Immigration News: October, 2005 - Volume 12

Day Labor, H-1B, Students

The US economy lost 35,000 jobs in September 2005 and the unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent, reflecting in part the impacts of Hurricane Katrina. The number of jobs added in August was revised up to 211,000 from 169,000, and there may be more adjustments to the September total as more employers report that they are no longer paying workers who do not have jobs. The US economy created an average 190,000 net new jobs each month for the past year.

The federal cost of Katrina, estimated at up to $100 billion, may dwarf the $21 billion spent in New York City after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Many of the workers displaced in New Orleans and coastal Mississippi have low levels of education, which may make it hard for them to find new jobs elsewhere.

Were those who moved from New Orleans refugees or evacuees? Many of the Blacks hardest hit by Katrina said they resented being called refugees, who are defined in dictionaries as persons who "flee from home or country to seek refuge elsewhere, as in a time of war or of political or religious persecution." President Bush joined Black leaders in saying those who had to leave New Orleans were Americans in need of help, not refugees.

There were 950 Jamaicans on H-2B visas and perhaps 150,000 legal and unauthorized Mexicans in Katrina-affected areas. The H-2B workers lost their jobs and housing, and did not know if they would be transferred to other US casinos or forced to leave the US. Many of the Mexicans worked in construction, and may stay in the area to help rebuild.

The US accounts for a quarter of the world's manufacturing value-added, about the same share as two decades ago, followed by Japan, a fifth, and China and Germany, a tenth each. However, successful small and mid-sized US manufacturers say that labor must be less than 20 percent of their costs to compete with foreign competitors who employ more labor at very low wages.

Day Labor. There may be 100,000 day laborers in the US seeking jobs at over 400 day-labor hiring sites. Most workers who are hired and paid daily report earning about $100 a day in cash.

Day laborers have become associated with Home Depot, largest US home improvement chain with 1,700 stores. Contractors often go to Home Depot for supplies and then hire laborers waiting for jobs for $8 to $10 an hour. Home Depot is increasingly caught in the middle between groups who say tolerating day laborers in parking lots aids unauthorized migrants and migrant advocates who want Home Depot to erect or subsidize nearby shelters for the workers.

Proponents of publicly funded day-laborer sites say their presence recognizes the inevitable and reduces complaints of residents; opponents say that using tax funds for day labor centers condones illegal migration.

The controversy over day laborers has been especially contentious in northern Virginia. Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry W. Kilgore said that tax monies should not be used to subsidize day labor centers because they "reward illegal behavior." Kilgore, who also supports efforts to bar illegal immigrants from access to state services, spoke after a controversy in Herndon in the Washington suburbs, where the Town Council voted 5-2 to approve a grant of $175,000 to Project Hope and Harmony to operate a day labor center. Bilingual staff will oversee the center and offer English classes, which will operate from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to noon on weekends for a maximum of 150 workers.

Fairfax County, where Herndon is located, has set aside $400,000 of its $3 billion annual budget to address the day labor issue. There are successes among the day laborers. Salvadoran Carlos A. Castro arrived in the US illegally and worked in day labor markets before becoming a millionaire with Todos Supermarkets, which cater to fellow Salvadorans. Castro has mixed feelings about day laborers, emphasizing that most but not all are "good workers" looking for jobs. Farmingville in Suffolk County on Long Island is another place with conflicts between day laborers and suburban homeowners.

Houston is considering spending $600,000 to open day labor centers in each quadrant of the city, and day labor sites have inflamed passions from Long Island, New York to Long Beach, California. Houston police posing as contractors arrested day laborers in September 2005, charging them with soliciting work in a roadway, which is a misdemeanor. Houston operates day labor centers, and police said the effort was aimed at forcing migrants to use them.

In addition to arguing about where day laborers should wait for jobs, local communities face the challenge of deciding whether to enforce zoning laws. Many migrants exceed occupancy limits in single family homes. If building codes are enforced, there can be homelessness; if they are not enforced, neighbors often complain about too many cars on the street and excess garbage.

Concerns about immigration can be propelled toward the top of voter concerns. In early 1994, immigration in California was low on voter priorities. But brazen entries into the US by running north in the southbound lanes of traffic at the border, and Proposition 187 on the November 2004 ballot, allowed Republican Pete Wilson to win re-election, with exit polls finding that the number one reason people voted for Wilson was his tough stand on illegal migration.

On August 21, 2005, day laborers held their fifth soccer tournament in Pasadena. Sixteen teams participated in the "No Human Being Is Illegal" tournament, designed to build solidarity among the workers and improve their public image. Players had to pledge to follow the rules of the competition and to continue fighting for the rights of day laborers.

H-1B. The 65,000 limit on H-1B visas was reached in August 2005, before FY06 began on October 1, 2005. Some 6,800 H-1B visas are reserved for nationals of Chile and Singapore under bilateral free-trade agreements, leaving 58,200 for the rest of the world.

An additional 20,000 H-1B visas beyond the 65,000 annual ceiling are available for foreign MS and PhD graduates of US universities, and H-1B visas sought by universities and non-profits are exempt from the annual cap. However, between May and September 2005, only 13,000 of these 20,000 visas were used, leading those who lobby for more H-1Bs to say that the demand is for BS degree holders, not graduate degree holders.

There were between 750,000 and 1.1 million foreigners with H-1B visas in the US in FY03. About one in six workers employed in US science and engineering was foreign-born in 2000, a year in which 40 percent of the PhDs in science and engineering were granted to foreign-born persons.

The spouses of diplomats and business executives with nonimmigrant visas are permitted to apply to work in the US, but not the spouses of H-1B and other temporary foreign workers who receive H-4 dependent visas (spouses can independently qualify for H-1B visas if they find a US employer who wants to hire them and there are visas available). Some other countries, including Canada and the UK, allow spouses of foreign professionals to apply for work permits.

DOL's Permanent Electronic Records Management (PERM) program began on March 28, 2005, substituting a 10-page on-line form for a four-page written application for employers seeking labor certification. The aim is to associate their vacant jobs with green cards, so that foreigners can enter legally to fill them. Under PERM, supporting documents must be available in the event of an audit, but do not have to be submitted with the application as before. Audits can be triggered by job requirements that seem excessive, when the alien for whom the green card is sought controls the job; randomly; and to detect intentional misrepresentation.

Students. Texas in 2001 enacted a law that allows unauthorized foreigners to qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, and 3,700 were enrolled in 2005. A 1996 federal law says that if public colleges offer discounted tuition to unauthorized students, they must do the same for US citizens from out of state. California, Kansas, Illinois, New York, Oklahoma, Utah and Washington have similar laws.

As a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, foreign students in the US are being tracked, as the institutions where they study report their courses and progress to DHS. There are also new restrictions on foreign students in some science and engineering fields that have reduced the enrollment of foreign students, generating protests from some universities. However, the bursting of the IT bubble and new opportunities to study at home or in other countries may be as important in explaining the decline of foreign science and engineering graduate students in the US as the new security measures.

Entering the US as a foreign student with an F-visa is often a means to immigrate. In the mid-1990s, about 20 percent of all foreign students were obtaining immigrant visas via marriage or other family unification criteria or because an employer sponsored them. At least 20 percent of H-1B workers were foreign students, and half of all H-1B holders eventually become immigrants.

The 100 million college and university students worldwide include 18 million in the US. Between 1951 and 1997, 159 Nobel science prizes went to American professors, including foreign-born researchers who moved to the US.

The value of a college degree in terms of extra income may be shrinking. In 2001, college graduates earned about 45 percent more than workers of the same age with only a high-school diploma, but this wage premium fell to 40 percent by early 2005, $985 compared to $575 a week for those working full time. Construction and health care, which do not necessarily require college degrees, are expanding, while employment in high-tech industries and finance has been flat. Some college-educated workers are in jobs that do not require a college degree.

About 29 percent of those 25 to 29 had a college degree in 2002, up from 23 percent in 1990.

The 3,000 private for-profit colleges in the US enroll 1.7 million students, up over 40 percent since 2000; they now enroll almost 10 percent of the 19 million US college students. Most enroll older and poorer students who take out loans whose repayment is guaranteed by the federal government, so that the economic lifeline of the growing industry is convincing students that they will get jobs that enable them to repay their loans.

The 3,000 traditional private and public colleges, accredited by one of eight regional accrediting commissions, often refuse to accept coursework done at the for-profits, only 90 of which have accreditation from regional accrediting commissions. Instead, many of the for-profits have created their own accrediting commissions that put more weight on job-placement rates for graduates than the quality of the faculty or the size of the library. The Career Training Foundation, supported by the for-profits, is pushing for a law that would require traditional colleges to accept courses completed at for-profits.

Trade. In 2002, Congress renewed the President's authority to negotiate free trade agreements that can only be accepted or rejected by Congress, not altered. Since then, the US has negotiated such free trade agreements with Australia, Chile, Jordan, Morocco, Panama and Singapore.

The negotiating authority included wage insurance for workers who lost their jobs due to increased imports, so that a US worker who was earning $10 an hour and is re-employed at $7 an hour after a factory closes can get a $3 an hour wage subsidy or alternative trade adjustment assistance for up to two years. However, the application process is cumbersome, and fewer than 1,000 workers a month got wage subsidies between August 2003 and December 2004. Workers must apply for wage insurance when they apply for aid, and must show they lack easily transferable skills, a standard that is very hard to interpret.

Paul Vitello, "As Illegal Workers Hit Suburbs, Politicians Scramble to Respond," New York Times, October 6, 2005. Ian Urbina, "Foreign Workers Are Caught in a Double Trap," New York Times, September 6, 2005. Anna Gorman, "A Day's Labor of Love," Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2005.