Immigration

[dawg80]

Yes, started this new thread for a reason.

My daughter, now 28, was adopted from Russia in 1997. We took her to New Orleans to the INS office and she received her US citizenship that summer. We have all the documentation...still have the little American flag they gave her that day. She holds dual citizenship, Russia & the USA. She has been here 23 years. Completed all kinds of schooling (I know, I paid for it all), is a CNA and phlebotomist, etc...now she is applying for a job in the US Government...in the medical field. She has interviewed for the job, they liked her and made her an offer and then handed her a stack of paperwork to complete. Which she did...she answered honestly the question(s) on citizenship and then OMG!! We are having to jump through hoops to prove she does indeed have US citizenship, for one thing. And after that...we had all the documentation and they accepted copies...they are putting her through a ringer on any foreign travel she has done, any foreign government contacts she may have, and other ridiculous crap.

This is the very reason I bristle at the lax crapola with illegal immigration. My wife and I had to do a teleconference with some agent who is handling the "HR" (more like the Spanish Inquisition) and answer questions and SWEAR we were telling the truth, under penalty of perjury, on the details of her adoption/citizenship. I got frustrated and commented, "It would have been better if our daughter had snuck across the border illegally." My wife elbowed me at that instant. But, the agent said, "Yeah, that would have been easier...less paperwork involved."

We(she) will get through this and eventually get that job...to which I told her, you better stay in that position for a long time after all this mess! And I know many others, many, many others who came here LEGALLY under a student or work visa and have to fight and pay handsomely to get their visas renewed/extended, or to apply for another status toward citizenship. Good people who obeyed the law and have done it right. And then those scumbag illegals, while burning the American flag, cussing us out, pour across the border and get all kinds of services for free. No questions asked, no effing paperwork the size of a mountain to fill out.

Even before my daughter applied for this job, which she did a couple of weeks ago, I was adamant in making the process easier for LEGAL immigrants to get to stay here, while stopping illegals from entering and kicking out those we catch. This just drives it home even more. Now, it is personal...and I am angry. Like the Hulk says, "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

Now...of course, yes, the nature of the agency my daughter is seeking to be employed by, a US Federal Agency, does require some scrutiny of all applicants. I get it. But, when they had the records in front of them, on their computer screen, that showed my daughter is a US citizen, and has been for 23 years, they dare to question that!? What, did they think we hacked into the INS computer network and planted false information for our then, 5-yr-old little girl? How stupid is that!

Okay...I had to vent. I feel better now. I even packed away my machine gun and cancelled the trip to the Rio Grande... no need for any of that.

[inudesu]

1. I don't think it would have been easier for someone who illegally crossed the border to have obtained that job.
2. The current administration is determined to make legal immigration as difficult as possible as well. They've been pretty clear about that (despite any personal experiences they themselves may have had in the past).

[DawgyNWindow]

2. The current administration is determined to make legal immigration as difficult as possible as well. They've been pretty clear about that (despite any personal experiences they themselves may have had in the past).

How so?

[Guisslapp]

Illegal immigrants do pay taxes including social security. They just don’t qualify for the benefits.

[PawDawg]

Illegal immigrants do pay taxes including social security. They just don’t qualify for the benefits.

We've been through this before. Some may. You have no idea how much is paid by how many, but your will have a number to throw out there. FICA and FUTA is a minimal amount from legal immigrants. Much less (if any) from illegals.

[Guisslapp]

We've been through this before. Some may. You have no idea how much is paid by how many, but your will have a number to throw out there. FICA and FUTA is a minimal amount from legal immigrants. Much less (if any) from illegals.

Actually we do know how much they pay because we know how much in taxes is paid by people without a social security number.

[dawg80]

1. I don't think it would have been easier for someone who illegally crossed the border to have obtained that job.
2. The current administration is determined to make legal immigration as difficult as possible as well. They've been pretty clear about that (despite any personal experiences they themselves may have had in the past).

Yeah, as I said it's the agency of the Federal government she is applying to that is doing all the checking, and I get that. My point of contention was their not accepting that she is a US citizen, even though they independently conducted a background check on that matter and admitted they had the records from the INS, dated 1997, but still engaged in an inquisition about it all. What, they don't believe their own eyes?

[inudesu]

How so?

Miller in particular has been very clear that he would prefer to reduce even legal immigration in what I would characterize as fairly drastic levels (obviously the exact number of work visas or asylum seekers or students you might want in a given year would be subject to some debate and reasonable people could disagree about the perfect number - but we're talking pretty big cuts across the board). In a given moment, like a global pandemic you can make a case for certain restrictions, but clearly some of these guys are hoping to make as much of this stick as possible (and had been pushing for as many restrictions as possible pre-COVID).

But immigration hard-liners have repeatedly urged the president to do more to permanently reduce the number of foreigners allowed to enter legally. Mr. Miller has made that a top priority in the last several years, pushing through regulatory changes aimed at shrinking the opportunities for foreigners to live and work in the United States.

During the call, Mr. Miller said that the president’s executive order, while temporary, would have long-lasting effects because it would disrupt what conservatives call “chain migration,” in which the arrival of one immigrant in the United States opens the door to an extended family: parents, adult children, siblings and others.

*Trump in-law "chain migration" excepted, naturally.

As DAWG80 experienced, a key part of the strategy has been to make the whole process as painful and difficult as possible. As it turns out, quite a bit of our immigration policy is fairly firmly established in our legal system. It's hard to just drop. Many of those policies (remember, we're talking about the legal stuff here) are pretty popular and successful and have been around for a really long time. So people like Miller can't just get rid of the ones they don't like, but what they can do is chip away around the edges - super-quadruple secret probation document vetting (as DAWG80 dealt with) that delays everything and maybe gives you a technicality to use for a denial. Fee hikes. A philosophical shift from "do we have the documentation to approve this request" to "look for a reason to deny." Removing as much human discretion as possible so an appeal of an error or a case for extraordinary circumstances doesn't even have a way to get presented. Delays in processing. Delays in specific policy guidance. Broad, sweeping, ill-considered policies that get over-turned in court (often quickly) that still manage to cause confusion and hardship - even when it should have been clear from the beginning that they'd be over-turned.

Here is a (lengthy) appeal to Congress about the administration's approach to specialty worker-visas (that I think is indicative of other categories as well). Short version is that USCIS isn't doing what it was created to do, but is being used (in some of the ways I mentioned above) to undermine the whole process. It's death by a thousand cuts, if you can't change the actual law, just drag your feet and you get the same result. And while you could maybe make the case that all the crazy higher numbers of denials and Requests for Evidence were really a result of a needed "house cleaning" and proof that previous administrations were too lax - I think if you looked at the details you'd find that isn't really the case. An awful lot of those denials were appealed and won because they weren't denied appropriately.

Yeah, as I said it's the agency of the Federal government she is applying to that is doing all the checking, and I get that. My point of contention was their not accepting that she is a US citizen, even though they independently conducted a background check on that matter and admitted they had the records from the INS, dated 1997, but still engaged in an inquisition about it all. What, they don't believe their own eyes?

Our refugee caps (set by the President) and actual numbers have cratered. I suspect many here won't object to that (the way I do) but whether you agree or disagree it supports my contention (administration goals of reducing legal immigration).

In the other thread there are some posts about the poorly executed response to the COVID pandemic by the student and exchange visitor program (they rolled out some very impractical and unfair guidance on July 6th, lost a court decision in short order that they didn't even contest, and had to re-issue an incomplete and patchy update/reversal).

The Wall and the conquering caravan and the cages and the family separations and DACA get the headlines (understandably). But top to bottom (again, naturally with personal exceptions when needed) this administration isn't crazy about immigration of any sort. Even the types that enjoy pretty broad popularity (like student visas) or specific Republican support (tech companies love the specialty worker visas/Agriculture likes the Temp. Ag. visas - therefore, so do their Congressmen, which is why you see even immigration hard-liners sneak in exceptions for their own constituents. Tom Cotton's on the far right on immigration, but he needs to stay on Tyson's good side.).

I hope that answered your question. Much of this stuff is complicated and hinges on very specific details, which is one of several reasons it doesn't come up all that often for cable news rants or whatever. Nobody wants to hear about how USCIS is inappropriately denying H1B applications because of an unpublished internal policy guidance reversal on prevailing wage calculations.

But I think it's safe to say "The current administration is determined to make legal immigration as difficult as possible as well. They've been pretty clear about that (despite any personal experiences they themselves may have had in the past)."

[dawg80]

The Trump admin. stated they wanted to curtail legal immigration during this China virus crisis, for a couple of reasons. One, so as to have less worry about people being infected and bringing in more problems, and two, so as to give Americans better chances of landing jobs during this economic slowdown. Those are two of the stated reasons. Now, whether they are practical or would actually help resolve the two issues, that is debatable. But in any event, restricting legal immigration was intended to be a temporary measure.

Yes, the whole issue of immigration, the BIG PICTURE, is complicated with lots of moving parts. But, closing the border to ILLEGALS is easy and straight-forward. No one SHOULD have a problem with that aspect. Those over-staying visas, etc. is another problem that requires a different solution. Motion-detector machine guns won't help in that endeavor.

[PawDawg]

Actually we do know how much they pay because we know how much in taxes is paid by people without a social security number.

That doesn't mean the money is coming from illegals. Focus here. They are here illegally. Not working with this...

https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/hiring/foreign

[Guisslapp]

That doesn't mean the money is coming from illegals. Focus here. They are here illegally. Not working with this...

https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/hiring/foreign

You are the one that needs focus. H1Bs and the like have social security numbers.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

VICTIMS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

MEMORIAL

In honor of the thousands of American citizens killed each year by Illegal Aliens.


http://www.ojjpac.org/memorial.asp

[PawDawg]

VICTIMS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

MEMORIAL

In honor of the thousands of American citizens killed each year by Illegal Aliens.


http://www.ojjpac.org/memorial.asp

Undocumented Immigrants murderers who pay FICA, FUTA, along with Federal and State Income tax.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Undocumented Immigrants murderers who pay FICA, FUTA, along with Federal and State Income tax.

Not hard to believe that was stated on bb&b considering those that posted the dribble.

[Guisslapp]

Undocumented Immigrants murderers who pay FICA, FUTA, along with Federal and State Income tax.

Should also build a Memorial to the 100k+ Americans that were killed by Trump’s failure to protect America from coronavirus.