Companion bills have been introduced in Congress aimed at reforming H-1B and L-1 guest worker programs. While the sponsors tout these bills as a "complete overhaul" which would "protect American workers and crack-down on foreign outsourcing companies which deprive qualified Americans of high-skill jobs" there are some aspects of the bill which don't live up to the hype.
A group of GOP lawmakers led by House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (Ariz.) are continuing to call on the Trump administration to temporarily stop issuing all new guest-worker visas amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Another 2.4 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as the number of workers sidelined by the coronavirus crisis topped 38 million, new federal data show.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) proposed legislation that would block the federal government from giving taxpayer-funded stimulus money to states and cities that give coronavirus relief checks to illegal aliens.
The House of Representatives passed H.R. 6800, the Heroes Act, on Friday night by a narrow margin, 208-to-199. The bill would grant deferred action and work authorization to illegal aliens, working in "critical infrastructure" occupations, until 90 days after the end of the declared national emergency. The bill would also extend the expiration dates for nonimmigrant visas and work permits, fast-track the importation of foreign health care workers, and allow stimulus checks from the CARES Act to be issued to illegal aliens.
House Democrats unveiled their wish list Tuesday for Covid-19 relief in the form of the HEROES Act, H.R. 6800. The bill will likely receive a floor vote on Friday and is expected to pass. But even House Democrats acknowledge that the bill is more about messaging and has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate.
The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting unemployment could lead to immigration to Canada being cut for the first time in a decade.
A number of House Republicans have joined some of their Senate colleagues in writing their own letter to Trump urging that "unaddressed guest worker programs" represent a "greater threat" than did green cards to American jobs.
The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent in April, the highest level since the Great Depression, as most businesses shut down or severely curtailed operations to try and limit the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Border Patrol officers apprehended only 16,789 illegal border crossers in April. It's the lowest number of apprehensions since April 2017 just a few months after Pres. Trump took office. The rapid decline in apprehensions is attributed to both the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic situation.