Month: October 2007

According to an article on Bloomberg.com:  “Big employers are threatening to capsize a Bush administration plan that would force them to hunt for illegal immigrants on their payrolls using government databases.”

According to an article on the UK’s timesonline.com:  ” Entry requirements in the United States are the ‘worst in the world’ and visa rules are ‘cumbersome’, causing tourists to steer clear of America, according to a leading figure in US travel and tourism.”

And this article’s only referring to the effect of our immigration system on tourism!

The USCIS has issued a Fact Sheet on naturalization through military service.

According to an article on informationweek.com:  “The U.S. Senate Tuesday passed an amendment to raise H-1B visa fees to $5,000 from $1,500 currently. The amendment was tagged onto a $152 billion spending bill that was also approved by the Senate last night.”

As predicted, the DREAM Act failed to proceed to debate in the Senate today.   AILA’s Press Release summarizes the consequences of the Senate’s failure.  At this point, we are all just waiting for a new crop of politicians in 2009 who will hopefully do the right thing and fix our nation’s broken immigration system.

My other prediction is that the Red Sox will win the World Series…let’s see if my accurate prediction streak continues.

In order to win the GOP nomination, some of the presidential candidates are falling over themselves to prove who is the most punitive towards undocumented aliens and anyone who wants to help them. This may help these candidates in the primaries, which at this point is all they are seeking to win. However, to then turn around and seek the Hispanic vote in the general election will prove tricky.

To illustrate the hard-line stance GOP candidates are taking, according to an article in the Miami Herald: “During a campaign swing Tuesday through South Florida, Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson pushed for a crackdown on illegal immigrants and accused rival Rudy Giuliani of sheltering them as mayor of New York City.” Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, the resident House Nut Tom Tancredo “contacted the immigration service yesterday demanding that agents raid a senator’s news conference.”

Ironically, today the DREAM Act is up for a vote in the Senate. An article in USA Today states that: “Senate Democratic leaders have scheduled a showdown vote Wednesday on a bill that would give children brought to the USA by illegal immigrant parents a chance to qualify for citizenship.”

Please call or fax your Senators if you support this legislation. I personally do not have much hope of DREAM becoming law right now, even if (and that’s a big IF) it passes the Senate. The culture and climate regarding immigration is too polarized. If this bill does not pass the Senate, there is little hope for any positive changes to out immigration laws until 2009.

Our firm, Maged & Rost, PC, will be hosting a FREE International Recruitment Seminar in conjunction with Quality Human Service Professionals (QHSP) on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm. The seminar will be geared towards meeting the recruitment demands of non-profit human service organizations and will take place in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Information will be provided on the following:

The H-1B Visa

Qualifying for Cap Exempt Status

Comparison of H1 and J1 programs

Designing an International Recruitment Program for your agency

Attracting degree-qualified direct support professionals

Review current applicant profiles from the UK and Ireland

Space is limited so if a representative from your organization is interested in attending the seminar or would like more information, please e-mail me at maged@magedrost.com. A light breakfast will be provided.

The Senate is expected to vote on the Dream Act as early as tomorrow.  Please call your Senators and urge them to support this important legislation.  AILA has published a Position Paper explaining the Dream Act in detail.

In contrast to the usually humorless immigration debate, comes this satirical piece on TheSpoof.com. According to the article: “Lou Dobbs, the host of CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight, has what might be described as a Mexican fetish, often shouting uncontrollably at his guests and viewers about the evils of Mexican immigration. But evidence continues to accumulate suggesting Dobbs himself is actually an illegal alien from Mexico by the name of Luis Dobalez.”

According to an article on HispanicBusiness.com:  “The labor force needed to support the aging population in Connecticut will increasingly come from its foreign-born residents, which underscores the need for policies to boost economic and educational opportunities for this group.”