PIERCE'S IMMIGRATION LAW E-NEWSLETTER is free. It is published by the Law Offices of Curtis Pierce, Certified Specialist, Immigration & Nationality Law, The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. 523 W. 6th St., Ste. 348, Los Angeles, CA 90014. (213) 327-0044. Email: curtis.pierce@cpvisa.com
Inside this month's issue:
This month's issue is thematically unified around the timely issues of immigration, employment, and entrepreneurship. The spectrum of issues begins with the first article's examination of the criticism that American jobs are being taken by immigrants. Next, the opportunity for enterpreneurship is explored. The new EB-6 proposed under the StartUp Visa Act of 2010 offers a two year visa for immigrant start-ups. Finally, in "Books on Immigration", we have featured a very interesting collection of scholarly articles on the subject of Immigration and Entrepreneurships. The editors examine the surge in self-employment in California, the world's second largest immigration reception center, fostered by immigrants and ethnic networks.
As often happens in tough economic times, discussions of employment focus on immigration. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has co-sponsored a new job creation bill. He spoke about this in Nevada on February 10, 2010. Despite Sen. Reid's praise on a recent show of bipartisanship, a band of anti-immigration conservatives threat to vote against the bill's measures in a move to turn this much-needed economic debate into an attack on immigrant workers.
The recent show of bipartisanship on a Senate bill to spur job growth was so rare that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was downright wistful saying, “I hope this is a beginning of a new day here in the Senate.”
It is good news, indeed, that progress is being made on additional measures to bring down unemployment. But a band of anti-immigration conservatives are threatening to vote against these measures in a political move to turn this much-needed economic debate into a capricious attack on immigrant workers. This group of senators wants to pile on current restrictions banning employers from hiring undocumented immigrants by adding more burdensome and faulty employment verification systems. That would not only make it harder for employers to grow jobs but also would not solve illegal immigration.
If these senators were truly focused on economic improvements that create and sustain jobs for voters in their home states, they would recognize that immigrants don’t stand in the way of economic growth—they actually feed it. Numerous economic studies from across the ideological spectrum show that immigrant workers are important to economic growth.
A recent study by the Center for American Progress and the Immigration Policy Center demonstrates that a comprehensive immigration reform package would yield an additional $1.5 trillion in cumulative U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years. Such an overhaul of the immigration system would require a rigorous program that legalizes current undocumented immigrants, forces employers to follow labor and wage laws, creates a flexible visa system to meet future economic needs, and maintains strong border enforcement.
Providing full labor rights to all U.S.-born and immigrant workers would result in higher wages, increased productivity, and an actual decrease in the economy’s demand for new immigrant workers who are easily exploited and underpaid, according to the study. The higher wages of newly legalized workers would generate $4.5 billion to $5.4 billion in additional net tax revenue, and a rise in personal income of this scale would generate consumer spending sufficient to support 750,000 to 900,000 jobs during the first three years of the program.
The libertarian Cato Institute reached a similar finding in separate research last year, which concluded that legalization of low-skilled immigrant workers would “yield significant income gains" for American workers. Immigration hardliners play to U.S. workers’ fears about the recession, falsely arguing that undocumented immigration is a major cause for high unemployment. A recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute rebutted this misconception, saying, “more people, including more foreigners, do not mean lower wages or higher unemployment. If they did, every time a baby was born or a new graduate entered the labor force, they would hurt existing workers … while new workers add to the supply of labor, they also consume goods and services, creating more jobs.”
The economic gains to the nation from comprehensive immigration reform and the leveling of working conditions and pay that would come to individual workers from comprehensive immigration reform are key reasons why labor groups have united behind the campaign to win enactment of the bill. “The most direct way to raise standards for all workers—native born and immigrant—is for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” said Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, in a statement.
But instead of looking for new ways to reboot the economy, immigration hardliners are pushing for new restrictions in pending jobs bills that would unnecessarily hamper U.S. businesses’ ability to hire even native workers and those who are legally allowed to work in the United States.
The focus of the jobs debate should be on how to give the economy the strong push it needs to maintain economic recovery and lower unemployment. But lawmakers should certainly also consider in the coming months enacting an immigration reform measure that would promise $1.5 trillion in cumulative U.S. GDP over 10 years by lifting wages to the benefit of native-born workers and immigrants, increasing consumption of goods and services, creating jobs, and growing tax revenues.
As for the immigration hardliners, they would be wise to stop the political gamesmanship on important economic measures and consider that the very issue they like to politicize would in fact be an economic winner.
by Angela Maria Kelley, Gabe Martinez
Center for American Progress
March 2, 2010
New EB-6 for Immigrant Entrepreneurs Proposed under the StartUp Visa Act of 2010
The StartUp Visa Act of 2010, introduced by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.)Kerry and Lugar, will allow an immigrant entrepreneur to receive a two year visa if he or she can show that a qualified U.S. investor is willing to dedicate a significant sum – a minimum of $250,000 – to the immigrant’s startup venture.
Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced legislation on February 24, 2010 to drive job creation and increase America’s global competiveness by helping immigrant entrepreneurs secure visas to the United States.
The StartUp Visa Act of 2010 will allow an immigrant entrepreneur to receive a two year visa if he or she can show that a qualified U.S. investor is willing to dedicate a significant sum – a minimum of $250,000 – to the immigrant’s startup venture.
“Global competition for talent and investment grows more intense daily and the United States must step up or be left behind,” said Sen. Kerry. “Everywhere Dick Lugar and I travel for the Foreign Relations Committee, we see firsthand the entrepreneurial spirit driving the economies of our competitors. Creating a new magnet for innovations and innovators to come to the United States and create jobs here will offer our economy a double shot in the arm – robust job creation at home and reaffirmation that we’re the world’s best place to do business.”
“Our country should strive to attract to the United States the most talented and highly skilled entrepreneurs. We should channel the power of innovative thinkers from around the world and American investors towards creating jobs and encouraging economic growth and future prosperity,” said Ranking Member Lugar.
The StartUp Visa Act of 2010 would amend immigration law to create a new EB-6 category for immigrant entrepreneurs, drawing from existing visas under the EB-5 category, which permits foreign nationals who invest at least $1 million into the U.S., and thereby create ten jobs, to obtain a green card. After proving that he or she has secured initial investment capital and if, after two years, the immigrant entrepreneur can show that he or she has generated at least five full-time jobs in the United States, attracted $1 million in additional investment capital or achieved $1 million in revenue, then he or she would receive permanent legal resident status.
Books on Immigration:
Immigration and Entrepreneurships: Culture, Capital, and Ethnic Networks
edited by Ivan Light and Parminder Bhachu
published in 2004 by Transaction Publishers, Rutgers University
Immigration and Entrepreneurship is a collection of scholarly articles that grew out of a conference at UCLA on California immigration in a world perspective. It offers a comparative analysis of worldwide immigration issues while focusing more specifically on the emerging influence of entrepreneurship as a potent factor in the economic and social integration of immigrants. In linking the common immigrant and settler experiences with the upsurge in self-employment, the contributors to this volume use California as their base of comparison. The state has both a huge and varied immigrant population and an entrepreneurial economy that has facilitated the formation of immigrant-owned firms. It is also the sixth largest economy in the world. The Los Angeles riots of the nineties indicated the volatility of the mix. Aided by ethnic and familial networks, such firms have served as a route of economic advancement. This book is very timely in light of the other articles features in this newsletter.
Upcoming Seminars
On March 27, 2010, at 10:00 A.M., Attorney Curtis Pierce will deliver a seminar in Spanish on the existing possibilities for legalization (under the current law) while awaiting immigration reform. The seminar will take place at the Pacific Club in the Pacific Center, 523 West Sixth Street, Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90014. The event is free of charge. Those who wish to attend are asked to RSVP by calling 213 327 0044 or sending us an email at curtis.pierce@cpvisa.com.
On April 1, 2010, at 12:00 P.M., Attorney Curtis Pierce will speak to law students in a colloquy format at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa about common defenses in Removal Proceedings, including asylum, adjustment of status, and cancellation of removal.
PROCESSING TIMES & CASE STATUS
· To view processing times and your case status, click one of the links below to connect to the correct U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services information page.
It is published by the Law Offices of Curtis Pierce, 213-327-0044.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter is analysis and commentary of a general nature. Nothing in this newsletter applies to a specific case nor does it constitute legal advice.
Schedule appointment: For legal advice on your case, please schedule an appointment with Curtis Pierce, Certified Specialist, Immigration & Nationality Law, The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.
“The only title in our democracy superior to that of President (is) the title of citizen”.
Former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. (In the case Ng Fung Ho v. White, 259 U.S. 276, 284 (1922), Justice Brandeis wrote that deportation can deprive an individual of "life, or of all that makes life worth living.")
In the words of President Kennedy,
the United States is a "nation of immigrants."
IMMIGRATION LAW E-NEWSLETTER curtis f. pierce
Attorney At Law
certified specialist, immigration & nationality law
the state bar of california board of legal specialization
THE PACIFIC CENTER
523 WEST SIXTH STREET, SUITE 348
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90014
TEL (213) 327-0044 FAX (213) 327-0066
