November 25, 2012

Sunset for the Diversity Visa?

House Republicans have been pushing a small immigration compromise that at least sounds like a positive sum deal. But in the current environment, A Could Be Worse Deal sounds like it won't get anywhere without massive concessions elsewhere (which, no doubt, the cheap labor wing of the party will gladly agree to -- by the way is "wing" the right word?).
High-skill green cards get lame-duck push in Congress 
By Matt O'Brien 
San Jose Mercury News 
In the first test of a new political climate on immigration reform, the lame-duck House of Representatives is renewing a push to eliminate America's random visa lottery and replace it with a bill favored by thousands of Silicon Valley immigrant workers:

And by hundreds of Silicon Valley employers looking to pay lower salaries. The attitudes of American citizens who work in Silicon Valley does not appear to be of interest.
one that would give green cards to foreigners with advanced U.S. degrees in science, engineering and math. 
House Republicans say they are wasting no time putting the bill up for a Friday vote after a similar measure failed in September.

So, what happened on Friday? Can't find any mention of it.
The maneuver follows a vigorous debate in the conservative movement over how to warm up to a growing Latino and Asian-American electorate that was pivotal in re-electing President Barack Obama. 
Republicans are even adding a provision they once opposed to allow the spouses and minor children of legal immigrants to join their family members in the United States instead of waiting for years in their home countries. ...
Some Democrats, however, are deriding the new push as a deceptively limited measure that will pass the GOP-led House but fail in the Senate, where majority Democrats would be reluctant to give the GOP what it wants now because it needs conservative votes to enact broader reforms next year. 
Republicans are "trying to pretend they're pro-immigrant by this bill, knowing that it goes nowhere," said U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, the top Democrat on the House immigration subcommittee. 
Passage of the visa swap would fulfill a goal of reigning House Republicans to gut the annual "diversity visa lottery," which randomly awards 50,000 green cards for permanent residency to people from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States as long as they have a high school degree. 
Those green cards would instead go to immigrants with much higher education credentials -- a master's or doctorate in the so-called STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math. 
The high-skill STEM visas have bipartisan consensus in Congress, but most Democrats have been unwilling to sacrifice the two-decade-old visa lottery to get them. One problem, said Lofgren, is that the Republicans' swap would actually cut immigration, since there are not enough foreigners with advanced degrees who want to emigrate to fill all the high-tech slots once a backlog is taken care of.

And actually cutting immigration in an age of high unemployment would be the worst thing in the world because the whole point is to increase immigration to prove you aren't racist.
For many people in Africa who are not already in the upper classes, cutting off the diversity visa takes away "one of the few options that individuals have to legally enter the United States," said Joe Sciarrillo of the San Francisco-based African Advocacy Network.

And what could be more important than the right of random Africans without any particularly skills to legally enter the United States.
"The diversity visa is more open and egalitarian in terms of who qualifies for it," Sciarrillo said. "A single mother with a high school degree in Eritrea has as good a shot as an elite businessman."

Not to mention the Eritrean single mother's Islamic extremist son.
Technology worker lobbyists in Silicon Valley and elsewhere have been pushing for a compromise, hoping to persuade lawmakers that the visa lottery has achieved its original purpose of diversifying the immigration pool.

By "technology worker lobbyists," the newspaper does not mean people who lobby for American technology workers in Silicon Valley.
"The visa lottery has done its job," says a report being released Monday by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, or IEEE. "It is
that rarest of things: an act of Congress which so plainly achieved its purpose that it is no longer necessary."

Indeed.
The group's report concludes that the lottery over the past 20 years helped open the doors to Africans and Eastern Europeans who had been excluded from America's family-focused immigration, but now the program is outdated. For instance, 2,800 Nigerians won a diversity visa last year by the luck of the draw; but there were also more than 3,000 highly educated Nigerian foreign students in the United States who would have benefited from a STEM green card. 

The Diversity Visa is a disaster because it should really be called the Chain Migration Initiation program. The 50,000 Diversity Visas per year get multiplied over time by the larger "Immediate Relative" and "Family Sponsored" categories. Plus, they provide connections for illegal immigrants.
It is better policy to give the green cards to those with the highest skills whom American universities have already invested in, said IEEE's Berg, a Saratoga resident. The chapter counts nearly 12,000 members. ...
The House voted 257 to 158 in favor of a similar bill on Sept. 20, but the vote was structured in a way that required a two-thirds majority, allowing Republicans to blame Democrats for its defeat just weeks before the presidential election. 
This Friday, however, the vote will need only a majority and is likely to coast through the House, facing its bigger obstacles in the Senate. 
"It's really just an effort to try to divide people once again," Lofgren said.

Who are these people "Lofgren" is so worried about not dividing? American citizens and random people in Africa?

Seriously, getting rid of the Diversity Visa is going to be a tough fight because it's the Diversity Visa, and what is better than Diversity?

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Less then a 140,000 immigrants who come here are employment based or have some legitimate economic justification. All the rest is just nepotism and the mindlessness of the diversity lottery.

Ironically had the USA just kept to this figure, which may actually be economically beneficial, what Ted Kennedy said about not changing the country's demographics in 1965 might well have been true.

Anonymous said...

Zoe has been green card crazy now for decades in the Bay Area. Here's the Sailer voting even in heavily blue Calif which could work in other states.Romney took most of the rest of the county, piling up margins topping 70 percent in Newport Beach and parts of San Juan Capistrano, Coto de Caza and Yorba Linda. Here old wealth whites in Newpor Beach and wealthier parts of San Juan Cap and Coto de Caza and Yorba Linda were having families about 5 years ago before the crash. If other states could look like these cities with low poverty, high white populations and less modern thinking that is hip then you could win the white population.


























It's "the new American

Whiskey said...

The problem is, those icky White guys who are technology workers are beta males. Meanwhile, dominant Islamic or African immigrants are poor, NGO-Welfare recipients, and again, dominant in a thuggish manner. Its Nice White Lady Catnip.

A great deal (not all, but maybe half) of this motivation is Nice White Ladies (tm Steve Sailer) seeking lifetime full employment and a way to stick it to icky beta male White guys. Who are the ones they REALLY hate.

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure I saw that single mother from Eritrea using food stamps at my local grocery store on Thanksgiving...

PropagandistHacker said...

does it really matter what you say or do, steve? Or what any anti-immigration american says or thinks? The fact is that americans are so worried about the future that even an issue like immigration is not on their horizon at this point, and the media and education system has propagandized so many young americans and intimidated so many older americans that no one is going to say or do anything about it now.

Galvani's Frog Dance Theatre's Orchestra Conductor said...

1. Screw Silicon Valley workers.

2. If a foreign PhD wants to stay in US he can easily do it. Lots of employers sponsor H1-B or similar visas. Right now, the only limitation on that process is the laziness of some companies' HR departments, which can't be assed to file the papers. That's a pretty weak limitation.

3. How do you think Joe Sciarrillo of the African Advocacy Network may look like? Take a few seconds to imagine, then look at this picture. Close?

Anonymous said...

"1. Screw Silicon Valley workers."


1. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of silicon valley engineering workers are already non-white immigrant. The change has happened fast.

2. FWIW, the IEEE is a complete tool of the large tech companies. It absolutely is not on the side of native US EE or CS engineers; it provides a good bit of the techno-pipeline from places like India. (I is for International and they've certainly been doing their part there...)

corvinus said...

Seriously, getting rid of the Diversity Visa is going to be a tough fight because it's the Diversity Visa, and what is better than Diversity?

I think some GOP congresscritters are smart enough to realize your point about the diversity lottery having the potential to start huge chain migration problems from poor and/or Muslim countries in Africa and Asia. They also realize that STEM grads don't have high birth rates, like the #3 country, South Korea. (And what's with South Korea being ranked third, anyway?)

Unfortunately, it appears that Miz Lofgren has caught on to this strategy as well.

Yan Shen said...

Well this is a step in the right direction...

Yan Shen said...

"... what is better than Diversity?"

Cognitive elitism?

ben tillman said...

The maneuver follows a vigorous debate in the conservative movement over how to warm up to a growing Latino and Asian-American electorate that was pivotal in re-electing President Barack Obama.

Reward those who voted against you at the expense of those who voted for you. Brilliant!

ben tillman said...

Yan Shen, you don't believe in cognitive elitism.

Toothpaste Tim and the Electric Oatmeal Club at 9 said...

Steve, they've already let in millions of people with no discernible talent or ability, and tens of millions of illegals as well, so what's a few million more, right? These people also are poor, and there are plenty of white people in the US who still have some money left (well, except for certain groups we'll exempt from paying, but give them the credit). We all get enriched by the vibrant hope of the newcomer's diversity and multicultural progress towards the inevitable bright future where the patriarchial hegemony of white male oppression of people of color, women,LBGTQ,WXYZ, people who stare at goats, and moonbat vendors is forever broken. We'll all be millionaires anyway at least if we have the Brown Folks Decoder Ring so it won't matter because Obama says so, and he gave us a shiny new phones and is giving everyone jobs printing money so we all can be rich.

If you can't see that you are hopeless, and despite having an advanced degree and living in Cali, must be a mouth-breathing Southern redneck.

anony-mouse said...

What's wrong with the GOP supporting a pro-immigration bill that goes nowhere?

Win-win.

ben tillman said...

I'm not sure the diversity lottery (whose effects are diffuse) is worse than importing workers at the expense of workers in one particular field.

Bob Arctor said...

"(I is for International and they've certainly been doing their part there...)"

"I" is for "Institute."

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Anonymous said...

I've met a few diversity visa people (from the Baltic countries). They all seemed a lot better than high school grad level. Probably because applying for the visa annually is a chore and that process in itself separates motivated people from less worthy candidates for immigration.

Auntie Analogue said...

About a hundred years ago the U.S had the Open Door Policy for China, to allow the U.S. and other foreign states to exploit China's resources, people, and markets. Now the U.S. has the Open Door Policy for the U.S., to allow foreigners to exploit U.S. resources, taxpayers, and job market. The difference between those two policies is that a hundred years ago China was internally disordered, economically weak, and militarily powerless: willing but unable to stop foreign exploitation; nowadays the U.S. is becoming internally disordered, is economically parlous (we live now on borrowed Chinese & Saudi-Gulf-sheik lucre), and is yet militarily powerful: able, but unwilling - repeat: unwilling - to stop foreigners' exploitation. The crux here is the "unwilling," as a nation whose leaders are unwilling to provide in the most elementary way - by protecting the rights and privileges of citizens - "for the common defense," is no longer a nation but an oligarchy whose nominal citizens are merely stooges to be economically exploitated by their ruling class.

Anonymous said...

Looking at both of those lists, it is very noticeable that European nations are conspicuous by their absence.
Perhaps Canada is the only 'white' nation on either of those lists, but I'd wager that most of those 'Canadians' aren't.

Anonymous said...

'Joe Sciarillo'.

Good African name, that.

Matthew said...

"A single mother with a high school degree in Eritrea has as good a shot as an elite businessman."

What this country really lacks is enough single black women. Having a few more would do wonders for our diversity, would it not?

"no doubt, the cheap labor wing of the party will gladly agree to -- by the way is "wing" the right word?)."

No. "Cheap labor fuselage" would be a more appropriate description. I can't get this across strongly enough: call AND write your senators and congressman. Now. And tell all your like-minded friends to do likewise.

'It's really just an effort to try to divide people once again," Lofgren said"

This is the kind of language conservatives need to learn to mimic: how Democrats who do this or that only seek to "divide us." This and that Orwellian way with inventing new words. It actually works, and that is why liberals are still ascendant.

Mr. Anon said...

So we are being offered a choice between allowing in foreigners who want to take our jobs, or allowing in foreigners who want to take our wallets.

Either way, WE - American citizens - are of no matter.

The motto of the immigration industry:

No whites need apply.

Anonymous said...



Stupid Christian cons spread anti-abortion and anti-contraceptive-ism in the Third World, and so population grows and they wanna come to the West.





Anonymous said...

As far as I'm concerned, the diversity lottery had achieved it's purpose about a decade and a half ago. Wish I knew how to close the door behind me.

Oh, and about it being random... my dad, all his closest college buddies, a couple of extended family members and a few of my dad's friends' extended family members had won green cards within the same 3 year period. I'm sure it was just good luck. The only person I''ve ever met who won this lottery and whom I didn't know before was an Indian girl, but then everyone SHE knew had won it too.

Maya

Anonymous said...

"About a hundred years ago the U.S had the Open Door Policy for China, to allow the U.S. and other foreign states to exploit China's resources, people, and markets." - No, this is not the open door policy. the Open door policy was to respect China's territorial integrity, and to prevent other powers from simply slicing off parts of China for their own interests.

Anonymous said...

"About a hundred years ago the U.S had the Open Door Policy for China, to allow the U.S. and other foreign states to exploit China's resources, people, and markets." - No, this is not the open door policy. the Open door policy was to respect China's territorial integrity, and to prevent other powers from simply slicing off parts of China for their own interests.

The Open Door policy opened the door for Christian missionaries and opium pushers, who found it easier to operate in a demilitarized China. And the "other powers" meant upstarts such as Japan and Russia expanding their empires in the same way that Britain and France already did, before they became hypocritical about it.

Anonymous said...

"I" is for "Institute."

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers



You're not suggesting the IEEE is interested in US engineers?

Mr. Anon said...

"ben tillman said...

Yan Shen, you don't believe in cognitive elitism."

He certainly doesn't participate in cognitive elitism.

Steve Sailer said...

by the way is "wing" the right word?)."

No. "Cheap labor fuselage" would be a more appropriate description.


Okay, I'm going steal that.

Anonymous said...

Regarding the IEEE, there was a bitterly fought IEEE election or two, probably in the late 70s or early 80s, between a wing that wanted the IEEE to actually... you know... take into account the interests of American EE/CS professionals and a wing, aligned with the large tech companies, that wanted to push the IEEE as a world-wide organization. Given the Cold War, reasonable arguments could be made that the interests of American EE's should not be paramount.

In any case, the international wing took over and appeared to have been beholden to the large employers of EEs. Overseas IEEE chapters on various university campuses worldwide have since expedited the "chain migration pipeline" of cheap tech workers to the US. For tech workers, the IEEE may have been more of a factor that all those cram schools and Tiger Moms you hear about; the IEEE has a few decades on them.

As a whole, the IEEE today is arguably just another worldwide publishing company, striving to maximize the intellectual property it owns in copyrights (which is considerable) ... of course there's lots of conference income...

Whatever it is, it should not be taken as a voice on behalf, in any way, of American EE and CS types.