible deportation. It has meant that […]
Read MoreImmigrant Detention and the Private Prison Industry
The latest data on immigration enforcement show that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained a record high of 429,247 noncitizens in the 2011 fiscal year, an increase of 18 percent over 2010. Immigration detention has been steadily increasing over the last two decades. A new report by Justice Strategies suggests this increase is largely […]
Read MoreNo Paid Sick Days for Immigrant Caregivers Risky to Workers, U.S. Economy
By Elisa Batista, Women Immigrants Fellow, New America Media. In 91-year-old Elda Frank’s apartment is a scenario that plays out every moment of every day. An immigrant caregiver with no paid sick days scrambles for backup when she becomes ill on the job. In caregiver Paula Osorio’s case, she called Frank’s son, Bruce, and offered […]
Read MoreCitizenship Day 2012: Realizing the Potential of the Immigrant Vote
For many aspiring immigrants, achieving citizenship means full participation in civic life—and that means the right to vote. Every year, thousands of immigrants become naturalized U.S. citizens and exercise their new right. In the 2010 national elections, naturalized citizens comprised 6.4% of all voters. The voter registration rate among immigrants as a whole has risen since 2000. Just as importantly, a growing number of U.S.-born children of immigrants are now coming of age and becoming voters.
However, the full potential of the immigrant vote has not been reached. There are more than eight million legal immigrants in the United States who are eligible to naturalize but have not yet done so. The latent electoral power of these voters-in-waiting is enormous. In many parts of the country their votes could potentially swing elections. As described in a series of Immigration Impact blog posts by Rob Paral, there are numerous counties across the country where the number of Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) who have arrived since 1985 exceeds the margin of victory in the Obama-McCain election. Moreover, the voter rolls of many counties would grow dramatically if LPRs who are eligible to naturalize actually did so and registered to vote. Although this could not happen in time for the 2012 election cycle, it could make a difference in future elections. In many U.S. counties, the number of Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) who have arrived since 1985 exceeds the Obama-McCain margin of victory.
Republicans Ready ‘STEM Jobs Act’
Computerworld US September 14, 2012 WASHINGTON – The U.S. House is moving closer to acting on legislation that makes green cards available to as many as 55,000 foreign nationals who have earned an advanced degree in a science, technology, engineering or math, the so-called STEM fields. U.S. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who as head of the […]
Read MoreWhat Early DACA Application Numbers Tell Us About the Future of the Program
It hasn’t even been a month since the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) first started accepting requests for deferred action under its Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, yet the New York Times reported this week that the first approvals are already on their way. The Times also reported that the agency […]
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