Wall Street Journal
By Laura Meckler
August 18, 2014
WASHINGTON—The
White House is considering changes to immigration policy aimed at
helping businesses, part of a broad review of procedures that also is
likely to provide
new protections for people now in the country illegally.
President
Barack Obama soon after Labor Day is expected to announce executive
actions to refine deportation priorities and to potentially expand a
program that gives safe
harbor and work permits to qualifying illegal immigrants. But the White
House also is reviewing actions on issues that are priorities for
businesses, according to administration and other officials, an effort
that has received less notice. Businesses are mostly
concerned with legal-immigration policy.
During
more than 20 meetings this summer, senior White House and
administration officials have heard ideas from business and other groups
on changes that Mr. Obama could
accomplish through executive powers. Mr. Obama started the review after
broad legislation to overhaul immigration law died in the House of
Representatives.
"The
president has not made a decision regarding next steps, but he believes
it's important to understand and consider the full range of
perspectives on potential solutions,"
White House spokesman Shawn Turner said by email on Monday.
High-tech
businesses are pushing for several changes in how immigration law is
interpreted. One proposal would have the administration exclude
dependents from the numerical
cap on employment-based green cards, which is now 140,000 a year. The
change could, in effect, double the number of green cards available.
Under
current law, if a worker receives a green card, his or her spouse may
also qualify, but both people are counted under the 140,000 annual cap
A
second proposal would "recapture" unused employment green cards from
previous years, which could produce more than 200,000 new green cards,
according to high-tech lobbyists
and a document outlining proposals from Compete America, a coalition of
high-tech companies.
"We
have thousands of employees waiting for green cards. It is a hardship
for them," said Peter Muller, director for immigration policy for Intel
Corp., who participated
in one of the White House meetings.
The
Compete America document expresses some doubt that the administration
has the authority to change the policies. For example, it says,
excluding dependents from the
cap on green cards would be a "marked departure" from how federal
officials have interpreted the law.
Already,
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) has been rallying opposition on a regular
basis to Mr. Obama's possible executive action. Monday, he said that
businesses were "scheming
with the White House to extract by executive fiat what was denied to
them by the American people and Congress."
One
farm lobbyist said the agricultural industry isn't pushing for
aggressive administrative action, fearing that doing so would anger
Republicans and poison the chance
of more-lasting congressional action. "Without any guarantee of true
stability, it's hard for us to go out there on a limb," this person
said.
At
a White House meeting this month, agriculture interests asked the
administration for more flexibility for farm workers, a person at the
meeting said. In addition, Kristi
Boswell, director of congressional relations for the American Farm
Bureau, said her group wants the administration to back off on
enforcement actions aimed at finding illegal workers that cause
"instability" in the industry.
Alberto
P. Cardenas Jr. , a Houston attorney who attended this month's meeting,
said construction clients of his pressed administration officials to
make sure any undocumented
immigrants who are given new work permits are required to work for
legitimate companies that follow the law and pay taxes.
Today,
he said, many undocumented workers operate in the underground,
cash-based economy that unfairly undercuts his clients' businesses.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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