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Economic Benefits of Granting Deferred Action to Unauthorized Immigrants Brought to U.S. as Youth
There are an estimated 1.4 million children and young adults in the United States who might benefit from President Obama’s announcement that the Department of Homeland Security would begin granting deferred action (and Employment Authorization Documents) to unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the United States as minors. For many of these young people, the United States is the only home they know and English is their first language. Each year, tens of thousands of them graduate from primary or secondary school, often at the top of their classes. They have the potential to be future doctors, nurses, teachers, and entrepreneurs, but their lack of legal status has prevented them from attending college or working legally. The President’s deferred action initiative will provide an opportunity for them to live up to their full potential and, in the process, make greater contributions to the U.S. economy.
Read MoreDHS Creates Obstacles for Small Businesses Seeking High-Skilled Immigrants
Politicians love small businesses. They also love high-skilled workers. One might assume, then, that entrepreneurs and start-up companies would have a relatively easy time hiring immigrant professionals through the H-1B program. Not so. In fact, a recently released memo confirms that far from receiving preferential treatment, small businesses are singled out for heightened fraud investigations […]
Read MoreNew Data Reveals Immigrants’ Voting Potential at the Local Level
Newly obtained data from the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics provide another indication that immigrants in the United States hold untapped electoral power. There are 8.1 million legal immigrants who arrived in this country between 1985 and 2005 and who are likely eligible to become naturalized U.S. citizens with the power to vote. If these […]
Read MoreDrive Business Back To The U.S., Reform H-1B Visa Laws
Forbes June 19, 2012 At a time when our country’s economy is struggling and our businesses are searching for ways to remain globally competitive, we’re fortunate to live in a place where the very brightest and most talented professionals from around the world want to come to work. Yet, because of our antiquated H-1B visa […]
Read MorePresident Obama Issued a Directive, Not an “Executive Order” or “New Law”
Immigration hardliners were predictably quick to criticize President Obama’s recent announcement that DHS will use discretion to halt the deportations of eligible immigrant youth. They wasted no time hurling some base-stirring claims—“administrative amnesty,” “end-runs around Congress,” “executive fiat.” However, while folks are free to criticize the President, they should at least strive for accuracy. The […]
Read MoreA Breakdown of DHS’s Deferred Action for DREAMers
While today’s headlines assess the significance of President Obama’s deferred action announcement on Friday, many are still sorting through the news to get answers to basic questions about who is covered under the new program. Prior to President Obama’s statement that DHS would halt the deportation of immigrant youth who met criteria similar to the […]
Read MoreWe Need More Highly Skilled Workers
The Patriot Post June 15, 2012 Can the federal government adequately predict exactly how many mathematicians, engineers, biochemists, and inventors the United States will need twenty years in the future? I doubt many of us would answer yes. Yet, federal immigration policy does exactly that in allotting work visas for highly skilled employees. Most of […]
Read MoreBoom in Immigrant Small Business Owners in NYC: Report
Wall Street Journal: Metropolis June 14, 2012 Foreign-born owners of small business in the New York metropolitan area grew by 66% between 1990 and 2010, according to a Fiscal Policy Institute report released Thursday. Lead author David Dyssegaard Kallick attributed the growth to increases in the overseas-born population during the same period. “Immigrants are playing […]
Read MoreImmigrants’ Role in the Small Business Economy Grows
Bloomberg Businessweek June 14, 2012 The share of U.S. small businesses owned by immigrants has expanded by 50 percent since 1990, with almost one-fifth of business owners born outside the country, according to a new report (PDF) by the Fiscal Policy Institute. The number of foreign-born business owners has increased in tandem with the immigrant […]
Read MoreMigrants Keep Small-Business Faith
Wall Street Journal June 13, 2012 Immigrants are more inclined to own small businesses than native-born Americans and are increasingly opening shop in areas beyond the major cities in which they have traditionally settled, a trend that is energizing local economies and reshaping communities. Immigrants accounted for 18% of the country’s 4.9 million small-business owners […]
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