Immigration Backlog Forces Justice to Shift Staffing
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Hundreds of lawyers are being reassigned to deal with more than 4,000 appeals in New York City immigration cases.
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Illegal immigrants who are victims of violent crimes in the US can now apply for special visas, seven years after Congress offered protection against deportation to those who cooperate with law enforcement agencies
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A day later than usual, work begins in earnest Tuesday at the Supreme Court with justices weighing when immigrants convicted of crimes may be deported and whether to reinstate a death sentence in California.
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The government must provide more money and officers to tackle the diverse policing challenges caused by the sudden influx of migrant workers in several English counties, a senior police chief said Wednesday.
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The United States expects to deport more than 200,000 immigrants this year who are serving time in prisons and jails across the country, the top U.S. immigration enforcement official said.
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The U.S. government promised on Tuesday to cut the waiting time for passports, as senators complained their phone lines were jammed by furious citizens caught up in a backlog of some 3 million applications.
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An increasing number of illegal immigrants who left their children back home are hiring complete strangers to bring the youngsters into this country by bluffing their way past U.S. border inspectors.
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By FRANK ELTMAN  RIVERHEAD, N.Y. - Business owners could soon face fines and even jail time if they hire illegal immigrants in this Long Island community, the latest in one of many efforts by local governments across the country to crack down on undocumented workers.
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U.S. laws that order the deportation of legal immigrants found guilty of a criminal offense are a violation of human rights and have resulted in thousands of families being separated, New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
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An influx of doctors lured to Texas by new limits on malpractice lawsuits has overwhelmed the state board that screens candidates for medical licenses, creating a backlog that forces many applicants to wait months before they can start seeing patients.
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The move this week by New York reflects concern about prison overcrowding and 'fairness.'
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Federal judges no longer have to follow mandatory sentencing guidelines, thanks to the Supreme Court, but they're also left with mounds of paperwork, a backlog of sentencing hearings and uncertainty about the future.
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Canadaâs merit-based immigration system has helped it compete for highly educated workers but has created waits of four years or more for immigrants.
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The Story: Silicon Valley businesses have long argued that changes in the immigration laws are needed to ensure a continuing supply of highly skilled workers. The current limit of 65,000 under the standard H1-B visas is not enough, they say. (The quota was filled in less than a month in 2007.)[ Slideshow: 2007's top underreported tech stories ]                                                    But that number obscures an important fact: The real total of visas issued to highly skilled workers is closer to 400,000 annually, according to the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) agency. And that, say some critics, may mean that the law is being abused.There are two reasons the number is so large.First, the H1-B visa cap has a built-in exemption that allows an additional 20,000 workers who have graduated from U.S. universities with an advanced degree (master?s or higher) to enter every year.Second ? and the biggest reason ? is the use of L-1 visas, which are granted to executives and workers with specialized skills employed by multinational companies. Because there is no cap on L-1 visas issued each year, the numbers have soared. In the last three years, an average of 315,000 L-1 visas have been issued each year.Unlike the H-1B visas, the L-1 visas are not intended to be a springboard to possible permanent residency and a coveted green card. In essence, the L-1s are intended to allow multinational companies to rotate staff across national borders, so they can transfer foreign managers and specialists within the company to U.S. offices for a limited period of time.But the vast number of workers admitted with L-1 visas has critics suspecting that companies ? Indian outsourcing firms in particular ?are using them as a back door to bring in lower-paid workers to do jobs that could be performed by Americans, rather than for the intended purposes of staff rotation."It's clear that foreign outsourcing firms are abusing the system, and we can't let that continue," Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said earlier this year as Congress debated immigration reform. Here?s what upset him: According to immigration records, 14 of 20 companies whose employees were granted the most L-1 visas were offshore outsourcing firms, including Tata Consultancy, Satyam Computer Services, Wipro, and Infosys Technologies.Tata Consultancy obtained 4,887 L-1s in fiscal 2006 ? the most of any company ? and 3,601 in fiscal 2007, second only to Cognizant (4,869), a U.S.-based outsourcer with a major presence in India. "I find it hard to believe that any one company has that many individuals ? legitimately being transferred within a single year," Durbin said in Congress. (Tata declined to comment to InfoWorld, but a spokesman told BusinessWeek, "We're complying with the law and with the regulations. We want to work with Congress to address any issues they may have.")Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, Tata, and Cognizant also appear on the CIS?s top 10 list of companies obtaining H-1B visas for employees in fiscal 2007, along with Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Motorola, and Intel. Those facts further raise critics? suspicions.Bob Meltzer, who heads the VisaNow firm that helps applicants obtain visas, says there?s a growing belief that the L-1s are being abused today, though he can?t tell if that belief is justified. He does note that the L-1s had been abused in the early 1990s in the manner that critics suspect is happening today.The Bottom Line: Immigration is a tough issue. And it?s even tougher when we don?t have all the facts, as is the case on employers? claims of labor shortages requiring more foreign hires and employees? claims of being replaced by foreign workers by companies looking to save a buck. When you?ve figured out the right balance, let the pols know what you think.Complete list of 2007's underreported stories: 1.? Java is becoming the new Cobol 2.? Sun Microsystems is back in the game 3.? Hackers take aim at Mac OS X 4.? There are some threats you can worry less about 5.? Companies may have found a way around H-1B visa limits 6.? Open source?s new commercial strategy 7.? End-to-end Ethernet finally arrives 8.? Blade servers arrive for the masses 9.? BI is dead; long live BI 10. Balance of power shifts to software buyers
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Vancouver, British Columbia office will house international workers caught in immigration tangle.
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The latest fights over immigration have focused on who should get a place in line for a legal life in the United States. But the real agony, says Tien Bui, comes when you finally get in line.
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Arizonaâs law to address illegal immigration could test statesâ ability to crack down on the countless businesses that have relied on illegal workers.