Welcome to our Immigration News and Opinions detail page from myGreencard.com. http://www.myGreencard.com 2010-03-12T00:25:26+01:00 http://www.myGreencard.com http://www.myGreencard.com/images/mygreencard_small.jpg text/html http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/85111-venture-capitalists-say-visas-for-immigrant-entrepreneurs-will-spur-jo The Hill, March 5. Venture capitalists lobbied Capitol Hill this week to win support for legislation offering two-year visas for immigrant entrepreneurs. Legislation sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), the Start-Up Visa Act, would grant immigrant entrepreneurs a two-year visa if they have the support of a qualified U.S. investor for their startup venture. The bill has received plaudits from the technology community, which has long complained that there are not enough visas for skilled immigrants. Many of the most successful tech companies were founded by immigrants, such as Intel, eBay, Yahoo and Google. text/html http://www.migrationexpert.com/us/visa/us_immigration_news/2010/mar/0/260/uscis_revises_form_i-485_and_its_filing_locations US Migration Expert, March 5. Recently the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has revised Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and implemented new filing locations for the form. According to USCIS, the changes are part of an overall effort to transition the intake of USCIS benefit forms from Service Centers to Lockbox facilities; in an attempt to provide the public with more efficient and effective initial processing of applications and fees. Visa Applicants must now submit Form I-485 to a USCIS Lockbox facility, depending on the eligibility category under which they are filing, as provided in the form instructions. text/html http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/03/05/20100305lawmakers-pushing-new-e-verify.html Arizona Republic, March 5. A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers led by Arizona Democrat Gabrielle Giffords is pushing for a new federal system to verify who is legally allowed to work in this country. The proposed system promises to do a better job of preventing illegal immigrants from getting jobs than the current online system, known as E-Verify. A recent report found flaws in the existing system. First introduced two years ago by Reps. Giffords and Sam Johnson, a Texas Republican, the proposed system is only now gaining attention following the publication of the government-commissioned report, which estimated that more than half of the illegal immigrants run through the E-Verify system are wrongly being deemed authorized to work because they use stolen identities. text/html http://www.northjersey.com/news/86498372_28_000_Haitians_in_U_S_seek_protected_status.html The Record, March 5. More than 28,000 Haitians living in the United States, including more than 800 in New Jersey, have applied for protection from deportation since January, immigration officials say. The Obama administration suspended deportations of Haitians who had been in the U.S. by Jan. 12, when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a few days after the earthquake that undocumented Haitians would be eligible to apply for an immigration benefit known as Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, which allows those who receive it to live and work here for up to 18 months. text/html http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/03/MNIO1CAD3J.DTL San Francisco Chronicle, March 4. A San Francisco bus driver's wife and two stepsons, who faced deportation to Australia this week after a schoolyard fight and a city crackdown thwarted their attempt to win legal status, won a reprieve from federal authorities Wednesday. Immigration officials had ordered Tracey Washington and her sons, ages 13 and 5, to leave the United States by Friday because they remained here after their visa waivers expired in May. The family and their lawyer brought the case to public attention in a news conference this week. On Wednesday, officials said they would give the Washingtons at least 60 days to resolve their situation. text/html http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/04/homeland.security.posts/ CNN News, March 4. The war on terror is being fought without some key generals. The Obama administration, more than a year after taking power, and Congress have not filled some key positions in the Department of Homeland Security -- notably the top jobs at the Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection. Together, the two posts manage about half of all DHS employees. But for differing reasons, the posts are unfilled or occupied by placeholders. In the case of the TSA, Erroll Southers -- whom President Obama nominated in September -- withdrew from consideration in January after a contentious confirmation battle with Senate Republicans. The White House has yet to name a new nominee, all but ensuring the post won't be on board for months. text/html http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/03/04/govt_offers_new_assurance_census_data_is_private/ Associated Press, March 4. With the 2010 population count looming, the government provided new assurances Thursday that information Americans fill out on their census forms will be kept confidential and not be used for law enforcement. In a letter to Congress, the Obama administration provided its legal position that census data cannot be disclosed under the Patriot Act, the nation's main counterterrorism law. The government has previously given legal assurances the information will not be used for immigration enforcement. text/html http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100304_4399.php?oref=topnews NextGov.com, March 4. The State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs is rolling out a new online application process for nonimmigrant visas aimed at reducing processing time. This is the bureau's first step to building the Consular Electronic Application Center, a Web-based system that eventually will host online applications for immigration visas and passports. The new nonimmigrant visa application, DS-160, combines three forms into one online platform. Once an applicant submits the document online, consular officers can screen it before the visa interview and ask the candidate to fill in any missing information. Applicants must complete the form in English, but they can view as pop-ups foreign translations of the questions. text/html http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/03/01/gvsg0303.htm American Medical News, March 3. Annual health spending on noncitizen immigrants is about half the spending on native U.S. citizens, largely because many noncitizens lack jobs with health insurance and are ineligible for most public coverage, according to 'Trends in Health Care Spending for Immigrants in the United States,' published in the March Health Affairs. Average per-person health care spending for noncitizens was $1,904 in 2006, compared with $3,723 for citizens, according to the study. Public spending on noncitizens also was relatively low. Between 1999 and 2006, it averaged $780 annually for noncitizens and $1,200 for U.S. natives, the article concluded. text/html http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2010/03/01/daily55.html The Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, March 3. A group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs plans to bring thousands of tweets supporting a new startup visa to Washington on Thursday. The trip organized by venture capitalist Dave McClure of San Francisco-based Founders Fund is backing the creation of a two-year visa for immigrant entrepreneurs who raise a minimum of $250,000, with $100,000 coming from a qualified U.S. angel or venture investor. The immigrant entrepreneurs can then become citizens if they create five or more jobs (not including their own family members), attract another $1 million investment, or produce $1 million in revenue. The group has asked Twitter users to tweet their support at @2gov using the hashtag #StartupVisa at exactly 10 AM Pacific time on Wednesday. text/html http://www.cis.org/north/selling-green-cards-3 CIS Immigration Blog, March 2, OPINION. It's bad enough that people can buy their way into the United States, as described in a previous blog. But if a bill (S. 3029) introduced by Senator John Kerry (D-MA) passes the price will be reduced to $100,000. The price was once was $1 million, then it fell to $500,000. And the $100,000 does not even have to be your money. For years the Congress set the price of an investor visa at $1 million, and the investment had to produce ten jobs for someone other than the migrant investor's family. Currently, you have to put up half a million and some consultant will figure out the needed "indirect" job-creating benefits, in the program as outlined by USCIS. As pointed out in the earlier blog, the half-million-dollar investment, once examined, turned out to actually cost the investor $113,500 and it would produce green cards for everyone in the family; so, if there were five in the family, that would be $22,700 per visa. text/html http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/2010/0302/Who-s-creating-US-jobs-Mexicans Christian Science Monitor, March 2. For Pierre Gama, the fourth kidnapping was the final straw. Armed carjackers made him drive his car in circles until he gave them the numbers to his credit cards. With two small children and a wife – who was with him during one such secuestro express – the security entrepreneur wanted out of Mexico City. Mr. Gama proposed moving to Canada, but his wife said it was too cold there. So he opted for an escape route a growing number of his wealthiest countrymen are taking: He bought his family’s way into the United States by spending about $200,000 on a San Antonio restaurant and catering business. text/html http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=12069761 Associated Press, March 2. Over the last several years, immigration hard-liners at the Arizona Legislature persuaded colleagues to criminalize the presence of illegal border-crossers in the state and ban soft immigration policies in police agencies - only to be thwarted by a Democratic governor's vetoes. This year, their prospects have improved: A proposal containing those two enforcement ideas has momentum, and even opponents expect the current Republican governor to approve the changes. Among other things, the proposal would make Arizona the only state to criminalize the presence of illegal immigrants through an expansion of its trespassing law. text/html http://www.projo.com/news/content/WYATT_SIDE_03-01-10_KRHK23G_v8.38ade72.html Providence Journal, March 1. A federal judge will hear arguments this week on whether the federal government should be dismissed as a defendant in the lawsuit filed by Lin Li Qu, the widow of the Chinese immigrant detainee who died two years ago while in the custody of the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls. The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m. before U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith. Qu, through her lawyers, has sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE, as well as Wyatt and a host of others, claiming that they neglected to offer Hiu Lui Jason Ng, the detainee, the proper care when he complained of debilitating back pain in the final months of his life. Just before he died in August 2008, doctors discovered that Ng, 34, was suffering from advanced liver cancer and he had a fractured vertebrae. text/html http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/28/new-irish-disapora Observer, February 28. In the tiny sub-post office at Liscarney, on the road out of Westport, under the snow-touched pyramid of Croagh Patrick, postmaster William Joyce is considering his schooldays. 'In my class maybe a third left. It was America then.' Joyce, 54, got married and stayed put. 'I've the farm as well as the post office and the wife works; one job is not enough around here.' His three teenage sons are at college, the first generation of the family to reach further education. 'I knew the boom wouldn't last. All the young crowd working on borrowed money with two cars to every house, out every weekend, they didn't see the day coming when it would have to be paid back. They knew nothing else. But the minute the banks stopped, everything stopped. text/html http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/28/us/AP-US-Embattled-Sheriff-Joe.html Associated Press, February 28. With a sheriff's helicopter beating overhead, the man known as ''Sheriff Joe'' stood behind a line of officers as 10,000 people marched past -- but this was not the usual show of affection and support for Joe Arpaio. ''Joe must go! Joe must go,'' whole families chanted, as they rounded the corner in front of the county jail complex run by the five-term Maricopa County sheriff famed for his confrontational tactics, his harsh jail policies and a gift for publicity. The parade of mostly brown-skinned people wanted to show they hated his trademark immigration patrols. For years, Arpaio has been the rare politician whose popularity remained rock solid no matter the criticism. He was the self-proclaimed ''America's toughest sheriff,'' unbeatable at the polls. text/html http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_0135ad49-92ca-58b3-9da9-75a0dd670ca5.html North County Times, February 26. The Golden State appears to have lost some of its luster among illegal immigrants because of its sluggish economy and high cost of living, analysts say. California still has the largest number of illegal immigrants of any state, but its share of the nation's illegal immigrant population dropped from 30 percent in 2000 to 24 percent in 2009, according to a report recently released by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics. The report also noted an overall decline in the country's illegal immigrant population, from 11.6 million in 2008 to 10.8 million in 2009. The report did not include population estimates by county. Illegal immigration has long been a topic of controversy in North County, where opposing groups have clashed on the streets and in city halls on how to address the undocumented population and its effects on the region. text/html http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2010/02/new-startup-visa-proposed.html Inc., February 26. Amid reports of the damage brain drain inflicts on the economy, Senators John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana, Wednesday introduced the Start-up Visa Act, which would open up the U.S. to immigrant entrepreneurs. If passed, the bill would grant foreigners U.S. visas if they can secure at least $100,000 from a sponsoring angel investor or at least $250,000 from a qualified venture capital firm. After two years, if the immigrant entrepreneur can create five or more jobs (hiring his or her children or spouse is not included), attract an additional $1 million in investment, or produce $1 million in revenue, he or she can become a legal resident. text/html http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/02/two-us-bills-seek-to-lure-immigr.html Science Magazine, February 26. Foreign scientists who want to start a U.S. company would have a better shot at doing so under two bills introduced recently in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bills, which have received broad support from venture capitalists, would create a new path within U.S. immigration law for entrepreneurs who have attracted venture capital for their startup. Immigration reform is a political hot potato, however, so success may depend on convincing Congress that job creation is a non-partisan issue. On Wednesday Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced the StartUp Visa Act of 2010. A press release explains that the bill would permit an 'immigrant entrepreneur to receive a 2-year visa if he or she can show that a qualified U.S. investor is willing to dedicate a significant sum-a minimum of $250,000-to the immigrant's start-up venture.' It would create a new visa category, EB-6. Under current law, immigrant entrepreneurs who receive a EB-5 visa must agree to invest at least $1 million in a new business that would employ 10 or more people. text/html http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_14472974 San Bernardino Sun, February 26. Touted by some as an essential tool for stopping illegal immigration, an independent research firm says the E-Verify system flags less than half the number of illegal workers it checks. E-Verify, a free online program used voluntarily by employers, fails to catch 54 percent of the illegal workers run through the system because it can't detect identity fraud, the report states. Started as a pilot program in 1997, E-Verify is used by more than 180,000 employers nationwide. It allows employers to run a worker's information against Homeland Security and Social Security databases to make sure the person is allowed to work in the United States. Critics say the report shows the need to find more effective ways to stop employers who willingly violate immigration laws. text/html http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=341227646 Human Resources Executive, February 26. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, about 500 guest workers were brought in from India to work for Signal International, a Mississippi-based marine oil-rig company, as it worked to repair hurricane-ravaged oil rigs. Those workers likely had no idea that they'd someday end up in the middle of separate investigations by three federal agencies -- the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security -- as well as a federal court case involving allegations of labor abuse and human trafficking. But, they probably should have, say immigration-law experts. H2-B visas are used for skilled laborers, as opposed to highly skilled or professional workers (for whom the H1-B visa is used), as well as for temporary and seasonal workers. text/html http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/83629-tech-group-urges-passage-of-immigration-legislation The Hill, February 25. A leading tech group on Wednesday urged lawmakers to adopt legislation that would allow immigrants to remain in the United States if they proved to be skillful entrepreneurs. That bill -- the StartUp Visa Act of 2010, introduced this week -- would enable foreign workers in the United States to obtain two-year visas if they "can demonstrate that a qualified U.S. investor is willing to dedicate a significant sum -- a minimum of $250,000 -- to the immigrant's startup venue," explained the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) in a letter of support on Wednesday. Ultimately, those workers would have to maintain a businesses that created at least five new American jobs in its early years, ITIC emphasized. text/html http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/82703-senate-gop-worried-tax-credits-in-jobs-bill-could-flow-to-illegal-immigra The Hill, February 22. Senate Republicans are concerned that the jobs bill set for a preliminary vote Monday could fund tax credits for employers to hire illegal immigrants. The GOP expressed worries that the $15 billion jobs package crafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), does not go far enough to ensure that businesses don't use new-jobs tax credits in the bill to write off jobs given to illegal immigrants. Democrats said the complaint was little more than an excuse by Republicans to not support the bill, and argued that existing laws already bar employers from hiring illegal immigrants. At issue are the tax credits in the Reid bill that would let businesses claim a $1,000 deduction for each worker they hire who had been previously unemployed. text/html http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-border-fence22-2010feb22,0,2215652.story Los Angeles Times, February 22. An ambitious, multibillion-dollar project to hot-wire the new Southwest border fence with high-tech radar, cameras and satellite signals has been plagued with serious system failures and repeated delays and will probably not be completed for another seven years -- if it is finished at all. The system, originally intended to be completed next year, languishes in the testing phase in two remote spots of the border in Arizona. There, the supposedly state-of-the-art system combining sensor towers, communication relay systems and unattended ground sensors has been bogged down with radar clutter, blurred imagery on computer screens and satellite time lapses that often permit drug smugglers and undocumented workers to slip past U.S. law enforcement agents, government officials candidly admit. text/html http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/02/21/20100221undocpop.html Arizona Republic, February 21. Arizona has seen the sharpest decline in undocumented population of any state, losing 18 percent, or more than 100,000, of its illegal immigrants in 2008, according to a new government report. Experts agree that the decrease in Arizona's undocumented immigrant population was fueled by the staggering loss of jobs the state experienced during the recession, and that to lesser extent immigration crackdowns also contributed to the decline. But the situation does not simply mean a certain number of people have left the country. In any given year, some new illegal immigrants arrive in the U.S. and others leave. Experts agree that the number of new illegal immigrants entering the country is in decline. But there is disagreement over whether the number of people leaving has increased. text/html http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6876442.html Houston Chronicle, February 20. Mexico's elite have been known to frequent Houston for shopping or to visit a doctor, some buying Galleria-area condominiums for convenience. But more wealthy Mexicans now are viewing Houston as their investment destination and new home. Mexicans with enough cash are increasingly taking advantage of a special visa that offers immigrants a chance to live in the United States if they invest in this nation. Immigration lawyers said escalating violence in Mexico is the top reason for the increase in wealthy Mexicans relocating to Houston. The government's E2 visa requires someone who moves to the U.S. to invest at least $150,000 in a new or existing company. The number of Mexicans toting the E class of business visas, the vast majority of which are E2, more than doubled to 16,411 in 2008 from 7,903 in 2005 — the last year figures were available. Mexican entrepreneur Eduardo Parra moved to Houston eight years ago after avoiding being kidnapped. He is applying for an E2 visa so he can continue his business operations here. text/html http://washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/19/conservatives-woo-hispanics/ Washington Times, February 19. A conservative group has begun a new initiative to bring Hispanics into their movement by emphasizing traditional social issues, but the fight over immigration may prove this to be a futile effort. The American Principles Project announced this week its Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, a new initiative that will promote conservative values in the Hispanic community and attempt to persuade conservatives on immigration reform, opening doors to a possible untapped mass of support in the nation's growing Hispanic community. 'We believe that it is time that the conservative movement proactively and intelligently reach out to Latinos, because we believe strongly that Latinos are conservative, that Latino values are conservative values,' said Alfonso Aguilar, a spokesman for the partnership. Clarissa Martinez De Castro, the director of immigration and national campaigns at the National Council of La Raza, agreed that Hispanics are traditionally socially conservative and pro-family. text/html http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/anti-immigrant-sentiment-0219.html MIT News, February 19. Immigration is a long-simmering issue in the politics of many countries, including the United States. A 2007 Pew poll found that three-quarters of all U.S. citizens want to further restrict immigration. But what’s behind such strongly held views? Conventional wisdom holds that American attitudes toward immigrants are shaped by both economic and cultural considerations. In trying to explain the economic concerns of U.S. citizens, social scientists have pointed to two forms of self-interest: Fear over increased competition for jobs, and resentment over having to pay for the social services used by immigrants and their families. text/html http://www.ny1.com/7-brooklyn-news-content/top_stories/113944/arab--muslim-community-makes-case-for-immigration-reform NY1 News, February 18. For many Arab and Muslim Americans, learning how to navigate the immigration system is not an easy task. It was also one of the issues on the agenda at a town hall meeting in Brooklyn Wednesday night. 'People are applying for citizenship passing the exam and waiting two to three to even up to five years to get cleared,' said Linda Sarsour of the Arab American Association of New York. Elected officials at the meeting said immigrants from Arab and Muslim countries face a system that treats them with suspicion. 'I've had instance in my own offices with constituents who have been detained unfairly for hours on end awaiting clearance. We have to come up with a system which is more effective and efficient,' said Congresswoman Yvette Clark. text/html http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=157212 The Medill Report, February 17. Before 2009, Javier Theia used to send $120 to his parents in Mexico eight times a year. But now, he struggles to send $80, andthe number of his transfers declined to four times a year. Since September 2009, Theia, a Mexican employee at a restaurant in downtown Chicago, has seen his work hours reduced from eight or nine per day to six or seven. Consequently, his income decreased. “It’s bad when I got a cut back,” Theia said. “I want to help my parents more, but I also have to pay the rent, buy food and raise my kids.” Theia said he’s still luckier than many other Latino immigrants. “I know many people from Mexico and Colombia losing their jobs,” Theia said. “They can’t send money to their homes anymore.”