Visa Retrogression and Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Nurse!Nurse!Hello? · Jul 10, 2009

finally senator chuck schumer (d-ny) is putting the ball in play.
http://abcnews.go.com/politics/wirestory?id=8036217

from reading the title of this thread, i thought the article would have had something to do with retrogression. the title is misleading though--the word "retrogression" isn't even mentioned in the article! :bugeyes:

the main concept of immigration reform--in the eyes of most americans--involves providing a pathway for those who are in the us illegally to become legal citizens. when you read articles about immigration reform, that is primarily what they are talking about. senator schumer also mentions making it easier for highly-skilled workers--for example engineers, or people with a ph.d. in physics--to enter the us.

and what about nurses? schumer makes no mention of nurses, and most nurses are not the "highly-skilled workers" to which he is referring. look at the current situation with the h1b visa--for the first time in recent memory, there are thousands of unused h1b visas. thousands! in past years, those visas would have been gone the first week they were available. now, nobody wants them. with the unemployment rate rising in the us--even among nurses--there is no justification to use an h1b visa to bring in foreign nurses. there are plenty of us nurses looking for jobs, and naturally they should have priority.

it's unfortunate that you chose such a misleading headline for this thread. many people will only read the headline and not the entire article. misinformation is worse than no information. :nono:

Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN · Jul 10, 2009

I agree that the Immigration Reform is going to focus on illegal immigrants. Retrogression will be effected by the economy which continues to decline.

Itzallgood · Jul 10, 2009

The USA has already lost the battle to Illegal Immigration.

It's probably fighting a battle it can't win, Obama seems to favor and support Illegal Aliens in USA.

Habla? · Jul 10, 2009

CIR is not just about fixing illegal immigration. It is also about fixing LEGAL immigration.

The article said, "The lead Democrat steering an immigration overhaul through the Senate said Wednesday he expects to have a bill ready by Labor Day that is more generous to highly skilled immigrant workers than those who are lower skilled and is tough on future waves of illegal immigration."

Sorry, I thought that the group here knew that Schumer was a passionate opponet to visa retrogression and commonly referred to nurses as professionals. Next time I will post a qualifying reference.

elkpark · Jul 10, 2009

Sen. Schumer can feel as passionately as he wants about immigration reform and retrogression, but he is only one senator and there is still a great deal of resistance in the American public to the idea of any immigration "reform" other than combatting illegal immigration. Especially with the US economy in as poor shape as it is now -- I would venture to say there is very little support for bringing foreign workers in when so many US citizens are unemployed (which would be true in any country, I'm sure).

Representatives and senators introduce many, many bills every year that never go anywhere. It is a long, rocky path from a bill getting introduced to it being finally signed into law. Most bills never make it, and, if they do, they may bear little resemblance to the bill originally introduced (because of all the compromises and changes that had to be made in order to get enough votes to pass it, and the "mark up" process in which the House and Senate have to work out a compromise version that will pass in both chambers).

NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN · Jul 11, 2009

Actually most big corporations especially in the Ag industry WANT the unskilled worker because that's cheap labor for them. If you're working in nursing around California, the border towns of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico you're going to come across a lot of them and they will have stories to tell you about how hard it is and how hard they actually work. These people that usually come across work the fields and they don't care how much they're paid. Some of them leave their education, family, and house behind in order to make a better life and feed their kids. Even some of the college educated can't afford to live where they are from. They leave and start to work the fields because "it pays better" and we're talking between $9-$12 or $13 an hour. Also with that they tend to work long hours and HARD LABOR. So although it's unskilled, it's very back breaking. Some don't even take their lunch because they're afraid they'll come back late and they're punished if they're back late. I heard that from a patient who was being seen for gastro problems.

So if you're looking to enter this country, that's probably your best bet. Go work the fields. I'm not encouraging it, but that's how most enter this country. Do they get deported? You bet, some of them do.

kempo · Jul 11, 2009

Actually most big corporations especially in the Ag industry WANT the unskilled worker because that's cheap labor for them. If you're working in nursing around California, the border towns of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico you're going to come across a lot of them and they will have stories to tell you about how hard it is and how hard they actually work. These people that usually come across work the fields and they don't care how much they're paid. Some of them leave their education, family, and house behind in order to make a better life and feed their kids. Even some of the college educated can't afford to live where they are from. They leave and start to work the fields because "it pays better" and we're talking between $9-$12 or $13 an hour. Also with that they tend to work long hours and HARD LABOR. So although it's unskilled, it's very back breaking. Some don't even take their lunch because they're afraid they'll come back late and they're punished if they're back late. I heard that from a patient who was being seen for gastro problems.
So if you're looking to enter this country, that's probably your best bet. Go work the fields. I'm not encouraging it, but that's how most enter this country. Do they get deported? You bet, some of them do.

Brilliant Idea....Great !!!! Very informative..... :yeah: :lol2: :bugeyes: :uhoh3: :icon_roll:smokin: :yeah: