USA Green Card Immigration Blog

Illegal immigration down sharply; immigration hysteria up sharply

The recent retail industry layoffs at Oregon has affected about 100 workers at Joe’s Sports, Outdoor, Auto/Truck and More, a provider of sporting goods, outdoor equipment, automotive supplies, and general merchandise in Wilsonville, Ore. In order to provide assistance to these workers, the U.S. Department of Labor has announced a $1,137,425 grant.

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said that the vital part of this mission of U.S. Department of Labor was to provide the workers with training opportunities, which would not only lead to new career options but also to a stronger economy. She also explained that the purpose of the government’s financial assistance was to provide the Oregonians with necessary re-employment and retraining services required to procure good jobs in promising regional industries.

This grant has been awarded to the Oregon Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development and is to be managed by the Workforce Investment Council of Clackamas County. Through this grant affected workers will be provided access to dislocated worker services, such as skills assessment, basic skills training, individual career counseling, and occupational skills training.

The study conducted by the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development suggest that there are job vacancies in several fields, including medicine, human resources, business administration, criminal justice, and hospitality fields.

Owing to the closure of the corporate offices, distribution center, and retail stores of Joe’s Sports, Outdoor, Auto/Truck and More on June 15, 2009 many workers went unemployed. In a measure to compensate these workers, of the $1,137,425 grant announced, $863,865 will be released initially.

Further release of the approved funds will be exercised when the state expresses future need of monetary assistance. The initially dispersed amount is sponsored by the resources from National Emergency Grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

President Obama had announced his decision on the extension of Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) through Sept. 30, 2011 for qualified Liberian nationals and also for those who resided in Liberia without nationality. Consequently, the employment authorization for Liberians who were covered under the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) has been extended automatically by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The existing Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) will be automatically extended after six months. With this automatic extension, the eligible Liberians will now be able to continue working and simultaneously file their applications for new EADs. The new EADs will cover twelve months of the DED extension.

The Deferred Enforced Departure was actually planned to end for the Liberian nationals on March 31, 2010. But certain foreign policy reasons determined by President Obama necessitate the continual of deferring for 18 months, the removal of any Liberian national, or a person without nationality who last resided in Liberia, or who is residing in the United States under a grant of DED as of March 31, 2010 from the United States.

The Liberians who do not have a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) as on September 30, 2007 are not eligible for the Deferred Enforced Departure. USCIS grants a TPS to eligible foreign nationals from certain countries or part of countries where there has been a recent chaos or disaster. The DED is not applicable to even criminals or persons who have been barred to Temporary Protected Status. Additionally persons on whom the United States shows interest to remove are ineligible.

USCIS, besides the automatic extension of the employment authorization for those Liberian nationals who have been covered under the Deferred Enforced Departure, has further planned to issue a notice in the Federal Register which will contain instructions for the Liberian nationals to acquire employment authorization for the rest of the DED extension.

Ford Motor Co. has been granted an exemption by the U.S Department of Labor under its Employee Retirement Income Security Act. This was done in an attempt to transfer the company securities to a voluntary employee beneficiary association trust. Accordingly the Ford Motor Co. assisted by VEBA will now be able to offer health benefits to the company’s retirees through a new health plan.

More than 285,000 retirees along with their dependants will be covered by the new health plan. In addition a few of the active employees will also benefit from this plan. With regard to the new health plan, Ford Motor Co. has planned to contribute over $13.2 billion towards VEBA.

Ford Motor Co. based in Dearborn, Mich., had filed request for an exemption with the U.S Department of Labor to let the VEBA plan, receive, and hold ford securities in excess of the amount permitted from an employer under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The ERISA sets standards for pension and health benefit plans in private industries. Under this law the U.S. DOL is authorized to grant exemptions in favor of the plan participants and beneficiaries as well.

With this exemption been granted under the DOL employee benefits, the Ford Motor Co. will now be permitted to go ahead with an agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW) to contribute $13.2 billion in two notes.

During the transition period, the health plans and VEBA can repay each other the benefit payments that are paid by mistake. If there are any securities wrongly paid to the plan, the Ford Motor Co. also have an option to claim it back. The exemption has appointed an independent fiduciary to represent the new health plan. The trust that holds the assets of plans set up by Chrysler and General Motors will hold the VEBA plan assets too. The VEBA trust has separate retiree accounts for each plan.

The U.S. Department of Labor has recently released a report on the Youth Summer Jobs Initiative. According to this report, the 2009 Recovery Act Youth Summer Jobs Initiative has been claimed successful in terms of connecting young workers with employment experiences.

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis stated the summer youth employment initiative was advantageous. She was of the opinion that this youth employment initiative not only gave real work experience to youngsters and helped working families struggling during tough times, but also provided employers with a way to repay their communities. She also stated that the report portrayed that the summer youth employment initiative could make meaningful work experiences a reality for young people, at the same time providing valuable tips to build on the success of the Youth Summer Jobs Initiative in 2010.

The report was originally funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and developed by the Mathematica Policy Research and titled as “Reinvesting in America’s Youth: Lessons from the 2009 Recovery Act Summer Youth Employment Initiative.” The monthly performance data submitted by states to the department’s Employment and Training Administration were analyzed in this report. The experiences of 20 select local areas were closely monitored and taken into account.

The report brought out many findings. It claimed that summer jobs were easily attainable by the youths and 13 percent of these enrollees even got placed in work experience outside summer months. It was also found that sixty-three percent of the participants were in school and were 18 years or younger. Local areas reported that a measurable increase in work readiness skills was achieved by 75 percent of youths while participating. Data also showed that greater than 82 percent of the summer work was completed.

In addition, the report also found that the employers interviewed for the study were positive about the initiative. The employers reported that the experience of mentoring a new employee was a worthwhile experience and all the employers agreed that they would participate again if given the opportunity.

A new rule for the temporary agricultural workers of US under the H-2A Program has been announced by Hilda L.Solis the U.S. Secretary of Labor. The final rule is published in the 12th edition of the Federal register. The rule speaks about establishing the process of labor certification as well as enforcement mechanism for the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program.

The H-2A temporary agricultural worker program is applicable only for those foreign workers who are either coming to or are already working in the U.S for seasonal or temporary agricultural works. The H-2A nonimmigrant visa would not be granted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security unless the Department of Labor certifies that there are not sufficient qualified U.S workers to perform the agricultural works.

The U.S Department of Homeland Security through its wage and hour division would try to implement the terms and conditions of the labor certification and hence protect the workers. About 8,150 labor certification applications was filed by employers in which 103,955 H-2A workers were asked for temporary agricultural work, during the 2009 Fiscal year. 94 percent of the applications submitted for a total of 86,014 workers were certified by the department of labor.

Ms. Solis, the secretary emphasizes the right of the workers to get a fair pay for their work and also stresses on the opportunities that those workers can avail to. She further adds that through the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program, they can keep a check on the different forms of worker violations.

This final rule is the outcome of the revision of previous H-2A regulations which was published in late 2008.The access to the The H-2A nonimmigrant visa covers many benefits for workers such as increased wages, a better access to the domestic labor market, protection against worker’s abuses, and creating a national electronic job registry.

Undocumented immigrants offer U.S. a shot of optimism – CNN.com.

In a recent national survey of undocumented Latino immigrants, RedBrownandBlue found that the day laborer population has been among the hardest hit by the recession. Fourteen percent of male respondents said they work zero to 10 hours a week; and 39 percent said their annual household income is under $15,000 — well below the poverty threshold of $22,128.

Given a national poverty rate of 13 percent, undocumented Latino immigrants are three times as likely as Americans to live in what we define as “poverty.”

Despite these difficult circumstances, an overwhelming 74 percent said that if they had to choose again, they would still come to the United States. Eighty-seven percent said they believe America is special compared with other countries. And 71 percent said America is special because it gives people the opportunity to do better. Sounds pretty optimistic, right?

‘Virtual’ Immigration Continued Rising During Recession – Real Time Economics – WSJ.

The global economic downturn spurred declines in physical immigration — the movement of people across borders — in 2008 and 2009. But a new Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas report says “virtual” immigration — moving the work rather than the workers — continued to grow.

“Most likely, the difference stems from the jobs the two types of immigrants typically do,” authors Michael Cox, Richard Alm and Justyna Dymerska write in the Dallas Fed’s Economic Letter. “Physical immigrants work in construction and other highly cyclical industries. Virtual immigrants are more likely to work in the services economy. It has traditionally been less sensitive than goods to cyclical fluctuations, largely because services aren’t subject to the kind of inventory bulges that make goods production unstable.”

Still, virtual immigration increased at a slower pace during the downturn. “Hard times might pressure companies to cut costs, quickening offshoring’s pace,” they write. “At the same time, companies might pull back on offshoring because of cuts in IT budgets and plentiful labor close to home.”   For instance, India’s exports in software and IT services are forecast to continue expanding. But the projected growth rate of 17% for 2009 is less than half the pace of the prior four years.

More Employers Face Immigration Audits – WSJ.com.

About 1,000 U.S. employers will be audited for immigration violations as the federal government escalates pressure on business owners to resist hiring illegal immigrants.

Authorities said Thursday it was the largest employer crackdown ever; the government in July announced audits of 654 businesses.

Targeted firms will get a notice that federal agents intend to audit compliance with immigration laws and check the eligibility of workers. Violations could lead to fines, as well as civil or criminal charges.

None of the 1,000 companies was named. But each firm is “associated with critical infrastructure,” officials said. That’s the label the government applies to companies involving, for example, utilities, transportation or communications. Critical infrastructure entities are also seen as national security assets or potential targets for terrorists.

The Obama administration wants to use tough enforcement to win support in a broader campaign for a congressional overhaul of the U.S. immigration system next year. The White House would like to create a way for millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S. to win legal residency and citizenship.

The Associated Press: AP Interview: Leader has back-up immigration plan.

The head of the nation’s leading Latino legal advocacy group said if comprehensive immigration legislation seems unlikely in 2010, Congress should make down payments by passing smaller-scale reforms.

In an interview with The Associated Press Friday, Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said he fully expects work on rewriting immigration law to begin in Congress next year.

But if Democratic leaders delay, because of elections and a hostile political climate for immigrants, Congress should take up the issue gradually and in smaller ways, Saenz said. Lawmakers could address the need for foreign agricultural workers, provide legal status to high school graduates brought to the country illegally as children, and create equity for same sex partners who want to come to the U.S. or get green cards.

“As of right now, I have not been convinced that comprehensive immigration reform cannot move in 2010, so it needs to move. It needs to include all of these elements and many more,” Saenz said. “If that is not possible, then I’m interested in discussing this idea of down payments with a commitment to fulfill the obligation through comprehensive immigration reform that is not postponed indefinitely.”

Previously, immigration advocates have been reluctant to address immigration reform piecemeal to keep the various interest groups united on difficult issues, such as legalizing millions of people who are in the country illegally.