Regular BattleSwarm readers know I’ve become quite the immigration hawk. All illegal aliens should be deported, NGOs that helped carry out the illegal alien invasion should be investigated, disbanded and their members prosecuted, the cost of applying for a H-1B visa should be raised above $100,000, and the government should crack down hard on companies (I’m looking at you, Microsoft) who have abused the H-1B system to avoid hiring Americans.
But now someone has finally come up with a crackdown idea that’s just stupid and counter-productive.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is floating the end of a 60-day grace period that currently allows some immigrants to remain in the United States after they lose their jobs.
Migrants with temporary work visas such as H-1B visas would have to immediately leave the country if they no longer have a job, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a proposed rule filed on Sept. 10 and set to be formally published in the Federal Register on Sept. 11.
Such visas are contingent on an immigrant’s employment, and a company sponsors the employee. Some of the visas are granted only to workers who have specialized expertise.
DHS originally provided the grace period to encourage immigrants who no longer have jobs to remain in the United States and try to obtain another form of legal status or get another job, Mullin said. But rulemakers did not sufficiently consider the negative effects of the grace period, such as burdening immigration officers who handle additional paperwork from visa holders during the time period, he said.
“DHS now believes that once the alien is no longer fulfilling the very specific conditions under which he or she was admitted or otherwise provided status, such status, as well as the authorization to remain in the United States, should definitively cease and the impacted alien should immediately depart the United States (unless otherwise authorized to lawfully remain in the United States),” he wrote.
Immediately? Is the guy supposed to walk out of his termination meeting and straight onto an ICE bus to rush him onto the next plane back to Hyderabad? Is General Raul Alejandro Bastilla Pedro de Veloso de Maldonado from Parks and Rec running immigration enforcement now?
Does he even get a chance to cash his last check?
Unlike illegal aliens, visa holders have entered the United States by a process that obeys the law. They are legal, not illegal, aliens. As such, they’ve entered into legally binding contacts, bought goods, and participated in other economic and contractual activities afforded the full protection and due process of the law. Not giving them time to wind down affairs is being needlessly and pointlessly cruel to people who “worked hard and played by the rules.” It inflicts collateral damage on people doing business with them. Apartment managers, car leasing companies, utilities, etc. will all be left in the lurch by the sudden departures mandated by this proposed rule.
if the H-1B visa program is being abused (and it is), then crack down on the people and employers abusing it. Or even suspend the program entirely until better monitoring systems can be put into place. But don’t make it a nightmare for people following the rules of the system just so you can point to this bit of immigration crackdown theater as a meaningless gesture to prove how serious you are.
You can leave comments on this proposed rule here.
Tags: Border Controls, H-1B visa, immigration, Regulation