USA Green Card Immigration Blog

Michael Bloomberg Calls Inaction on Immigration Reform ‘National Suicide’ – The Note.

While Democrats and Republicans trade jabs over how to more quickly stimulate job growth, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg today said both parties are overlooking “the one thing” that can do the trick: encouraging more legal immigration to the United States.

“It’s what I call national suicide – and that’s not hyperbole,” Bloomberg told a symposium at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Every day that we fail to fix our broken immigration laws is a day that we inflict a wound on our economy.”

Bloomberg cited a new report by the Partnership for a New American Economy, an advocacy group he founded jointly with News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, that found more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were started by an immigrant or a child of immigrants and now employ more than 10 million people worldwide.

“Immigrants and their children have been responsible for creating millions more jobs in all 50 states,” he said. “The reason is simple: immigrants are dreamers and risk-takers who are driven to succeed, because they know that in America, hard work and talent are rewarded like nowhere else.”

Bloomberg said the “single most powerful step” to spur job growth is enacting a five-point bipartisan reform that would allow foreign graduates of U.S. universities to obtain green cards; lure foreign entrepreneurs to innovate on American soil; end caps on to visas for highly-skilled workers; ensure an abundant supply of agricultural guest-workers; and set green card limits based on the country’s economic needs, not an immigrant’s family ties.

Critics of looser immigration restrictions, and a path to legal residency for the nation’s estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, say Bloomberg’s proposals would take jobs from American workers and make the economic environment worse.

“We already have a system that allows 8 million foreign workers to hold jobs that millions of Americans who are unemployed would like to have. That’s a broken system,” said Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, a group that favors tighter immigration restrictions.

“It’s not going to go anywhere because it makes no political sense,” Beck said of comprehensive immigration reform.  “Some people do not get that immigration is a jobs issue.”

Bloomberg disputed those arguments, insisting there is a way to address immigration – even in an election year – that will appeal to voters in both parties.

“The public cares about two things: housing and jobs. My house, my job,” he said. “And if you want to do something in this country to create jobs, better jobs and more jobs, and a better chance to keep your houses, the one thing we can do is not expensive for this country, it’s not a big stimulus of trillions of dollars, it is immigration reform.”

“That will get the best and the brightest from around the world, those that are the hungriest and willing to work the hardest to come here and create exactly what we need,” Bloomberg added.

Why Immigrants Are Good for Our Economy – Richard Florida – Business – The Atlantic.

Immigration remains a hotly debated issue across America and may prove a key sleeper issue in the looming 2012 presidential campaign, as my colleague Josh Green wrote yesterday. He notes that “whites are far more pessimistic about their prospects and their children’s prospects–and many mistakenly believe that illegal immigrants are the primary culprit.” He adds that “widespread misconceptions about the economic effects of immigration” stem “from a lack of information that’s largely due to both the Democratic and Republican parties’ unwillingness to pursue immigration reform, after years of failed attempts.”

Nonetheless, a wide body of research shows the ways that immigration powers the twin engines of American innovation and entrepreneurship. Foreign-born founders and entrepreneurs stand behind anywhere from a third to a half of Silicon Valley high-tech startups, and comprise huge shares of computer scientists and software engineers.

A new Brookings Institution report provides important new data and evidence on the role of immigration and immigrants across US metros. Two conclusions stand out.

The share of high-skill immigrants has risen consistently over the past several decades, as the chart above shows; there are more high-skill immigrants in the United States now than low skill ones. As the report notes, “In 1980, just 19 percent of immigrants aged 25 to 64 held a bachelor’s degree, and nearly 40 percent had not completed high school. By 2010, 30 percent of working-age immigrants had at least a college degree and 28 percent lacked a high school diploma.”

The map above charts immigrant skill levels–high, low or balanced–by metro area. The report classifies metros by type and timing of immigration, and notes that, “compared with their U.S.-born counterparts, low-skilled immigrants have higher rates of employment and lower rates of household poverty, but also have lower individual earnings, in all types of metro areas.” 44 of the nation’s largest 100 metro areas–including Washington, DC and San Francisco–are high-skill immigrant destinations, where college educated immigrants outnumber those that did not complete high school by at least 25 percent.

The report calls for a more pragmatic approach to immigration with a flexible admissions system that can respond to the evolving needs of the labor market as a cornerstone of regional and national competitiveness.

Let’s hope the administration, the Congress and the American people are paying attention. With such a fragile recovery, America can ill afford to cut off the stream of talented immigrants that are-and have long been-such a critical source of the innovative and entrepreneurial dynamism of its regional and national economies.

House GOP Hints At Immigration Reform For Skilled Workers.

Republican lawmakers on Thursday signaled a willingness to tackle immigration reform measures, specifically those relating to skilled worker visas.

Led by Virginia’s Bob Goodlatte, the House Republican Technology Working Group released its list of top technology concerns relating to economic growth in the U.S.

Under the banner of “Ensuring American Access to the Best Workers,” the group said it would “examine current visa and immigration laws to make sure we attract and retain the best and brightest minds from around the world.”

In addition to skilled workers, the group announced that it would also focus on access to network spectrum, cyber security issues, intellectual property protections, fair trade agreements, tax code and regulation reform.

While the GOP has historically championed free trade, tax reform and decreased regulation, the group’s embrace of immigration — however limited — was hailed by reform groups as a step forward.

Rebecca Peters, the director and counsel for legislative affairs at the American Council on International Personnel, told Huff Post that the GOP agenda was “very encouraging.” Her business advocacy group sees the recent bipartisan political movement — including the president’s immigration speech in El Paso, Texas, last month and the 2010 Republican plan for job creation — as evidence that reform might be on the horizon.

Compete America Executive Director Scott Corley, whose advocacy group focuses on immigration concerns for skilled workers, said in a statement, “We applaud the House Republican Technology Working Group for emphasizing the link between access to top talent and U.S. job creation. We encourage the growing list of supporters on both sides of the aisle to turn their talk into action.”

This Republican embrace of high-skilled immigrants partially reflects a stronger relationship between the GOP and the tech world. Both sides have dispatched emissaries in recent months: Tech companies, including Google, have ramped up their lobbying efforts in Washington, while Republican congress members have lately sought an audience with high tech denizens.

Retaining skilled workers and reforming intellectual property protections are both issues of concern to tech leaders and Republican leaders are taking notice.

“A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to talk to employers and employees out in Silicon Valley,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). “They are on the frontlines of our country’s efforts to create new jobs, and they are concerned about the policies they are seeing coming out of Washington.”

Boehner has been well-compensated for the increased attention he’s paid to the tech world. In his visit to Northern California last month, he was estimated to have raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars at a Silicon Valley fundraiser in the home of HP executive Michael Holsten. Among those he met with were representatives from interest groups representing some of the Valley’s brightest lights, including Apple, Netflix and eBay.

The latest opinion voiced by Edward Alden at the Council on Foreign Relations, the author of “The Closing of the American Border:  Terrorism, Immigration and Security Since 9/11,” urges the US to reform its immigration policy.

Of all the initiatives undertaken in the name of homeland security after 9/11, the visa screening requirements for foreign scientists and engineers have probably done the most lasting damage to America’s economy — particularly in the cutting-edge technology fields that are vital to our economic leadership and national security.

The case Mr. Alden makes is that all the red tape that’s involved with visa processing, background checks, and visa interviews is seriously impacting the competitiveness of the country.  This is no new news, but the eloquent argument made for the reform of current (draconian) immigration screening tools is requires persistent and loud repetition until–hopefully–change happens.  Click on the link above to read the article.