scholarly journals The Politics of Skilled Immigration: Explaining the Ups and Downs of the US H-1B Visa Program

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 346-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Kennedy

The United States has long been a magnet for skilled immigrants, but its openness to these immigrants has varied considerably over time. Focusing on the H-1B visa program, this article explains why the program’s annual cap has risen and fallen from the mid-1990s to the present. Whereas recent studies of skilled immigration policy have focused on struggles between capital and labor, this article contends that US policy also reflects a struggle between capital and citizen groups — one that has changed considerably over the past two decades. The findings challenge recent work on skilled immigration and US immigration policy.

2021 ◽  
Vol 111 (2) ◽  
pp. 580-608
Author(s):  
Ran Abramitzky ◽  
Leah Boustan ◽  
Elisa Jácome ◽  
Santiago Pérez

Using millions of father-son pairs spanning more than 100 years of US history, we find that children of immigrants from nearly every sending country have higher rates of upward mobility than children of the US-born. Immigrants’ advantage is similar historically and today despite dramatic shifts in sending countries and US immigration policy. Immigrants achieve this advantage in part by choosing to settle in locations that offer better prospects for their children. (JEL J15, J18, J62, K37, N31, N32)


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Kerwin

This paper introduces a special collection of 15 papers that chart a course for long-term reform of the US immigration system. The papers look beyond recent legislative debates and the current era of rising nationalism and restrictionism to outline the elements of a forward-looking immigration policy that would serve the nation's interests, honor its liberal democratic ideals, promote the full participation of immigrants in the nation's life, and exploit the opportunities offered by the increasingly interdependent world. This paper highlights several overarching themes from the collection, as well as dozens of proposals for reform. Together, the papers in the collection make the case that: • Immigration policymaking should be embedded in a larger set of partnerships, processes, and commitments that respond to the conditions that force persons to migrate. • The US immigration system should reflect liberal democratic values and an inclusive vision of national identity. • It is incumbent on policy and opinion makers to publicize the broad national interests served by US immigration policies. • Policymakers should, in turn, evaluate and adjust US immigration policies based on their success in furthering the nation's interests. • The United States should prioritize the gathering and dissemination of the best available evidence on migration and on the nation's migration-related needs and programs, and should use this information to respond flexibly to changing migration patterns and new economic developments. • Immigrant integration strengthens communities and represents an important, overarching metric for US immigration policies. • The successful integration of the United States' 43 million foreign-born residents and their progeny should be a national priority. • An immigration federalism agenda should prioritize cooperation on shared federal, state, and local priorities. • An immigration federalism agenda should recognize the federal government's enforcement obligations; the interests of local communities in the safety, well-being and participation of their residents; the importance of federal leadership in resolving the challenges posed by the US undocumented population; and the need for civil society institutions to serve as mediators of immigrant integration. • Immigration reform should be coupled with strong, well-enforced labor standards in order to promote fair wages and safe and healthy working conditions for all US workers. • Fairness and due process should characterize US admission, custody, and removal decisions. • Family unity should remain a central goal of US immigration policy and a pillar of the US immigration system. • The United States should seek to craft “win-win” immigration policies that serve its own interests and that benefit migrant-sending states. • US immigration law and policy should be coherent and consistent, and the United States should create legal migration opportunities for persons uprooted by US foreign interventions, trade policies, and immigration laws. • The United States should reduce the size of its undocumented population through a substantial legalization program and seek to ensure that this population never again approximates its current size.


Author(s):  
Matthew J. Driscoll ◽  
Eric M. McFetridge ◽  
Jeffrey S. Patterson ◽  
Craig A. See

The United States (US) Navy has operated the General Electric LM2500 gas turbine on all its surface combatants for the past 35 years. The LM2500 is utilized as the propulsion engine aboard the US Navy’s newest surface combatants including the FFG 7, CG 47 and DDG 51 Class ships. The US Navy owns and operates 400 LM2500 engines. An on-condition maintenance philosophy is employed whereby engines are run-to-failure rather than removed from service upon achieving some operating milestone. This paper assesses the reasons for the removal of the US Navy’s LM2500s over their entire service life with a focus on how fleet maintenance capabilities have impacted and affected the cause for engine replacements over time.


2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 680-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Sydes

Objective: To date, much of what we know about the immigration–crime link is based on the United States setting. Yet, contextual features unique to the United States may produce distinct outcomes for immigration and crime that do not hold elsewhere. This study therefore tests the applicability of ecological frameworks largely derived from the United States experience (such as the immigration revitalization thesis) in a country with a greater mixture of ethnic groups and where immigration policy is focused on recruiting skilled immigrants. Methods: Utilizing an innovative hybrid modeling approach, this article draws on three waves of census data and nine years of official recorded crime incident data to examine the effect of immigration on violent crime across 882 neighborhoods located in two Australian cities. Results: The results offer little evidence that neighborhoods with a greater concentration of immigrants have more crime or that increases in the immigrant population over time are associated with increased violence. Diversity however appears to have a more problematic effect on violent crime in both cities. Conclusions: While these findings are relatively consistent with previous research in the United States, whether this similarity is due to a process of revitalization requires further investigation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 1047-1067 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. KIM CRAGIN

ABSTRACTAlthough the broad outlines of al-Qa'ida's story are well known, less attention has been paid to its early development and evolution. How and why did al-Qa'ida leaders latch on to the United States as a primary adversary? What motivated Usama bin Laden to form al-Qa'ida in the first place? Did this motivation change over time? This article utilizes a series of recently discovered al-Qa'ida documents – such as al-Jihad magazine financed by Usama bin Laden during the 1980s, internal memos written in the early 1990s and captured by the US military in Afghanistan, and autobiographical accounts written since 2001 by former Afghan Arab fighters – to deepen our understanding of a clandestine organization that has caused havoc for the past two decades.


2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo

By identifying two general issues in recent history textbook controversies worldwide (oblivion and inclusion), this article examines understandings of the United States in Mexico's history textbooks (especially those of 1992) as a means to test the limits of historical imagining between U. S. and Mexican historiographies. Drawing lessons from recent European and Indian historiographical debates, the article argues that many of the historical clashes between the nationalist historiographies of Mexico and the United States could be taught as series of unsolved enigmas, ironies, and contradictions in the midst of a central enigma: the persistence of two nationalist historiographies incapable of contemplating their common ground. The article maintains that lo mexicano has been a constant part of the past and present of the US, and lo gringo an intrinsic component of Mexico's history. The di erences in their historical tracks have been made into monumental ontological oppositions, which are in fact two tracks—often overlapping—of the same and shared con ictual and complex experience.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoya Gubernskaya ◽  
Joanna Dreby

As the Trump administration contemplates immigration reform, it is important to better understand what works and what does not in the current system. This paper reviews and critically evaluates the principle of family unity, a hallmark of US immigration policy over the past 50 years and the most important mechanism for immigration to the United States. Since 1965, the United States has been admitting a relatively high proportion of family-based migrants and allowing for the immigration of a broader range of family members. However, restrictive annual quotas have resulted in a long line of prospective immigrants waiting outside of the United States or within the United States, but without status. Further policy changes have led to an increasing number of undocumented migrants and mixed-status families in the United States. Several policies and practices contribute to prolonged periods of family separation by restricting travel and effectively locking in a large number of people either inside or outside of the United States. On top of that, increasingly aggressive enforcement practices undermine family unity of a large number of undocumented and mixed-status families. Deportations — and even a fear of deportation —cause severe psychological distress and often leave US-born children of undocumented parents without economic and social support. A recent comprehensive report concluded that immigration has overall positive impact on the US economy, suggesting that a predominantly family-based migration system carries net economic benefits. Immigrants rely on family networks for employment, housing, transportation, informal financial services, schooling, childcare, and old age care. In the US context where there is nearly no federal support for immigrants' integration and limited welfare policies, family unity is critical for promoting immigrant integration, social and economic well-being, and intergenerational mobility. Given the benefits of family unity in the US immigrant context and the significant negative consequences of family separation, the United States would do well to make a number of changes to current policy and practice that reaffirm its commitment to family unity. Reducing wait times for family reunification with spouses and children of lawful permanent residents, allowing prospective family-based migrants to visit their relatives in the United States while their applications are being processed, and providing relief from deportation and a path to legalization to parents and spouses of US citizens should be prioritized. The cost to implement these measures would likely be minor compared to current and projected spending on immigration enforcement and it would be more than offset by the improved health and well-being of American families.


Plant Disease ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 659-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Saville ◽  
Kim Graham ◽  
Niklaus J. Grünwald ◽  
Kevin Myers ◽  
William E. Fry ◽  
...  

Phytophthora infestans causes potato late blight, an important and costly disease of potato and tomato crops. Seven clonal lineages of P. infestans identified recently in the United States were tested for baseline sensitivity to six oomycete-targeted fungicides. A subset of the dominant lineages (n = 45) collected between 2004 and 2012 was tested in vitro on media amended with a range of concentrations of either azoxystrobin, cyazofamid, cymoxanil, fluopicolide, mandipropamid, or mefenoxam. Dose-response curves and values for the effective concentration at which 50% of growth was suppressed were calculated for each isolate. The US-8 and US-11 clonal lineages were insensitive to mefenoxam while the US-20, US-21, US-22, US-23, and US-24 clonal lineages were sensitive to mefenoxam. Insensitivity to azoxystrobin, cyazofamid, cymoxanil, fluopicolide, or mandipropamid was not detected within any lineage. Thus, current U.S. populations of P. infestans remained sensitive to mefenoxam during the displacement of the US-22 lineage by US-23 over the past 5 years.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Kerwin ◽  
Robert Warren

The conventional wisdom holds that the only point of consensus in the fractious US immigration debate is that the system is broken. Yet, the US public has consistently expressed a desire for a legal and orderly immigration system that serves compelling national interests. This paper describes how to create such a system. It focuses on the cornerstone of immigration reform,1 the legal immigration system,2 and addresses the widespread belief that broad reform will incentivize illegal migration and ultimately lead to another large undocumented population. The paper begins with an analysis of presidential signing statements on seminal immigration legislation over nearly a century. These statements reveal broad consensus on the interests and values that the United States seeks to advance through its immigration and refugee policies. They constitute additional common ground in the immigration debate. To serve these interests, immigration and refugee considerations must be “mainstreamed” into other policy processes. In addition, its policies will be more successful if they are seen to benefit or, at least, not to discriminate against migrant-sending states. Not surprisingly, the US immigration system does not reflect the vast, mostly unanticipated changes in the nation and the world since Congress last meaningfully reformed this system (27 years ago) and last overhauled the law (52 years ago). The paper does not detail the well-documented ways that US immigration laws fall short of serving the nation's economic, family, humanitarian, and rule of law objectives. Nor does it propose specific changes in categories and levels of admission. Rather, it describes how a legal immigration system might be broadly structured to deliver on its promises. In particular, it makes the case that Congress should create a flexible system that serves compelling national interests, allows for real time adjustments in admission based on evidence and independent analysis, and vests the executive with appropriate discretion in administering the law. The paper also argues that the United States should anticipate and accommodate the needs of persons compelled to migrate by its military, trade, development, and other commitments. In addition, the US immigration system needs to be able to distinguish between undocumented immigrants, and refugees and asylum seekers, and to treat these two populations differently. The paper assumes that there will be continued bipartisan support for immigration enforcement. However, even with a strong enforcement apparatus in place and an adaptable, coherent, evidence-based legal immigration system that closely aligns with US interests, some (reduced) level of illegal migration will persist. The paper offers a sweeping, historical analysis of how this population emerged, why it has grown and contracted, and how estimates of its size have been politically exploited. Legalization is often viewed as the third rail of immigration reform. Yet, Congress has regularly legalized discrete undocumented populations, and the combination of a well-structured legalization program, strengthened legal immigration system, and strong enforcement policies can prevent the reemergence of a large-scale undocumented population. In contrast, the immense US enforcement apparatus will work at cross-purposes to US interests and values, absent broader reform. The paper ends with a series of recommendations to reform the legal immigration system, downsize the current undocumented population, and ensure its permanent reduction. It proposes that the United States “reissue” (or reuse) the visas of persons who emigrate, as a way to promote legal immigration reform without significantly increasing annual visa numbers.


Stroke ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadar Otite ◽  
Smit Patel ◽  
Richa Sharma ◽  
Pushti Khandwala ◽  
Devashish Desai ◽  
...  

Background: The primary aim of this study is to describe current trends in racial-, age- and sex-specific incidence, clinical characteristics and burden of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) in the United States (US). Methods: Validated International Classification of Disease codes were used to identify all adult new cases of CVT (n=5,567) in the State Inpatients Database of New York and Florida (2006-2016) and all cases of CVT in the entire US from the National Inpatient Sample 2005-2016 (weighted n=57,315). Incident CVT counts were combined with annual US Census data to compute age and sex-specific incidence of CVT. Joinpoint regression was used to evaluate trends in incidence over time. Results: From 2005-2016, 0.47%-0.80% of all strokes in the US were CVTs but this proportion increased by 70.4% over time. Of all CVTs over this period, 66.7% were in females but this proportion declined over time (p<0.001). Pregnancy/puerperium (27.4%) and cancer (11.8%) were the most common risk factors in women, while cancer (19.5%) and central nervous trauma (11.3) were the most common in men. Whereas the prevalence of pregnancy/puerperium declined significantly over time in women, that of cancer, inflammatory conditions and trauma increased over time in both sexes. Annual age and sex-standardized incidence of CVT in cases/million population ranged from 13.9-20.2, but incidence varied significantly by sex (women: 20.3-26.9; men 6.8-16.8) and by age/sex (women 18-44yo: 24.0-32.6%; men: 18-44yo: 5.3-12.8). Age and sex-standardized incidence also differed by race (Blacks:18.6-27.2; whites: 14.3-18.5; Asians: 5.1-13.8). On joinpoint regression, incidence increased across 2006-2016 but most of this increase was driven by increase in all age groups of men (combined annualized percentage change (APC) 9.2%, p-value <0.001), women 45-64 yo (APC 7.8%, p-value <0.001) and women ≥65 yo (APC 7.4%, p-value <0.001). Incidence in women 18-44 yo remained unchanged over time . Conclusion: The epidemiological characteristics of CVT patients in the US is changing. Incidence increased significantly over the last decade. Further studies are needed to determine whether this increase represents a true increase from changing risk factors or artefactual increase from improved detection.


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