Experts Tout Trump’s Guest Worker Visa Proposals

[easyt65]

Experts Tout Trump's Guest Worker Visa Proposals

Amid outcry from the mainstream media over President Donald Trump’s most recent immigration executive order, the White House is already moving forward to visa reform.


As Trump promised on the campaign trail, the next expected executive order deals with reforming a slew of U.S. foreign guest worker programs, in which the administration will emphasize the need for giant tech companies to hire American workers over foreign ones.

“Visa programs for foreign workers… should be administered in a manner that protects the civil rights of American workers and current lawful residents, and that prioritizes the protection of American workers–our forgotten working people–and the jobs they hold.

Immigration experts like Mark Krikorian, the Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said the executive order is much needed.

If Trump signs the executive order, he will likely have support from not only the majority of Republicans, but also a number of traditional voting blocs for Democrats.

For instance, proposed legislation by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) partially mirrors Trump’s proposal, awarding visas to companies willing to pay the highest salary.”

 

[waltky]

The Donald effect...

Pakistan, fearing US visa ban, cracks down on militant group
February 01, 2017 — The sudden house arrest of a high-profile Islamist cleric in Pakistan on Monday sparked peaceful protests Tuesday by his followers, who condemned it as a government effort to appease the Trump administration after it banned visitors and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries over the weekend — and a top presidential aide hinted that Pakistan could be added to the list.

Supporters of Hafiz Saeed, the fiery leader of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa movement, contended that the move by Pakistani officials had also come at the behest of India, Pakistan’s Hindu-led rival and neighbor. The group zealously opposes India’s claim to the disputed Kashmir border region, and a previous militant group led by Saeed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, was blamed for the 2008 terrorist siege that killed 164 people in the Indian city of Mumbai.

‘‘There was pressure coming from the US on Pakistani authorities to either arrest Hafiz Saeed or face the sanctions, and the government succumbed to that pressure,’’ Nadeem Awan, a spokesman for Saeed, said Tuesday.

Pakistan, fearing US visa ban, cracks down on militant group - The Boston Globe

See also:

Air Force Wants Ban Exemption for Iraqi Pilot Trainees
Jan 31, 2017 | The Air Force is working closely with the Pentagon and State Department to try to ensure Iraqi fighter pilots training in the U.S. can obtain exemptions under President Donald Trump's executive order to curtail immigration from certain Middle Eastern countries, according to an official.

There are approximately 30 Iraqi pilots currently training to fly the F-16 Fighting Falcon with the Air National Guard's 162nd Wing at Tucson International Airport, Air Force spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder told reporters Tuesday. "The Iraqi military is obviously a very close partner … in the fight against [the Islamic State]," Ryder said at the Pentagon.

Col. Andrew MacDonald helps Iraqi Air Force Brig. Gen. Abdulhussein Lafta Ali Ali buckle into an F-16D Fighting Falcon at Tucson International Airport​

He said officials are in discussions to ensure "those pilots can get to their training in Arizona." "We'll continue to work very hard to try to make that happen, and I'm confident that we will," Ryder said. "We're fighting in Iraq, helping the Iraqis fight, and so it just makes sense to be able to try to ensure that they get the training they need. "Since the beginning of this fight [against ISIS], we've had pilots coming in and out [of the U.S.] and it's critical training," he said, noting the number of pilots per training group fluctuates depending on the training mission. The 162nd has trained pilots from the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Japan, Turkey and Israel, among other countries. In 2014, for the first time, Iraqi pilots began training on their own F-16s at Tuscon after Iraq purchased 36 aircraft in 2011.

Afghanistan Not on the List

Notably missing from Trump's executive order -- a temporary ban preventing immigrants or refugees from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia from traveling to the U.S. -- is Afghanistan, where the U.S. has conducted military operations for more than 15 years, and where aerial operations are on an upward trend. Last year, the U.S. Air Force -- under Operation Freedom's Sentinel, the Pentagon's name for missions after the transition from Operation Enduring Freedom -- conducted 1,337 airstrikes against Taliban, al-Qaida and Islamic State militants throughout Afghanistan. Just one month into 2016, the Air Force unleashed the most airstrikes since 2013, according to Air Force Central Command statistics.

MORE

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Veterans in Congress Call for Ban Exemptions for Iraqi Interpreters
Jan 30, 2017 - Iraqi nationals who risked their lives to help American troops in wartime should not be subject to a recent executive order halting immigration from Iraq, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote in a letter to President Donald Trump on Monday.

The letter, a joint effort by Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-California, and Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, asks Trump to grant the request of Defense Secretary James Mattis to exempt Iraqi military interpreters, aides and allies from the scope of the order. Both Hunter and Kinzinger are veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively. The letter was also signed by Reps. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio; Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon; Seth Moulton, D-Massachusetts; and Peter Welch, D-Vermont. Stivers and Moulton are also veterans. Moulton, a Marine Corps veteran of Iraq, has publicly discussed bringing his own interpreter to the United States on a Special Immigrant Visa. "We made a promise to the men and women who served alongside us on the battlefield, and we must uphold that promise to leave no man behind," Hunter and Kinzinger said in a joint statement. "We urge the president to honor Secretary Mattis' requests, and stand up for those who stood by our military and American personnel. For the safety of these courageous individuals and their families, and in the interest of our national security, it's critical that we make this exception and do so swiftly."

On his own, Moulton has taken an even stronger stance in full opposition to Trump's executive order. In a statement, he warned that closing doors to immigration would fuel antipathy against the U.S. and help Islamic State radicals recruit new suicide bombers. "His policies literally put our troops' lives at risk -- I've heard this loud and clear when I have visited them overseas," he said. "They also prove he has zero understanding of our country's values and no intention of defending our Constitution."

Trump's executive order, published Jan. 27, put an immediate temporary halt to immigration from seven countries, including Iraq. The order caused immigrants currently in transit to be taken into custody, including Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who had reportedly worked for the U.S. government in Iraq for more than a decade. Darweesh, who was granted a Special Immigrant Visa on Jan. 20, was ultimately released into the U.S. a full day later. A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, told reporters Monday that the Defense Department is making a list of Iraqis who had worked to help U.S. troops for submission to the government agencies carrying out the executive order.

Special Immigrant Visas were created in 2008 for the express purpose of providing a special path for people from Iraq and Afghanistan who had assisted American troops to resettle in the United States, a recognition that these individuals and their families often faced greater danger because of their service. "It is important that a special exception is made for the consideration of individuals who directly supported American personnel overseas," the lawmakers wrote in their letter. "We respectfully ask that you take this action to ensure these individuals are not put in any further danger. Doing so would send a strong signal to those who show such immense courage to advance U.S. security interests at a risk to their own safety, as well as the many veterans and warfighters who've relied on the service of these individuals for their own protection and to accomplish their objectives."

Veterans in Congress Call for Ban Exemptions for Iraqi Interpreters | Military.com

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - Be careful what ya wish fer - the Donald just liable to do it...

Khan Wants Trump to Extend US Travel Ban to Pakistan
January 29, 2017 - Pakistan’s leading opposition politician, Imran Khan, is urging President Donald Trump to ban Pakistanis from entering the United States, after he suspended immigration from seven Muslim majority countries.

The controversial U.S. ban currently applies to Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Addressing a rally in the central Pakistani town of Sahiwal on Sunday, Khan denounced the ban as anti-Muslim and praised Iran for its retaliatory action of banning Americans from entering the Islamic Republic. “I want to tell all my fellow Pakistanis today, I pray that Donald Trump really bans visas for us." Khan said, suggesting that such a move could help prevent brain drain from Pakistan.

He went on to urge educated and skilled Pakistani youth to abandon U.S. travel plans in search of a better economic future, and to focus instead on building Pakistan. “And then if America tells us they are stopping visas for us we will also, like Iran, tell them we are going to stop visas for Americans,” Khan vowed. Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party is the third major political force in the national parliament, and rules the country’s northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhaw province.

Pakistan’s leading opposition politician Imran Khan, seen in this file photo, is urging President Donald Trump to ban Pakistanis from entering the United States, after he suspended immigration from seven Muslim majority countries.​

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government has not yet commented about Trump’s ban on Muslim countries. Officials in Islamabad are hoping for improvement in their usually uneasy relations with Washington under the Trump presidency. Pakistan’s alleged support for anti-Afghanistan and anti-India Islamist militant groups sheltering on its soil has been a major irritant in tensions with Washington.

On Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus hinted that Pakistan could be included in the list of countries from which immigration has been banned. “You can point to other countries that have similar problems like Pakistan and others -- perhaps we need to take it further.” Priebus told CBS News.

Khan Wants Trump to Extend US Travel Ban to Pakistan

See also:

Trump: Immigration Order Not About Religion, but About Keeping Country Safe
January 29, 2017 - U.S. Homeland Security chief John Kelly says he believes admitting lawful permanent residents into the United States is in the country's national interest, and does not go against the provisions of President Donald Trump's executive order on refugees and immigration.

Kelly's statement late Sunday clarifies some of the confusion surrounding Trump's executive order limiting immigration. It basically halts immigration for 90 days from seven Muslim majority countries he says have spawned terrorists. Trump defended his order against the global outcry, saying it is not about religion but about "terror and keeping our country safe." "America is a proud nation of immigrants and we will continue to show compassion to those fleeing oppression, but we will do so while protecting our own citizens and border," he said in a statement from the White House on Sunday.

The president noted that former President Barack Obama had identified the seven countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - as sources of terror. He pointed out that more than 40 Muslim majority countries are not affected by his order, and he took a characteristic swipe at the media for calling his order a ban on Muslims. Trump's executive order issued Friday will be in effect for 90 days, but has led to widespread confusion. Refugees, green card holders, students and workers have been detained at American airports or barred from boarding international flights to the United States.

Executive order signed by President Trump limits immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.​

A senior administration official told reporters late Sunday that the president's executive order was written by the top Republican immigration experts on Capitol Hill, and that the legal significance of how it will be carried out was carefully considered. But U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York issued an emergency order Saturday temporarily barring the deportation of people with valid visas being detained at U.S. airports. The order also bars the detention of anyone with an approved refugee application. The judge wrote "there is imminent danger that, absent the stay of removal, there will be substantial and irreparable injury to refugees, visa-holders, and other individuals from nations" who are subject to the president's order.

The Homeland Security Department says it will comply with judicial orders, but stressed it will continue to enforce all of the president's executive orders. But reports from federal authorities indicated at least 170 people had been detained at U.S. airports since Trump signed his order Friday. Two senior Republican senators criticized Trump's order Sunday. "It is clear from the confusion at our airports across the nation that President Trump’s executive order was not properly vetted. We are particularly concerned by reports that this order went into effect with little to no consultation with the Departments of State, Defense, Justice and Homeland Security, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said. “Such a hasty process risks harmful results.

People affected by order

 

[JimBowie1958]

The H1-B and H2 visas are badly abused, and corporations commit all kinds of data fraud to justify their request for more and more visas every year.

They should cancel all H1-B and H2 visas until every unemployed STEM graduate in this country is employed and retrained for the job if needed.

PAUSE H1-Bs and Fuck Microsoft.