“The fee will affect workers in fields far beyond tech. Health care providers, religious groups, and educators are among those suing the Trump administration over the fee, “saying it would harm hospitals, churches, schools and industries that rely on the visa,” reports the Associated Press. The fee could exacerbate teacher and physician shortages, especially in rural areas that struggle to attract American workers. “About a third of H-1B workers are nurses, teachers, physicians, scholars, priests and pastors, according to the lawsuit,” according to the Associated Press.
Though the Trump administration argues that its visa fee will address the “large-scale replacement of American workers,” it might not lead to companies hiring American workers instead of foreign workers after all. “Firms respond to restrictions on H-1B immigration by increasing foreign affiliate employment,” found a 2020 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper. “For every visa rejection,” the average multinational corporation hires 0.4 employees overseas, while the most globalized firms “hire 0.9 employees abroad for every visa rejection.” Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond economist Nicolas Morales observed that “tighter immigration rules don’t just limit U.S. hiring, but they can also accelerate relocating jobs to other countries.”
Other countries are trying to attract foreign talent that might be deterred by U.S. visa policies, Roll Call reported in October. Germany’s ambassador to India and Bhutan compared the country’s immigration policy to a German car: “It’s reliable, it’s modern and it is predictable….We do not change our rules fundamentally overnight.” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney argued that “not as many people are going to get visas to the United States,” which represents “an opportunity for Canada.”
The H-1B program is imperfect. Many supporters of high-skilled immigration suggest fundamentally changing the visa or scrapping it altogether, arguing that it limits foreign workers’ mobility and long-term prospects and doesn’t prioritize the highest-skilled workers for the U.S. economy. But a $100,000 fee won’t fix those issues.”
Trump’s FEMA is denying more disaster recovery requests. It seems blue states are having more trouble than red states. Trump has used FEMA aid to threaten states about immigration enforcement. The administration says states should shoulder more of the burden of disaster recovery.
Trump has put former directors of a chemical industry group in charge of regulating chemicals. They have chosen to loosen regulations, saying that workers can protect themselves by wearing the appropriate gear.
Trump sent illegal immigrants to El Salvador where they were held in a prison and treated inhumanely. The U.S. government knew things like this happened in this prison before they sent the migrants there.
The administration says they are targeting the worst of the worst in their illegal immigration crackdown, but the facts are, they are sweeping up lots of people whose only crime was illegally immigrating.
Somalis in Minnesota were involved in fraudulent welfare schemes that stole a buttload of money from the U.S. government. Minnesota state officials were getting wind of the crimes, but failed to act in part because they feared being called racist in the post-George Floyd environment. Instead of seriously thinking about how to crack down on such schemes, Trump responded by calling all Somalis trash and saying he doesn’t want any Somalis in the country.
“Less than two days after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to restrict immigration agents from using riot control weapons, including chemical irritants, a Chicago-area couple and their 1-year-old daughter were pepper-sprayed during their Saturday morning grocery run.
On Saturday morning, the Veraza family was on its way to Sam’s Club in Cicero, a Chicago suburb near the epicenter of the federal government’s immigration enforcement campaign known as “Operation Midway Blitz.” Upon hearing a helicopter and car horns, which are often used by community members to signal immigration enforcement activity in progress, they decided to leave. That’s when a black pickup truck, captured on video by the car’s passenger, drove past their vehicle while a masked agent sprayed a chemical irritant through the car’s open driver’s side window. A cloud of spray hit the driver, Rafael Veraza, in the face, affecting him, his wife, and his 1-year-old daughter, Ariana, in the back seat. The video then cuts to Rafael and his wife trying to wash out Ariana’s eyes as she cries.
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In response to questions regarding the incident, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin sent a statement to the A.P. claiming “there was no crowd control or pepper spray deployed in a Sam’s Club parking lot.””
“The First Amendment protects filming the police, but Berenice Garcia-Hernandez says she was dragged out of her car and detained for nearly seven hours for snapping photos of ICE agents.”
“A federal judge in Chicago ordered roughly 600 people to be released from immigration detention…The individuals, the judge found, had been arrested in violation of a 2022 consent decree designed to ensure immigration agents have probable cause before making warrantless arrests.”