A Tale of Two Transitions

By Jeremy Beck

Before he left office in January 2021, President Trump issued a regulation to end the H-1B visa lottery and replace it with a system that awarded the controversial visas based on salaries (highest to lowest). The aim was to make it harder to use the visa program to bring in entry level workers. H-1B visas … Continued

Another Trump campaign promise to watch

By Jeremy Beck

Citizens of other nations can enter the U.S. on a tourist visa (or cross the border illegally), take a weekend vacation, deliver a baby, and the U.S. government will automatically bestow U.S. citizenship on the newborn. When the child turns 18, the whole family becomes eligible for green cards. This is incompatible with the global … Continued

What do we want? Audacity.

By Jeremy Beck

As is often the case, it’s easy to know what we don’t want. We don’t want to continue the cycle of on-again-off-again enforcement. We don’t want another “one time” amnesty with promises of future enforcement. We don’t want another four years of false debate about whether immigrants or Americans opposed to mass immigration are to be feared or loathed. What do we want? Audacity. We want … Continued

A decisive immigration election

By Jeremy Beck

The idea that immigration is a limitless, universal good was soundly rejected. Immigration was a clear difference maker in the election. We are living under a system of broken promises: promises to set limits; promises to enforce those limits. The votes are in. It’s time for Washington to meet those promises. Immigration dominated voters’ minds Exit polls almost universally indicate immigration was the number two or number one … Continued

Today’s immigration system is a broken promise

By Jeremy Beck

Adapted from a NumbersUSA newsletter (November 4, 2024) Sixty years ago, a majority of Congress, and the president of the United States, vowed that they would not increase immigration, which was about 300,000 per year at the time. They broke that promise. And Congress has continued to break that promise every year for sixty years. “On the Ballot: An Immigration System Most … Continued

A post-election progressive argument for immigration limits

By Jeremy Beck

Note: NumbersUSA is a nonpartisan organization. We are moderates, conservatives & liberals working together to empower voters to achieve a sensible immigration policy. Immigration cost the Democratic Party dearly this year. Alexander Bolton of The Hill reports: “The final New York Times/Siena College poll of likely voters in the seven battleground states found immigration ranked nearly as … Continued

34 years of the Immigration Act of 1990

By Jeremy Beck

President George H. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990 into law 34 years ago. The anniversary fell on “Black Friday” this year. The legislation certainly was a steal of a deal for anyone in the market for discount labor. The bill opened up access to the global workforce to an extent not seen since … Continued

Another Trump campaign promise to watch

By Jeremy Beck

Citizens of other nations can enter the U.S. on a tourist visa (or cross the border illegally), take a weekend vacation, deliver a baby, and the U.S. government will automatically bestow U.S. citizenship on the newborn. When the child turns 18, the whole family becomes eligible for green cards. This is incompatible with the global … Continued

Excess labor is the only necessary condition for exploitation.

By Jeremy Beck

The next time someone says “immigrants do the jobs ‘Americans won’t do,” please remember this story from The Wall Street Journal‘s Patrick Thomas about the living conditions of Haitian immigrants working for the global food company JBS in Greeley, Colorado: “They slept on the floor, as many as eight to a room, and cooked meals on hot plates … Continued