Thomas K. Brown Immigration

CATO Institute: Legalization = $180 billion gain, Enforcement-only = $80 billion drain

The CATO Institute released the results of a study analyzing the various possible immigration reform scenarios and their resulting impact on the economy.  No surprises here — a legalization program of some sort could add as much as $180 billion to the economy whereas an enforcement-only solution would end up costing the economy $80 billion.  As much of a no-brainer as this may make the immigration debate seem, I’m guessing this study will not persuade the anti-immigration side.  Simply putting things in economic terms suggests you can buy your way around the law.  Personally, I don’t see it that way, of course, but you can be sure someone will be making that argument.

You can read the report here.

August 14th, 2009 Posted by Thomas Brown | cir | no comments

ICE: Operation Honeymoon’s Over

Cincinnati ICE agents busted a conspiracy that paired up intending immigrants with US citizens to engage in marriage fraud.  Although the marriages were likely proper in the legal sense, immigration benefits only apply to those who marry for traditional reasons — love, the desire to have children, companionship, etc.  Marriage entered into purely for immigration purposes are deemed “sham” marriages and are considered a crime:

INA § 275(c) Marriage fraud.–Any individual who knowingly enters into a marriage for the purpose of evading any provision of the immigration laws shall be imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or fined not more than $250,000, or both.

Note that this makes no distinction between the intending immigrant and the citizen — either can be charged under this law.  Here’s a link to the ICE press release.

August 14th, 2009 Posted by Thomas Brown | ice | no comments

September 2009 Visa Bulletin

The Department of State has released the September 2009 visa bulletin here.

Here’s the family table:

And here’s the employment table:

August 12th, 2009 Posted by Thomas Brown | visa bulletin | no comments

WTOP: Prince William County, VA & Illegal Immigration

Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart appeared on Washington, DC area news radio station WTOP’s Politics Program with Mark Plotkin today (actually, it’s on right now as I type this) discussing, among other things, the county’s tough stance on the detention of illegal immigrants.  He suggests the county’s tough policy has lead to a reduction in crime by comparing statistics with neighboring counties.  I’m not sure such comparisons are that simple, and there are undoubtedly many factors that distinguish Prince William County from other DC-area neighbors.  You can catch the replay of the program shortly here.

August 7th, 2009 Posted by Thomas Brown | detention | no comments

ICE Announces Major Reforms of Immigration Detention System

In a welcome move to many, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced a plan to move from a penal/criminal detention system to one geared more toward the civil/administrative offenses most immigration detentions represent.  It’s important to recognize that most immigration violations are administrative in nature, not criminal.  In the present regime, immigration violators are essentially housed in prisons while their civil cases are resolved.  The new plan is to develop a system more appropriate to the civil nature of the cases.  You can read the ICE press release here and in more detail here.

August 6th, 2009 Posted by Thomas Brown | detention, ice | no comments

MSNBC: Employment-Based Petitions Plunge

MSNBC has an interesting article showing the declining number of immigrant worker petitions filed this year as compared with recent years. So far in 2009, only 36,000 petitions have been filed, compared with 104,000 in 2008 and 235,000 in 2007. The article highlights two reasons: (1) the flagging economy leading US employers to simply not hire; and (2) the very long wait times such petitions take.

I’m sure both points have merit, but the bigger issue is revealed in the recent Visa Bulletins which track availability of such visas. A very popular category is the EB-3 “skilled worker, professionals and other workers” category. As the August 2009 Visa Bulletin shows (posted below), these visas are simply unavailable at this time. This isn’t really a matter of a long wait time — the visas just aren’t available.  As it relates to long wait times, even EB-2 (generally requiring an advanced degree — masters, Ph.D) visas have wait times as long as 6 years for nationals of some countries.  It’s hard to imagine an employer who has to prove a present need to fill a bone fide position would be willing to wait that long to fill it.

I think the pure unavailability of EB-3 visas is what’s really at issue here. We’ll see what happens as the economy improves.

August 6th, 2009 Posted by Thomas Brown | employment | no comments