The National Refugee Admission Quota is generated at the beginning of each fiscal year to set limits on the number of individuals who can enter the country under refugee protection.  A report on refugee admissions at the conclusion of March has indicated that only about twenty-nine percent of the available slots have been filled. 

The report breaks down the numbers into regions and individual countries.  Currently, the largest sources of immigration are Russia (3,710), Vietnam (2,300) and Somalia (4,397).  Other countries with immigration totals over a thousand are Cuba, Ukraine, Sudan and Liberia.  If the US continues on this track, there will be far fewer immigrants than reserved positions in the Proposed Refugee Admissions Report.  The US maintains a ten thousand position unallocated reserve, but, at this point, no area is in danger of overflowing into the reserve.

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The Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Research Center joined together to conduct a survey on the current opinions of Americans on immigration.  The survey focused on understanding the public’s perception on the size of the immigration problem, the nature of immigration issues, the opinions on public policy, the perceptions of immigrants and coming to an understanding of the link between immigrant population and perception in metropolitan areas.  Each of these categories tended to have significant connections with the other categories as the opinions on one matter often contributed to opinions on another. 

The initial conclusion drawn by the survey is that immigration is a growing concern.  Each year, more individuals answer that immigration is a problem in the United States.  Similarly, the population that believes immigration is strengthening the nation is continuing to decline.  These statistics, though, should be understood in the context of the numbers which they represent.  Most of the data hovers around fifty percent, suggesting a much divided country.

The survey not only looked to gathering the data to understand immigration, but to understand the U.S. public as well.  By taking statistical data from five metropolitan areas, the survey was able to see how immigrant populations effected immigration perceptions.  The only city which believed immigration was the most important issue for their community was Phoenix—a city that is situated near a border crossing. 

As well as trying to understand the issues by area, the survey split the data in to economic, social, political, educational and racial divisions to account for variances in the population.  These results showed that groups within the population are as much divided as the location in which they reside.  More specific details on these surveys can be found at http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/274.pdf.

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United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a study on the number of individuals in the country with H-1B visas.  In Fiscal Year 2004, 48 percent of H-1B visas were given to individuals with bachelor degrees while 50 percent were offered to individuals with a masters or higher degree.  In fiscal year 2005, the ratio swung more in favor of the higher degrees with only 44 percent of the H-1B visas being offered to foreigners with no higher than a bachelor degree. 

Separated by country, the largest percentage of individuals entering the US with H-1B visas during fiscal year of 2005 came from India, China, Canada and the Philippines.  India held the largest share with over 44 percent of the offered visas.   Of those who work in the US with H-1B visas, 44 percent work in technical, computer related fields.

The ratio of application to acceptance for H-1B visas is extremely high.  In fiscal year of 2004, 92 percent of the applications were approved in the H-1B visa sector.  In 2005, the ratio grew higher.

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A press release from the Federal District in Mexico announced the extension of the OASISS program in both Mexico and the United States.  The OASISS program was first implemented in 2005 along the California-Mexico border in order to target immigrant smugglers. 

The program is centered on cooperation between Mexican and US officials in order to protect immigrants, facilitate criminal prosecutions and tighten border security.  The coordination between governments will create an information exchange in order to both capture smugglers and prevent impunity.  The new plans will expand the OASISS program to the following areas in Mexico, Texas and New Mexico: Columbus, Las Cruces, El Paso/Ciudad Juarez, Fabens, Fort Hancock, and Presidio/Ojinaga.

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The State Department issued an update on the number of Schedule A green cards for nurses and physical therapists that would be available during 2006 in a memorandum written to the American Immigration Lawyers Assocaiton.  The State Department claims that there are approximately twenty thousand Schedule A visas remaining.  The statement notes that a cutoff will likely occur in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2007 unless a dramatic change in the necessity for immigrants arises before that time.

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Eddie Romualdo Miranda, a former immigration officer, is being charged with attempting to obtain sexual favors in exchange for granting U.S. Citizenship.  According to Mai Tran of The Los Angeles Times, the victim was a 29 year old Vietnamese woman whose name is not being released.  Miranda had been working as an immigration officer for six months prior to the incident. 

Allegedly, Miranda told the woman to meet him at a later time in a parking structure.  When she arrived, he became sexually aggressive which prompted her to go to the authorities.  Miranda was arrested and is awaiting trial.