Dear Readers:

We’re rapidly coming to the end of the legislative year in Washington. Congress will soon be leaving town in order to go home and campaign and if any bills are going to pass, that’s going to have to happen soon.

This has been one of the quietest years in quite some time when it comes to immigration legislation. That’s not to say that there have not been big efforts to make changes – both pro- and anti-immigration.  But there is basic deadlock in the Congress on immigration issues. The Republicans control both Houses of Congress and the White House. But the Republican Party is bitterly divided on immigration issues. Anti-immigration advocates effectively control the House Immigration Subcommittee while the Senate committee is more moderate.  The President takes a relatively pro-immigration position on issues, but is usually not willing to exercise any leverage to move immigration legislation.

The best evidence of this deadlock has been the President’s plan for comprehensive immigration reform. The President gave a major policy speech in January outlining a serious plan to reform the US immigration system. It did not go as far as many Democrats hoped, but it certainly represented an improvement on what we now have. But the proposal was condemned by restrictionist members of his own party and has gone nowhere.

The same is true for plans to restrict immigration as well.  There have been many restrictive bills introduced, the latest being a plan to make it tougher to recognize matricula consular identification cards (see the article in this issue on the subject). But pro-immigration advocates have been able to stop those bills as well.

Maybe this breathing period has been a good thing. The rabid anti-immigrant sentiment many people felt after 9/11 seems to be waning and cooler heads are beginning to prevail. But this deadlock will soon cause serious problems as major issues need to be addressed. One that will come up soon is the H-1B limit. The USCIS will announce in the next few weeks that all of the numbers for fiscal year 2005 are used up. That will wreak serious havoc for employers across the US. Schools won’t get their teachers, towns won’t get their doctors, and companies needing key employees won’t see those needs met. Look for even more outsourcing as employers realize that they cannot meet their worker needs in this country.

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I just wanted to let our attorney readers know that I will be speaking next month at the University of Texas School of Law's 2004 Immigration and Nationality Law Conference in San Antonio. The conference is being held at the Hyatt Regency from October 13th to 15th. The conference is always excellent and worth attending. You can get more information at http://conferences.utcle.org/law/cle/conferences/fall2004/IM04/index.html

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As always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients and employers seeking to comply with immigration laws. We would love to discuss becoming your law firm. Just go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455.

Regards,

Greg Siskind