Most of what I said here based on the outline is true for the bill as well with one important exception: the bill bars all legal immigrants from the path to citizenship except for H-2As and those in "essential critical infrastructure labor or services"
There is a drafting error, but as it is actually written now, only A nonimmigrants (diplomats) are excluded, but that's clearly an error b/c the list after "other than" doesn't make sense. That means Dems will have to double down on this to remove legal immigrants from the bill ImageImage
The fact is that many Hs, Ls, Es, and other nonimmigrants will meet the definition of "‘essential critical infrastructure labor or services" but many will not. It's both better than being totally left out and bizarre to exclude those following the law cisa.gov/publication/gu…
Nonetheless, this provision in combination with the recapture of unused green cards, increase in the EB cap, and other provisions mean the backlog will improve significantly for all employment-based applicants.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with David Bier

David Bier Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @David_J_Bier

17 Feb
This is probably the best provision on legal immigration in the U.S. Citizenship Act (Biden bill). It would make family-sponsored immigration functional and realistic for the first time in many decades.
At the same time, it effectively increases the family-sponsored cap from the FB floor of 226,000 to the cap of 480,000 by ending the requirement to deduct immediate relatives from the cap.
It also increases the EB cap, though not by nearly as much😡, from 140K to 170K and recaptures the 225K unused EB green cards since 1992. That would help with backlog reduction, but not dramatically. Demand would still far exceed supply
Read 18 tweets
17 Feb
This makes, um, no sense at all. Also, most of the 11 million ARE Hispanics, and most did not come on planes and overstay. What is he trying to say and how is it even relevant to the question? newsweek.com/joe-biden-cnn-…
And it gets worse from there! He says you have to seek asylum from abroad. Well, you control the asylum system now. You can do something about that now! Open the ports. Let people apply. Do what you said you'd do.
Honestly, Trump made more sense than this. He says he wants 125,000 refugees. But he only raised the cap to 62,500. He's in charge of the refugee program. He doesn't need a Refugee Bill. And he says, "There is a reasonable path to citizenship"--for who exactly? Not relevant...
Read 4 tweets
16 Feb
My new long paper explains the H-2B visa—one of the most regulatory complex visa programs in America and how to improve it. Every year including 2020 and 2021, the #H2B visa cap (last updated in 1990) is filled, leaving thousands of jobs unfilled cato.org/publications/p…
Employers must undertake costly and lengthy recruitment efforts and offer inflated wages, but they almost never find U.S. workers to fill the positions. The program has helped greatly reduce illegal immigration from Mexico. Here are some major findings.
H2B mandated wages have risen at twice the rate of wages overall and DOL continues to certify as unfilled by U.S. workers and ever greater number of jobs each year
Read 8 tweets
19 Jan
Long thread: Because I couldn’t find anything comprehensive, I’m just going to post everything I’ve seen in the news/Twitter about Trump’s activities related to the Jan 6th insurrection. I think the timing & context of his actions/inactions will matter a lot for a senate trial.
12/12: The earlier DC protest over the electoral college vote during clearly inspired Jan 6th. On Dec 12th, he tweeted: “Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA.”
12/19: Trump announces the Jan. 6th event by tweeting, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” Immediately, insurrectionists begin to discuss the “Wild Protest.” Just 2 days later, this UK political analyst predicts the violence
Read 43 tweets
7 Jan
Congress is much more likely to pass substantive immigration reforms this Congress. Key Senate Republicans have lost their positions to object to passage of bills containing liberalized immigration provisions, and it's clear that the House will act aggressively.
The most likely method will be changes to immigration enforcement policy & legalizations that will be included in must-pass legislation like appropriation bills. These legalizations could include almost anything up to and including the Dream Act/green cards for TPS recipients
But I think the preferred method for the Dream Act/Dream & Promise Act would be a standalone bill initially with other legalization provisions on must-pass bills. Dreamers have bipartisan support and are the most likely legalization to hit 60 senate votes.
Read 12 tweets
18 Dec 20
New! @CatoInstitute published today 30 short essays by 15 authors including some of America's leading immigration law experts urging Biden to go beyond reversing Trump's cuts & act to streamline & expand legal #immigration w/ agency action #BuildBackBetter cato.org/publications/s…
My coauthors & I sped after Nov 7 to compile the most rigorous but brief & readable cases for specific exec actions. Thanks @IraKurzban @CyrusMehta @WStock215 @AllyBolour @DavidKubat @AngeloPaparelli @SYaleLoehr @ASGvisalaw @GSiskind @MLaCorte_ @AILANational (& Amy/Scott/Lindsay)
Our list (1) is solely #legalimmigration & (2) goes past all Trump actions. We feel reversing them is not enough. Obviously, we didn’t touch on every issue, but went for novel or high impact ideas. This list sets the bar high but much more needs to be done by the admin & Congress
Read 34 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!