Search for:
Published by Roy Beck
As a predicted 100,000 pro-amnesty marchers begin arriving in Washington, Sen. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Graham (R-S.C.) this afternoon offered the blueprint for the amnesty they intend to push through the Senate.
And the key rationale is that we need a lot more foreign workers!
Yes, folks, your Members of Congress are really that clueless.
If you can break loose Friday at any time, please try to run by the local office of one of your Members of Congress to explain that there really are 25 million American workers who want a full-time job but can’t find one.
You need to express outrage that the top leaders of both Parties are doing nothing to halt or slow-down the issuance of 160,000 work permits (permanent and temporary) to foreign workers every MONTH.
SCHUMER & GRAHAM SAY REASON FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS NOT ENOUGH WORK VISAS F0R FOREIGNERS
One reason the marchers are coming to Washington this weekend is that they have grown tired of waiting for the Schumer/Graham amnesty bill which everyone agrees will be the most likely amnesty plan to come up for a vote this year.
Today, just in time, the two friends of the most greedy of businesses issued their outline (although still no bill):
Our plan has four pillars:
requiring biometric Social Security cards to ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs;
fulfilling and strengthening our commitments on border security and interior enforcement;
creating a process for admitting temporary workers;
and implementing a tough but fair path to legalization for those already here.
It is the particulars behind the third bullet that is most interesting to me.
Schumer and Graham say that we don’t have nearly enough less-educated, less-skilled workers in this country (even though unemployment is the highest among these most vulnerable of our American fellow citizens).
They act as if we don’t already have dozens of temporary worker programs in place. But they advocate expanding that greatly. And, just in case the temporary workers don’t cause enough damage to the wages of the U.S. workers with whom they are competing, they advocate that all the temporary workers have ways to become permanent!
Schumer and Graham apparently don’t want American kids to go into science, math and engineering.
They propose that every foreign student who gets an advanced degree in those areas be given a permanent work permit. It will only take a few tens of thousands of these student/immigrants each year (pulled from 7 billion people) to over-saturate all the good-paying jobs in these fields. Experience shows that that will both drive salaries down in those fields and cause American kids to choose other occupations that aren’t already filled with foreign workers.
As far as their tough criteria for giving out amnesty to 11-18 million illegal aliens, about the only new thing they want to require is for the illegal aliens to say they are sorry (sign an admission that they broke immigration laws) and perform some kind of community service (cleaning up the national forests and other eco-systems that they trashed on their way in to the country?).
IMMIGRATION LAWYERS SAY SCHUMER/GRAHAM INCREASE IN FOREIGN WORKERS ISN’T ENOUGH
Still, Schumer and Graham may have trouble because most of the organizations supporting the March on Washington this weekend want to flood the labor market with far more foreign workers.
The Immigration Policy Center (related with the American Immigration Lawyers Association) expressed some disappointment that the outline didn’t more aggressively push for more foreign workers.
As you read IPC’s statement today, keep in mind that those at the think tank actually live in the same country as you, with 25 million Americans wanting a full-time job and not able to find one:
While many think that immigration reform is only about the millions of unauthorized immigrants currently living in the United States, the scope and necessity of reform is much greater. . . .
For example, there are insufficient numbers of visas for either high-skilled or less-skilled workers to meet the changing needs of the U.S. economy and labor market, which hurts U.S. business and fuels unauthorized immigration when economic times are good.
Outdated and arbitrary visa caps have created long backlogs of family members who wait up to 20 years to be reunited with family living in the United States.
— Immigration Policy Center (an organization for the nation’s immigration lawyers)
Folks, the arbitrary caps right now are allowing 75,000 permanent and 85,000 temporary work visas EVERY MONTH. Yes, we need to change them. And obviously we need to cut them by at least three-quarters — not increase them.
Nearly every organization in America on the left, right or center this weekend is calling for “comprehensive immigration reform” which means amnesty and more foreign workers.
Visit your congressman’s and senators’ offices to paint a big red X on the Schumer/Graham’s preposterous blueprint for more foreign workers.
ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA
Take Action
Your voice counts! Let your Member of Congress know where you stand on immigration issues through the Action Board. Not a NumbersUSA member? Sign up here to get started.
Donate Today!
NumbersUSA is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that relies on your donations to works toward sensible immigration policies. NumbersUSA Education & Research Foundation is recognized by America's Best Charities as one of the top 3% of well-run charities.
Immigration Grade Cards
NumbersUSA provides the only comprehensive immigration grade cards. See how your member of Congress’ rates and find grades going back to the 104th Congress (1995-97).