Asylum seekers entering legally fell 99.9 percent.... Refugees entering legally from abroad fell by about 90 percent.... Immigrant visas for legal permanent residents fell by about half.... H‑1B visas have likely fallen by about 25 percent.... Legal entry cuts are now likely 2.5 times higher than illegal entries....It is not about stopping “illegal” immigration. It is a broader assault on all types of immigration. As Americans debate the path forward on immigration, that’s a reality everyone should understand.
I wasn't under a different impression. The whole Western world is caught up in political movements that engage the question of trying to put brakes on immigration in order to preserve straining cultures. As I often point out, this set of stresses also applies to internal migration, as it does to the debate around what is called 'gentrification.' In Mexico, they're mad that Americans are immigrating. It's a human universal.
The H-1B thing is the only surprising part, because corporate donors are so much in favor of importing cheaper labor to depress American wages. I wasn't thinking even the Trump administration would stand up to them as much as they apparently have.
I suspect the tech H1-B visa holders have tested the winds of public opinion, and are withholding protest for the moment, at least until they see how the midterm elections go. Given how some tech companies have used the program to create indentured servants while locking American job seekers out of the positions, and how many women have complained about the workplace culture that resulted, reticence was likely deemed wise.
ReplyDeleteOttoCorrupt wanted to change "visa holder" into "vassal." Make of it what you will.
LittleRed1
I disagree with the breadth of limits being attempted on (legal) immigration, but I think the present administration is entirely correct to seek to severely limit the inflow of illegal aliens, and I applaud its success.
ReplyDeleteMy much larger problem is in the press' dishonest characterization of illegal "immigration," terming these folks "undocumented immigrants," or "migrants," whether "undocumented" or even "illegal."
These folks are neither "immigrants" of any stripe, nor are they "migrants." They ceased to be migrants when they entered Mexico or Canada illegally by those nations' laws. Even following legal entry there, they ceased to be migrants (or immigrants) as soon as they entered our nation illegally.
They are illegal aliens, and nothing else.
Eric Hines