Some have argued that the recent primary defeat of Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) means House Republicans should not take up any immigration reform legislation. The problem with that argument is the nation’s immigration problems aren’t going to disappear. In fact, continued inaction will make matters worse.
First, America still does not possess a means for individuals to fill lower-skilled jobs with legal visas in year-round industries like construction, landscaping, hotels and restaurants. As a result, illegal immigration has continued, albeit at lower levels due to the post-2007 economic slowdown, and appears to be increasing.
The influx of child migrants at the border is one manifestation of the lack of economic-based visas. Parents who first came to the country to work have found that increased border security means once making it to the United States it is not advisable to travel back and forth, as people did many years ago. Having established economic footholds superior to those in their home countries many have sent for their children to join them, with gang violence an additional push factor driving young people from Central America.
Second, America’s policies on hiring skilled foreign nationals remain problematic. Despite its imperfections, H-1B temporary visas are generally the only practical way to hire a skilled foreign national to work long-term in the United States, yet the annual quota on those visas has been exhausted before the end of the fiscal year for the past 12 years. This has often caused employers to either lose skilled individuals to foreign-based competitors or to hire the individuals themselves outside the country. Either way it means more investment and innovation takes place outside the United States.
A third problem is the low annual quota on employment-based green cards (for permanent residence) and the per country limits within those quotas. That has meant immigrants from India and China in particular can wait 10 years or potentially much longer for a green card. That leaves many highly skilled individuals wondering whether America is the best place to fulfill their career ambitions.
A fourth problem is the lack of an entrepreneur visa to allow individuals with good ideas and the ability to attract capital to gain a temporary visa or permanent residence after creating jobs in America.
The above list of problems in our immigration system is not all inclusive. Would the House and Senate bills currently pending solve all these problems? Surprisingly, they would solve a number of the problems and make a start on others, according to a new analysis from the National Foundation for American Policy.
S. 744, the Senate immigration bill, contains a new year-round visa for low-skilled work and with a set of rules that appear usable, if not ideal, for both employers and employees. While apparent AFL-CIO insistence kept the first year’s supply of new visas at only 20,000, maintaining a similar structure but with a much higher number could make a significant dent in illegal immigration.
On high skill immigration, the best approach for growth, innovation and the U.S. economy would combine the best features of the House and Senate bills. That would mean 1) selecting the less-restrictive House approach to H-1B visas, after changing the requirement that foreign nationals should, in effect, be paid more than their U.S. counterparts; 2) adopting the Senate approach to employment-based green cards, since that provides more green cards and will eliminate the current backlog; and 3) taking the best elements of the House and Senate measures on immigrant entrepreneur visas, particularly the provision in S. 744 to permit a renewable temporary status for a foreign-born entrepreneur.
S. 744 passed the U.S. Senate in June 2013, at nearly the same time the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 2131, the SKILLS Visa Act. Neither S. 744, H.R. 2131, nor any House immigration bill has moved to the House floor. Eric Cantor’s primary election loss has some calling for an end to immigration reform legislation for the foreseeable future. That would be a mistake. The nation’s immigration problems are unlikely to solve themselves.
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