Chamber"s Donohue: Immigrants Needed to Keep US Competitive

Reforms are needed to policies for high- and lower-skilled immigrants so they can remain in the United States and perform jobs Americans either aren’t qualified for or willing to do, says Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue.

Donohue, in an McClatchy-Tribune News Service op-ed piece, said steps should be made to retain talent “at all ends of the spectrum can live and work in the United States.

Drawing top talent to the United States brings investment dollars to the United States, said Donohue, but the reverse is also true.

“If companies can’t find talent on U.S. soil, or if it becomes too costly and burdensome, they will move their operations elsewhere,” said Donohue. “It’s in our own best interests to welcome the world’s brightest minds and hardest workers into our economy.”

More than half the students studying natural sciences and engineering disciplines, or STEM disciplines, at U.S. colleges and universities are from foreign countries, said Donohue, but the number of Americans studying such disciplines at less than one percent per year.

But the number of American students is growing at less than one percent a year.

“By 2018, there will be 230,000 unfilled positions requiring advanced STEM degrees, even if every U.S. STEM grad finds a job,” writes Donohue.

But it’s not only the high-skilled fields that need filling — but lesser-skilled fields also have insufficient numbers of U.S. workers willing to fill the positions.

“Studies have concluded that the greatest percentage of job growth in the United States through 2020 is expected in low- and moderate-skilled jobs that cannot be automated or outsourced,” said Donohue. “Services like home health and nursing home care, landscaping and hospitality cannot be provided without capable staff ready to do the work.”

Immigrants are behind tech companies and businesses such as Google, Yahoo, Big Lots, and BJ’s Wholesale Club, said Donohue, and reforms must be made to immigration policies to leverage the education and efforts of people who want to come to the United States.

“Those essential contributions to our workforce and our economy are at risk,” said Donohue. “We’re sending foreign-born students educated in the United States back to their home countries, or to competitors, to compete against us. We’re sending companies the message that their investments may be better off somewhere else, where workers are available to fill their jobs and serve their customers.”

Congress must set aside politics and modernize the immigration system, said Donohue, including improving employment verification, greater border security and pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

“If we don’t act on this national priority soon, we’ll fall behind in the global competition for talent, putting our economy and American jobs at risk,” said Donohue.

Related Stories:

• Sessions: We Need an Immigration Policy That Helps Americans


• Boehner, GOP Leaders Face Immigration Showdown at Republican Retreat

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Chamber"s Donohue: Immigrants Needed to Keep US Competitive

On Immigrants Versus Expats

By JacobSloan on November 1, 2013 in News

Regarding how the terms we use frame our perceptions, Mehran Khalili on the terms for people from other places:

Immigration, a lexicon: You’re a ‘migrant’ when you’re very poor; ‘immigrant’ when you’re not so poor; and ‘expat’ when you’re rich.

Semantics matter: the images evoked by the words used to refer to a group of people will, over time, help to define what we think about that group and how we act towards it. And in the case of people migrating to Greece who have in recent years been badly mishandled by the state, the use of neutral language in reporting by international media and NGOs is vital.

Literally speaking, ‘migrants’ and ‘expats’ do indeed have the same meaning. But since practical usage can be something else entirely, feed both terms into Google Images to see how they’re illustrated. ‘Expats’ in Greece are depicted as white; ‘migrants’ as darker-skinned.

Who decides what ethnicity a person should have to be called a migrant? Who decides what socio-economic background, or legal status, qualifies someone for the ‘expat’ label?

Let’s scrap the ‘migrant’ label and call everyone living outside their native country an expat.

disinformation

On Immigrants Versus Expats

UK watchdog bans govt ‘Go home’ ads targeting immigrants

Published time: October 09, 2013 15:54

Sceenshot from YouTube video

A UK advertising watchdog has banned a controversial Home Office advert suggesting that illegal immigrants in the UK to ‘Go home or face arrest,’ saying that it was misleading. However, the ad was not ruled to be ‘offensive’ or ‘distressing.’

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) absolved the government campaign of either attribute, despite the widespread belief that it was offensive forming the basis for the majority of the 224 complaints filed against it. The vans bearing the controversial slogan were driven around six London boroughs with large immigrant populations as part of a Home Office pilot scheme in July.

The ASA took issue merely with “inaccurate statistics” on the vans, but complainants deemed the ads to be “racist.” Out of the five categories of complaint made, a mere two general points were upheld, the first being that the writing on the ads was not legible, and the second being that the ad was not substantiated and misleading.

After instructing illegal immigrants to “go home,” the ads cited a statistic that there had been “106 arrests last week in your area” across the six boroughs.  

The ASA said that the figure “related to arrests made throughout a significant part of London north of the Thames,” and not necessarily relate to the specific areas where people would have seen the vans.

Additionally, the arrests had been made more than two weeks prior to the vans being sent out, not in the last week, and the ASA ruled that a breach had been committed under “misleading advertising” and “substantiation.” “We…noted the posters were displayed during the week of 22 to 28 July,” said the ASA, conceding that the data provided in support of the “106 arrests” statistic in fact “related to the week 30 June to 6 July.”

However, the watchdog conceded that that “most” of the complaints had challenged whether “the poster, and in particular the phrase ‘Go home’, was offensive,” because it was considered to be “reminiscent of slogans used by racist groups to attack immigrants in the past.”

The slogan has echoes of the Neo-Nazi National Front rhetoric in the 1970s, with ASA chief executive Guy Parker telling BBC Radio 4′s Today Programme that it “clearly carries baggage.” However, he added that the campaign was unlikely to cause “widespread offence.”

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the Labour Party Conference two weeks ago that: “Those ad vans were driving past the offices and homes of families whose parents and grandparents had to endure those same slogans scrawled high in graffiti 40 years ago.”

The ASA highlighted that complaints had been made accusing the campaign of having the potential to exacerbate racial tensions, particularly within multicultural communities. Britain’s business secretary, Vince Cable, himself termed the campaign ‘stupid and offensive’. However, the ASA did not uphold the criticisms.

“We concluded that the poster was unlikely to incite or exacerbate racial hatred and tensions in multi-cultural communities,” it said.

The Home Office responded, stating the advert would not appear again in its previous incarnation and welcoming their dismissal of complaints calling it ‘offensive’. “We are pleased the ASA has concluded that our pilot was neither offensive nor irresponsible,” said a Home Office spokesperson.

“This campaign was about encouraging illegal immigrants to leave the country voluntarily and was not targeted at particular racial or ethnic groups.”

This means that the UK’s government still remains at liberty to direct the ‘Go Home’ slogan at UK illegal immigrants, providing statistics are both relevant and accurate, and the writing is of a legible size – the second complaint which was upheld was made by a ‘few’ people who found the most questionable feature of the vans to be the fact that the smaller print was illegible on a moving vehicle.  

“We considered… that small print should be clearly visible to a normally sighted person reading the marketing communication once from a reasonable distance and at a reasonable speed,” said the ASA in its ruling.

“The ad must not appear again in its current form,” the ASA report concluded.

RT – News

UK watchdog bans govt ‘Go home’ ads targeting immigrants

GOP"s King draws fire for comment about young immigrants

By Carrie Dann, NBC News

Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa drew rebukes from Democrats and Republicans alike Tuesday after claiming that most young undocumented immigrants are involved in the drug trade.

In an interview with Newsmax, King said that — out of the population of young undocumented immigrants — “for every one who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”

That remark from the noted immigration reform foe prompted a sharp response from Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who is working on legislation to offer a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

“I strongly disagree with his characterization of the children of immigrants and find the comments inexcusable,” Cantor said.

House Speaker John Boehner called the characterization “hateful.”

“What he said is wrong,” Boehner said. “There can be honest disagreements about policy without using hateful language. Everyone needs to remember that.”

Democrats also slammed King.

In a House subcommittee hearing on the issue of young undocumented immigrants, Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Fla., quoted King’s comment and called it “beneath the dignity of this body and this country.”

And White House senior advisor Dan Pfieffer tweeted “Every member of the GOP should condemn Rep King for comparing the Dreamers to drugmules, they represent what is great about this country.”

NBC’s Frank Thorp contributed to this report. 

This story was originally published on Tue Jul 23, 2013 8:32 PM EDT

NBCNews.com: First Read

GOP"s King draws fire for comment about young immigrants

House Republicans favor helping children of illegal immigrants

A man stands behind a banner at a 24-hour vigil calling on Congress to pass immigration reform in Los Angeles, June 27, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

By Rachelle Younglai and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON | Tue Jul 23, 2013 2:11pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in the House of Representatives on Tuesday will consider granting citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants, marking their first step toward dealing with the millions of undocumented foreigners living in the United States.

Under pressure from members of their own party, religious groups and Hispanics, House Republican leaders are bucking their traditional position of opposing citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Eric Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the House, and Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, are working on legislation to give young illegal immigrants a way to earn citizenship, which is similar to a Democratic bill they voted against in 2010.

Cantor and Goodlatte have not said when they will introduce the legislation and it is not clear they will do so before the month-long August break. Instead, one of Goodlatte’s Judiciary subcommittees will hold a hearing on Tuesday to consider how to provide the youth with legal status.

But the children of illegal immigrants, also known as DREAMers, have already rejected the House Republican approach, saying it will tear their families apart and discriminate against the rest of the undocumented population in the United States. More than 50 DREAMers were planning to attend the hearing.

Representative Xavier Becerra, a member of House Democratic leadership and part of a bipartisan group that has been trying to introduce immigration legislation, complimented Republicans for holding conversations about possible legalization plans.

But he said it was not enough. The children brought here illegally by their parents “will tell you, ‘The last thing we want is to have America tell us we’re OK and tell our parents to go away,’” he told reporters.

House Republicans agree with Democrats that the country’s immigration system does not work. But they are deeply divided on how to change the laws and are opposed to giving the estimated 11 million undocumented foreigners a way to earn citizenship, likening it to rewarding lawbreakers.

The Senate, with the endorsement of 14 Republicans, has already passed a comprehensive immigration bill that would increase work visas, spend $ 46 billion to bolster security at the U.S.-Mexico border and provide a 13-year path to citizenship for the illegal immigrant population.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is considering a possible route for forcing House action on the Senate’s bill. Speaking to a small group of political donors late on Monday, Pelosi outlined a strategy that would require a minimum of 25 Republicans to break ranks with their party and join Democrats to advance the Senate bill in the House.

It is a strategy that traditionally has been difficult for the minority party in the House to pull off successfully.

(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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House Republicans favor helping children of illegal immigrants

Germany learning to open arms to immigrants

BERLIN (Reuters) – Ata Ucertas, a doctor from Istanbul with a moustache that curls up his cheeks, was welcomed with open arms when he came to Germany this year, evidence of a shift in German attitudes as its population shrinks and labor becomes scarce.

Reuters: Top News

Germany learning to open arms to immigrants

Patrolling Border, Sheriff Sees Immigrants" "Determination"

Audio for this story from Weekend Edition Sunday will be available at approximately 12:00 p.m. ET.

Enlarge image i

Tony Estrada is the sheriff of Santa Cruz County, Ariz.

Courtesy of Tony Estrada

Tony Estrada is the sheriff of Santa Cruz County, Ariz.

Courtesy of Tony Estrada

“ “When they come through these valleys and canyons and mountains of Santa Cruz County with their feet blister[ed] and torn … It’s that desire and that determination and that spirit that they have that you’ve got to tap into it … That’s what you really need as a country.”

- Sheriff Tony Estrada

Each week, Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin brings listeners an unexpected side of the news by talking with someone personally affected by the stories making headlines.

Tony Estrada is the sheriff of Santa Cruz County, Ariz., the poorest of all the border counties in the U.S. There are more than 1,000 Border Patrol Agents stationed in the county, which shares some 50 miles of border with Mexico.

Some parts of that border have a wall with steel barriers. But in rural parts of the county, the border is little more than a fence — in some cases, nothing at all. That makes Arizona vulnerable to a stream of illegal immigrants.

Estrada, who came across the border with his family at age 1, talks to NPR’s Rachel Martin about life on this geographic edge. He shares the complexity of immigration in the area and what kind of security issues he deals with.

“I don’t want anybody to think that I am for illegal immigration because I think we all agree that people should come across this border legally. But the reality of it is that the majority — or a large number — of the people that are coming across are coming from extreme poverty. They have no paper trail. They have nothing that will ever give them the opportunity to get a visa or a permit.”

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Do you think we need more or fewer agents patrolling our borders? Tell us on Weekend Edition‘s Facebook page or in the comment section below.

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Patrolling Border, Sheriff Sees Immigrants" "Determination"

Rubio: Legalize Illegal Immigrants "To Pay For The Border Security"

But there was another reason. “We need to register them as soon as possible, not just to keep the problem from getting worse, but we’re going to require them to pay a fine, and that’s the money that we are going to use to pay for the border security. If we don’t get that fine money from the people that have violated our immigration laws, then the American taxpayer is going to have to pay for border security.

RealClearPolitics Video Log

Rubio: Legalize Illegal Immigrants "To Pay For The Border Security"

Jeb: Immigrants are "more fertile"

Bush says the country needs younger workers to replace aging ones. | AP Photo

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday that immigration reform is needed in part because immigrants are “more fertile” than native-born U.S. citizens and can help offset population declines.

Speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority” conference in Washington, Bush said the country needs an influx of younger workers to replace aging ones set to retire in the coming years.

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“We’re going to have fewer workers taking care of a larger number of people than the country has a social contract with, to be able to allow them to retire with dignity and purpose,” he said. “We cannot do that with the fertility rates that we have in our country.”

(PHOTOS: 20 quotes on immigration reform)

That problem could be solved with immigrants, Bush said.

“Immigrants are more fertile and they love families and they have more intact families and they bring a younger population,” he said, adding that immigrants also create new businesses and are an “engine of economic prosperity.”

The oft-discussed 2016 presidential prospect said the Republican Party failed to win back the White House in November because the party’s brand is “perceived to be tarnished.”

(PHOTOS: 9 wild immigration quotes)

“We haven’t really offered a compelling alternative” to Obama’s policies, he said.

Bush also spoke about the importance of reclaiming the idea of “family”— and recognizing that some families are “non-traditional.”

“Let me remind you, families don’t look all the time like they used to, and that’s okay,” he said. “We have to be supportive of a single mom or dad, or the grandmother taking care of young children, the non-traditional family.”

Bush didn’t give any hints as to his future national ambitions, but did tell ABC News that his parents are split on whether he should seek the White House.

“I think we’ve got a split ballot amongst the Bush senior family. Pretty sure that’s the case,” a smiling Bush said in a “This Week” segment to air Sunday.

His mother, Barbara Bush, said earlier this year that the country has had “enough Bushes” in the White House.

POLITICO – TOP Stories

Jeb: Immigrants are "more fertile"

IRS Refunds $4 Billion Child Tax Credits Per Year to Illegal Immigrants Whose Kids Do Not Live in US (and May Not Exist at All); Earned Income Fraud Another $13 Billion

Here’s an interesting video that came my way yesterday from a close friend. The video highlights a news investigation by Channel 13, WTHR in Indianapolis, regarding fraudulent refunds of taxpayer money to illegal immigrants living in the US. The refunds are based on child tax credits, when the kids live in Mexico or elsewhere.

Link if video does not play: Another Massive Tax Loophole!

Typically videos like this are not remotely true, but this one is according to FactCheck.

Q: Does the IRS pay billions in tax refunds to workers who are in the U.S. illegally?

A: Yes. The Treasury Department’s Inspector General determined that $ 4.2 billion was paid in 2010, up from less than $ 1 billion in 2005. Leading Democrats are resisting a bill that would stop future payments.

FULL ANSWER

This is a rare case of an Internet rumor with some substance to it. In fact, it’s shaping up as a major dogfight in Congress. At issue here are the federal child tax credits that can be claimed by persons with dependent children under age 17. Some Democrats are already defending these child tax credit payments that have gone to those without a valid Social Security number, accusing Republicans who want to end them of a heartless attack on children.

Several different versions of this viral email all cite a recent investigative story by an Indianapolis television station, but WTHR-TV is far from the first to notice. The Washington Post and others reported on this last year when the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration issued a report on July 7, 2011.

The title of the report summed up the IG’s [Treasury Inspector General] finding: “Individuals Who Are Not Authorized to Work in the United States Were Paid $ 4.2 Billion in Refundable Credits.”

Problem Still Not Addressed

The WTHR video appears to be from 2012. The treasury inspector general report came out in 2011.

So Congress, the treasury, the IRS, and presumably president Obama have known about this for at least two years.

Fraudulent Bonanza for Illegals

The question I had this morning is a simple one: has anything been done yet?

It does not appear to be the case.

On April 16, 2013, The Washington Times featured an article by Edwin S. Rubenstein Collecting billions in a loophole, subtitled “Fraudulent tax refunds yield a bonanza for illegal immigrants”.

As federal services from air-traffic control to White House tours are ratcheted down thanks to the budget sequestration, millions of illegal aliens are now eagerly await billions in illegitimate Treasury payments, courtesy of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Two programs, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) provide cash payments to low-income parents who pay no income tax and fail to have a valid Social Security number.

The IRS knowingly allows illegal aliens who claim children to get Earned Income Tax Credit cash payments of up to $ 5,891 per household. This is one reason why these cash payments are expected to exceed $ 52 billion in fiscal year 2012 alone. The General Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that roughly a quarter of all Earned Income Tax Credit payments are issued improperly.

Compounding the problem is the Additional Child Tax Credit, which was added to the older Child Tax Credit program that became law in 1997. The Child Tax Credit reduces the tax low-income families pay by $ 1,000 for each child under 17. If the tax filer claims five children for a credit of $ 5,000 but owes only $ 2,000 in taxes, under the Additional Child Tax Credit the IRS sends the filer a check for the difference, or $ 3,000.

The federal tax agency makes no effort to verify the existence of children or the eligibility of the tax-credit recipients to work in the United States. Indeed, IRS managers reportedly encourage their staff to ignore questionable applications and blatant fraud for the sake of fast-tracking Individual Taxpayer Identification Number approvals.

The scandal prompted at least one congressman to act. Last year, Rep. Sam Johnson, Texas Republican, introduced the ITIN Reform Act. The legislation would require people claiming Additional Child Tax Credit refunds on tax returns filed without a Social Security number to verify their citizenship status in person at an IRS office. Currently, the IRS sends these refunds automatically, with no questions asked.

Total Illegal Immigrant Fraud Over $ 17 Billion Annually

General Accountability Office (GAO) estimates one-fourth of the annual $ 52 billion in earned income payments is fraudulent. The math here is pretty simple. One-fourth of $ 52 billion is $ 13 billion, so the total cost to taxpayers is $ 17 billion annually.

Democrats do not want to do a damn thing about this, nor does the IRS. Please play the video, it’s a real eye opener.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

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IRS Refunds $4 Billion Child Tax Credits Per Year to Illegal Immigrants Whose Kids Do Not Live in US (and May Not Exist at All); Earned Income Fraud Another $13 Billion