immigration

Swiss voters approved a ballot initiative on Sunday that limits the number of foreign citizens from European Union countries that are allowed to live and work in the country and gives preference to Swiss nationals for open jobs. Although not a member of the EU, Switzerland agreed to the free flow of labor with other EU nations in 2000.

Currently, Switzerland has immigration quotas in place, but EU nationals were exempt from those quotas. This weekend's vote will remove that exemption. The country has the highest immigrant population in Europe with 27 percent of the country's population not of Swiss citizenship.

Switzerland joins another non-EU member, Great Britain, in looking to tighten up its immigration laws. Both nations are concerned about dealing with the economic impacts of large labor pools and the strain that population puts on public welfare systems. Read more about Swiss voters approve limitations on immigration

Osorio Pacheco was one of three elementary teachers from Mexico brought to the Hillsboro School District in June under a federal migrant education program. The teachers integrated lessons of culture into the Migrant Summer School's regular curriculum focus of reading, writing and math.

The Bi-national Migrant Education Teacher Exchange Program is part of an initiative that started in 1976 to help migrant students in California. The departments of education in Mexico and the United States have since partnered to improve schooling for children who travel frequently between the two countries.

Read the full Oregonian story here:   http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2013/07/hillsboro_migrant_summer_schoo.html

  Read more about Hillsboro Migrant Summer School brings in Mexican teachers for culture lessons

The Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition supporting immigration reform, has launched a six-figure ad campaign pushing Congress to enact immigration legislation. The ads, urging evangelicals to "pray" for a path to citizenship, include the disclaimer that they were "paid for" by the Table. This is odd, because the group doesn't legally exist. It is a highly misleading claim.

Breitbart News confirmed on Monday that the actual purchase of the ads was made by the National Immigration Forum (NIF). The Table told Breitbart News on Friday that it wasn't an incorporated entity or non-profit organization and had selected NIF to "facilitate" its work. A source at a media buying firm in DC told Breitbart News that NIF did not take the traditional commission on the ad purchase, which was described as "very odd." It suggests NIF was making its own purchase of the ads, rather than simply acting as a "facilitator" of the buy.

This likely isn't illegal. Because the ads don't involve an election or candidates, there are no rules on disclosing who paid for an ad. I, for example, could pay for ads supporting tort reform and say the ads were "paid for" by Virginians for Civil Justice, even though I just made up that organization.

Legal isn't necessarily ethical, however.

The National Immigration Forum, which, again made the actual purchase of the ads, has received millions of dollars in grants from George Soros' left-wing Open Society Institute. It has also received considerable funding from the Ford Foundation, another prominent funder of leftist organizations.

Saying an ad is "paid for" by the Evangelical Immigration Table is very different than saying the ads were paid for by an organization with considerable funding from the institutional left. Viewers of the ad might be drawn to different conclusions about the legislation if they knew the actual source of funding. Read more about Evangelicals Mislead on Funding of Immigration Ads

The Senate "Gang of Eight" immigration bill, S. 744, now wending its way through the Judiciary Committee, has been sold as a "pathway to citizenship" for the estimated 11 million illegal aliens. It does a lot more damage than that, and the public needs to understand what's in it.

Just a few years ago, key members of the "Gang of Eight" would have seemed content to enact the so-called Dream Act — a more modest amnesty for about 500,000 to 700,000 aliens brought here as young people. This has been replaced with a massive proposal that tries to rewrite virtually every aspect of U.S. immigration law, and not for the better.

Why the big reach now? Because the bill's major sponsors figure the stars have aligned and that it is time to go for broke. Under prodding from President Obama and the supervision of Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, S. 744 is not just a big amnesty — it goes way beyond that in ways the mainstream media haven't reported. Mr. Schumer has assembled a wish list for every special-interest group that profits from immigration either financially or politically. In doing so, the public and national security interests are in very real danger of irreparable damage.

If you care about effective and enforceable immigration policies, you need to pay attention. The bill has the potential to change everything that makes America a great place to be. Overcrowding, congestion, unemployment and even larger deficits will be the new norm.

Mr. Schumer has presided over the crafting of a stealthy legislative monster that would render any limits on immigration meaningless. Through its 867 pages, the bill explodes overall immigration — more than 50 million people will gain permanent residence or temporary work status in just the next 10 years — while rendering asylum, refugee and immigration laws virtually unenforceable. On top of the expected administrative anarchy, the huge increases in overall immigration could set off the biggest unmanaged population increase in modern history.

Mr. Schumer is not to be underestimated. A 30-year veteran of immigration law and policy, he knows how to design a program to maximize the inflow while derailing integrity. He gave us the fraud-ridden agricultural amnesty in 1986, viewed by most experts as having been riddled with fraud.

Mr. Schumer has built on this experience by authoring a bill designed to promote fragmentation, dysfunction and delay. Instead of actual border security, S. 744 promises us a plan to secure the border, with no consequence for failing to implement it. It hands lawyers carte blanche to tie our legal system in knots litigating denied amnesty claims, even on behalf of criminals and people who have already been deported. The bill would dramatically expand the admission of both skilled and low-skilled labor, while widening the grounds for gaining asylum beyond what is justified by law and common sense.

This bill is a political power grab by those who would sell off residency in the United States to the highest bidder — using a public asset for personal and party gain. Mr. Schumer and the rest of the "Gang of Eight" think they can get away with it because the American people — who still care about borders and the collective good — do not have powerful Washington lobbyists looking out for their interests.

The drafters know the details of the bill would be extremely unpopular if they were widely known, which is why it is being rushed through the Senate before anyone can even fully digest it. After just a handful of stacked hearings, S. 744 is now being rushed through markup in an effort to get it to the floor by June.

The American people need to know more about what is in this bill, and the media have the obligation to explain the scope and probable effects of this bill. Amazingly, even in the wake of the Boston bombings, concerns about the national security implications of the bill have not only not been explored, but dismissed as obstructionist.

S. 744 is much more than a big amnesty program. It shreds our immigration-control system and enshrines every fear that Americans have regarding our loss of border and administrative management. Passing bills first and reading them later is a prescription for disaster. We can only have an honest discussion about our national immigration future if we all have an honest opportunity to read and study the bill.

Dan Stein is president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Read more about No need for speed on immigration bill

The Gang of Eight has stated, “this legislation does not significantly increase long-term, annual migration to the United States” and has indicated the legislation shift the United States from low-skill and chain migration to high-skill merit-based. Conspicuously, however, they have refused to provide an estimate of future flow. A conservative analysis of the legislation, with low-range estimates for the new and expanded visa programs, reveals that the proposal would dramatically increase the future flow of low-skill workers and chain migration and provide legal status and work authorization to 30 million immigrants over the next 10 years—who will then be able to bring in family members, initiating a wave of non-merit-based chain migration that will greatly increase low-skilled immigration.

Here is a shorthand way of looking at the explosive growth in the number of people who will be granted work authorization and permanent residency over the next 10 years, largely on a non-merit based track:

· An estimated 2.5 million DREAM beneficiaries of any age (including those no longer living in the country) will be eligible for citizenship in five years.

· DREAM beneficiaries will be able to bring in an unlimited number of parents, spouses, and children (not subject to any cap) and those spouses,  children, and parents will get permanent legal status in five years and be eligible for citizenship in 10.

· An estimated 800,000 illegal agricultural workers will become legal permanent residents (green card holders) in five years and will then be eligible to bring in an unlimited number of spouses and children.

· An estimated 8 million additional illegal immigrants, including recent arrivals and millions of visa overstays, will receive legal status and work authorization. These 8 million will be able to bring in their relatives as soon as 10 years from now. Those relatives, over time, will be able to bring in spouses, children, and parents.

· An estimated 4.5 million aliens awaiting employment and family-based visas under current cap limitations will be cleared in less than 10 years, not subject to the family-based annual cap (thus freeing up room for more family-based migration that is subject to the annual cap).

The bill increases the level of immigration through current and new visa systems. Here are just some examples of how the bill increases legal immigration through visas:

· The bill creates a new merit based visa, which allows for up to 250,000 visas annually. If a little over half of the visas are issued over a 10-year period, the increase in the number of immigrants would be 1,250,000.

· The bill creates a new guest worker program (W-1) for low-skilled workers with a cap of 200,000 visas annually. If a little over a half of the guest workers visas available are issued over a 10-year period, the increase in the number of immigrants would be 1,000,000.

· The bill creates a new nonimmigrant agricultural workers program (W-3 & W-4 visa) which allows up to 112,333 annually. If half of the visas are issued over a 10-year period, the increase in the number of nonimmigrants would be 561,665.

· The bill exempts Priority Workers (EB-1 under current law), STEM graduates, and spouses and children of LPRs from the employment-based visa caps. By taking the average number of immigrants in the two exempt categories over the past 10 years, the exemption will account for an additional 762,000 immigrants over 10 years.

· The bill increases the H-1B visa cap up to 180,000 with a floor of 110,000. If half of the H-1B visas are issued over a 10-year period, the increase in the number of immigrants would be 1,450,000.

· The bill leaves current employment visa caps unchanged and moderately decreases family caps, allowing 301,000 visas a year with some exemptions, but allows for unused visas from 1992 through 2013 to be recaptured. Over a 10-year period, the number of legal immigrants would be 3,879,094.

The total number of immigrants obtaining legal status from the programs listed above is 24,702,759 over a 10-year period. That number does not include other immigrant and nonimmigrant visa programs in the bill (e.g. refugee and asylum seekers, W-1 visas, W-2 visas, W-3 visas, W-4 visas), nor does it include student visas who are now allowed dual intent.

The Gang of Eight’s bill will drastically increase low-skill chain migration. Some of the chain categories are subject to an annual family-based visa cap of 161,000, including adult unmarried sons and daughters of citizens or LPRs, and married sons and daughters (under the age of 31) of U.S. citizens. However, the bill completely exempts the largest categories of chain migrants from the family- and employment-based visa caps, including spouses and children of LPRs or citizens and parents of citizens. The following illustrates how the exempt chain migration categories will dramatically increase the future flow by millions of immigrants over the next 10 years:

• An estimate 2–3 million DREAM beneficiaries are eligible for legal permanent residency and citizenship after just 5 years. After receiving LPR status, the DREAMers may bring a spouse and child through the bill’s exempt chain category and, once granted citizenship, can bring their parents as well (not subject to cap). Assuming 1 million DREAMers bring any combination of two people, the future flow of immigrants would increase by over 2 million. This does not include other chain migrants that a DREAMer may petition under the caps, including adult unmarried sons and daughters, and married sons and daughters. Subsequently, the chain migrants will have the same opportunity to petition for their relatives in the same manner as the DREAMers.

In sum, over the first decade, the total number granted will be well over 32 million (not taking into account chain migration from increased legal flow). Adding in all the various categories of nonimmigrant work visas, and the number climbs to more than 57 million. Further, because approximately 7 million illegal immigrants are on a 13-year track to citizenship, there will be a second wave of chain migration initiated just outside the 10-year window (substantially increasing the net low-skill immigration).
  Read more about Analysis of Future Flow In Gang of Eight Plan: More than 30 Million Immigrants Granted Legal Status In 10 Years, With The Ability To Bring Their Relatives