Building a better immigration system
It's not just about undocumented workers
![Marc Ambinder](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qH4tEZCTXunoC6FczNKw9k-415-80.jpg)
It sure seems like Congress will enter the whirlpool of immigration reform next year. The surface debate is about undocumented workers and how to bring them from the depths. But the currents are pushing along several other issues, some of which may be more consequential in the long run for both the American economy and for the dignity of those people touched by legislation.
Writing for the blog of the Brookings Institute's Metropolitan Policy Program, Neil Ruiz, who is doing some of the most interesting scholarly work on visas and workforce development these days, sketches out the other areas that the first wave of reform is likely to tackle.
A casualty of legislative deadlock has been the STEM Act, which would significantly increase the number of green cards given to foreign students who get degrees from the United States. When you talk to forward-thinking national security professionals, they'll complain of the brain drain effect, wherein Chinese and Indian students take advantage of American education and then go back home and enrich the productivity and economy of critical industries that compete with the U.S.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Democrats shoulder the blame here. "They didn't want to be seen as giving up on undocumented immigrants in an election year," Ruiz said of the party's unwillingness to consider STEM visas separately from an expansion of the Diversity Immigrant Visa, which focuses primarily on under-represented countries and populations. (They invoked the legacy of Ted Kennedy, and it worked to stop the bill.) Neither party wanted to increase the total amount of visas, so the GOP bill would have scrapped the diversity immigrant visa in favor of 55,000 more STEM visas. Post-election, Democrats are less likely to fight against a modification of the Diversity Visa program in the context of much broader immigration reform.
Both parties want to increase the number of visas for immigrant entrepreneurs, but Ruiz and others say that no one has yet figured out how to measure success appropriately, which is bottling up legislation. "What is the right mechanism, how do you measure the number of jobs, how do you make sure they attract capital, what happens if they fail." These are unanswered questions still. And if immigrants who get a visa to open or expand a business here don't succeed, should they be sent back?
High-tech companies like Microsoft and Oracle want to significantly expand the number of H1-B visas that the U.S. offers. H1-Bs, you'll recall, are issued annually to 65,000 foreign workers in "specialty" occupations; they normally last for three years. But competition from foreign workers can lead to unsettling and disruptive economic consequences for less-skilled native born workers. Companies pay for their visas, and one long-standing question has centered on how to make sure that the money that's gained is used to retrain American workers effectively. Ruiz and his colleagues are working with companies and legislators to try and figure out how to better spend the money, which would amount to, under a plan that Microsoft has floated, around $500 million a year, or $5 billion over 10 years. If states and localities were able to figure out how to target the money, there may be less opposition to an H1-B expansion because of the American skills gap and our relatively high unemployment.
And what of the most visible immigration reform issue? Within the Democratic Party, there is still resistance from many unions to a program that would legalize undocumented workers who don't fit the "DREAM Act" rubric, which has been, for the most part, already priced in the political calculus. And the Republican right wing may not allow their party to compromise much on issues like family unification and country caps — not to mention an overall increase in the total number of visas allowed.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ruiz says that the success of truly comprehensive immigration reform may be determined by how well the two parties work together to avoid with the "fiscal cliff." If good will is poisoned, the momentum for immigration policy reform may be blocked. It is possible that a three-part approach could work better. First, move the high-skilled workers bills through Congress. Then regularize in law the immigrants who are being given status under President Obama's executive order on immigration. With both parties having gotten a clean win, then they can begin to debate the piece de resistance — what to do with undocumented workers already here.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Marc Ambinder is TheWeek.com's editor-at-large. He is the author, with D.B. Grady, of The Command and Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. Marc is also a contributing editor for The Atlantic and GQ. Formerly, he served as White House correspondent for National Journal, chief political consultant for CBS News, and politics editor at The Atlantic. Marc is a 2001 graduate of Harvard. He is married to Michael Park, a corporate strategy consultant, and lives in Los Angeles.
-
The lab-made meat that 'could kill the EU'
Under The Radar Concerned at 'unintended consequences for farming' some farmers are 'turning rabid' over the rise of cultured meat
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Magazine solutions - August 2, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - August 2, 2024
By The Week Staff Published
-
Magazine printables - August 2, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - August 2, 2024
By The Week Staff Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court rejects challenge to CFPB
Speed Read The court rejected a conservative-backed challenge to the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published