Highlights of the bill include:

• Clarification that the power to regulate immigration resides with the federal government, not states and localities;
• Provision of common‐sense rules governing the detention of families, elderly or ill immigrants, crime victims, and other vulnerable populations;
• Mandatory use of an employment verification system for all employers within five years;
• Creation of a new nonimmigrant visa program (H‐2C) to address gaps in existing worker programs that have lead to undocumented aliens.  H‐2C workers are eligible to apply for green cards after having worked in the U.S. for four years, or immediately if they are sponsored by their employer;
• Assurance that the number of family and employment green cards authorized by Congress do not expire because of processing delays;
• Expansion of the share of visas that each country can access within existing quotas that limit overall immigration;
• Exemption for certain immigrants from counting against the annual green card quotas so that they can immediately reunite with loved ones in the U.S., including spouses and minor children of green card holders;
• Revision of the unlawful presence bars so that individuals with family ties are not permanently banished from the U.S.;
• Creation of a Lawful Prospective Immigrant (LPI) status for non‐criminal undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. since 9/30/10.  In order to transition from LPI status to Legal Permanent Residency, applicants are required to wait at least six years; pay taxes and a $1000 fine; learn English and U.S. civics; and undergo additional background checks. They will not obtain green cards before those who were waiting in line to immigrate as of date of enactment; and
• Incorporation of the DREAM Act, which creates a path to legal status for individuals who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, provided they meet age and other criteria and enroll in college or the U.S. military.

Klasko will continue to track the status of this bill on our blog.

The first trend is captured in this blog post by Vivek Wadhwa, a professor at Duke University who has studied high-tech entrepreneurship extensively.  Current backlogs in the employment-based immigration categories trap foreign workers in the original job for which they were sponsored, meaning their companies cannot promote them to positions where their experience and skills can best be used.  Nor can the workers take the initiative to start their own companies – while a small company may be able to sponsor one of its owners as an H-1B, a green card is much less likely in that situation.  Wadhwa points out that eliminating the green card backlog (a major part of which consists of cases trapped by bureaucratic delays that should have been approved in past years’ quotas, which do not carry over from year to year) would free an enormous amount of human capital to innovate and create the next generation of companies that will drive economic growth in the US.

More troubling, a combination of the green card quotas (which tie foreign nationals to one specific job) and rules for terminated H-1B workers (described in detail here) are driving away the most talented foreign graduates of our universities.  Recent surveys and profiles of foreign nationals in the US – particularly Indian engineers in Silicon Valley – have highlighted an increase in the number of H-1B who are opting to return home, either from necessity or because the Indian economy now offers them opportunities to start or manage companies  that the US can’t match because of their visa situation.   While opponents of high-tech immigration love to argue that H-1B visas allow tech workers to come to the US and learn skills that they can use back home, the fact is that most tech workers would prefer to use those skills in the US – and that immigrants are a key part of the Silicon Valley start-up community (given how many start-ups have at least one immigrant founder).

The most troubling trend, however, will not be immediate in its impact.  For the first time in five years, US graduate programs reported a drop in the number of international applications to their programs and the number of accepted applicants who chose to come to their programs.  These students are the best and brightest from their countries, and when they choose to go to other countries rather than the US, we lose out not only on the tuition dollars they would have spent (at rates higher than out-of-state students pay), but also on their talents for companies in the US.

While these trends are troubling, they are not irreversible.  What it will take, however, is a rational reform of our employment-based immigration system to recognize the contributions these immigrants make, and the national interest in providing a welcome mat to them.

AILA president Chuck Kuck says it best over on the AILA Leadership Blog:

Probably even more important is the boost this gives to those who believe, like us, that CIR is essential to renewed economic growth. Senator Specter spoke to our Spring AILA Conference (was it that which pushed him over the edge?). He let us know that he actually gets it. He understands all the key aspects of reform. He understands it is NOT just about legalization. He understands that it is also about DREAM. It is also about increased immigrant visa numbers. It is also about more sensible nonimmigrant visa categories. It is also about reforming how USCIS operates, and it is also about smarter enforcement and going after the real bad actors, not those struggling to put bread in the mouths of their children.

We certainly hope that Senator Specter can continue his leadership on the immigration issue as a member of the Democratic majority.   Because of his work on behalf of reasonable immigration laws, we will continue to support his efforts (it’s just others of us who will do it in spite of his party membership).