Immigration: Should Reform be Handled Piecemeal?

In April, 2013 the US Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform, and their bill was then sent to the US House of Representatives.  When the Senate worked on their bill, some senators wanted to pass portions of immigration reform, in pieces, right away, without a full comprehensive overhaul of the entire immigration system.  Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said “Some policy makers are calling for piecemeal changes – such as issuing visas for high-skilled workers and investors, or conferring legal status on immigrants who were illegally brought into the country as children.  Congress should avoid such quick fixes and commit itself instead to comprehensive immigration reform.”  The Senate got it together, and passed their bill.

Now the bill has passed to the US House of Representatives.  The House party leaders are saying that they want to work on immigration reform in pieces, rather than considering the Senate bill as a whole!  So, we are back to voting on piecemeal measures such as The Dream Act for those youngsters brought to the US as children who have been educated and raised in the US; highly-skilled visas for scientists and engineers, etc. for which US employers have only ONE DAY to apply each year since all those visas are basically gone in ONE DAY;  foreign STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)  graduates of US universities for which there is a shortage of workers in the US; family-based visas for which families must wait over 20 years in some categories; and regular employment-based permanent visas which are still over 3 years backlogged.   

Most US citizens feel that our immigration system is broken.  Regardless of which side of the fence you are on; pro-immigration, or in favor of closing our borders; our immigration system is not working for you!  If most Americans believe that our immigration system is broken, then why aren’t our US Representatives working to fix our immigration system?  Americans need to speak up now.  Call your US Representatives and tell them how you feel.  If you can vote, then your US Representative needs to hear from YOU.

We have 11 million undocumented people in the US right now.  That number is increasing daily.  There are 85,000 H-1B visas (highly skilled workers) issued in each year.  The application process opens on April 1st each year.  In the first 5 days, from April 1-5, 2013:  124,000 visa applications were received by Immigration.  The H-1B window closed in one day.  Google and Microsoft are two of the largest advocates of immigration reform, at least in the highly skilled category.  “According to Google, 40% of technology companies that have been founded in the United States, were financed by venture capital, and went public, were founded by immigrants.”

Microsoft states, “It is critical that America address the shortage of workers with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.  There are many high-skilled, high-paying jobs being created by American businesses across the country that are being left unfilled because of this gap.”

The US needs all the top tier talent it can get if we are to remain competitive in the global marketplace.  Is our immigration system keeping away some of the most brilliant minds in the world?  Are our foreign crises and government financing engulfing our nation, more than our failing immigration system?

What do you think?