The official unemployment rate is at an "historic low" and job growth is encouraging. There is, however, more to the story. Wage growth remains sluggish and there is still a lot of "slack" in the labor market, meaning the claims of a labor shortage are attempts by employers to undo the recent gains made by American workers.
President Trump has nominated Mark Morgan for the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Morgan's nomination fills the place of Ronald Vitiello, whose nomination as ICE Director was withdrawn last month. Morgan will face a confirmation hearing in the Senate.
Customs and Border Protections officials this week announced that new biometric entry/exit technologies have allowed it to verify 57% more visa overstayers than the previous year. This is a significant step forward in the implementation of an entry/exit system first mandated by Congress in 1996.
Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the RAISE Act in the Senate. This is the same bill Sens. Cotton and Perdue introduced last Congress that would eliminate the visa lottery and chain migration, and would make employment visas merit-based. Rep. Rooney (R-Fla.) introduced a companion bill in the House.
Cardinal Robert Sarah, a top Vatican official who is sometimes at odds with Pope Francis' political pronouncements, told a French publication last week it is wrong to use Scripture to justify mass migration.
ICE agents arrested nearly 300 unauthorized workers on at an electronics company in Allen, Texas north of Dallas on Wednesday. This is ICE's largest single worksite enforcement operation in a decade.
A Quinnipiac poll found strong opposition to issuing drivers' licenses to illegal aliens among New York State voters. Voters in the state opposed this policy 57% to 37%.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told an audience at George Washington University this week that Border Patrol was on pace to apprehend 100,000 illegal aliens at the southern border in the month of March.
With the economy improving and the labor market tightening, employers have ratcheted up their call for an increase in foreign labor. President Trump has even said that there are not enough workers to fill open jobs. The President's own Council of Economic Advisors makes clear in its latest report that there are still many Americans on the sidelines who are available to work.
An op-ed this week in the Washington Examiner points out that up to 5,000 Verizon employees may be laid off over the next three months, many after training the guest workers who will replace them. The writer discusses how the H-1B skill guest worker visa is often used to displace qualified American workers.