304,000 Inmates Eligible for Deportation

Julie L. Myers, the head of Immigration Custom Enforcement for the Department of Homeland Security said that the number of eligible immigrants for deportation in the United States is predicted to vary from 300,000 to 455,000, or ten percent of the overall prison population according to a NY Times articles published on March 28, 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/washington/28immig.html).


A new plan was submitted to House of Appropriation Subcommittee for the coordination and linking of databases between local, county, state, and federal jails with the F.B.I. fingerprint databases to facilitate faster deportation of immigrants that commit serious deportable crimes.

According to Myers, jailed illegal immigrants cost $95 a day to house in prisons before deportation. An accelerated deportation program she said "reduces the amount of time aliens are in our custody," she says. "It reduces the amount of time our lawyers have to spend prosecuting cases in immigration court." In 2007, 164,000 immigrant criminals were placed into deportation proceedings, and 95,000 immigrants with criminal histories were deported, Myers says.

Bill Gates Video Testimony to the Senate on Immigration

The following is a video excerpt of Bill Gates giving his opinion on the necessity of immigration reform and its impact on the U.S. economy.

Bill Gates Advocates for an Increase in H1-B Visas

Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates gave testimony before a Congressional panel on March 12, 2008 where he advocated for a substantial increase in the 65,000-capped H1-B visa quota for foreign skilled workers. Despite skepticism from politicians, Gates argued that recent studies showed that an increase in H-1B visas would have a very positive effect on the American economy.

Gates suggested that the United States legislators should enact laws to extend the 12-month training period foreign students are allowed to stay in the US after they complete their education without obtaining a new visa. He also suggested an overhaul of the U.S. immigration system that would eliminate country caps on the green-card visa program that are now capped at 140,000 per year.

"We provide the world's best universities... and the students are not allowed to stay and work in the country," Gates said. "The fact is, (other countries') smartest people want to come here and that's a huge advantage to us, and in a sense, we're turning them away." Gates predicted that outsourcing of jobs would increase unless immigration laws changed.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services- H-1B Visas

U.S. Immigration Announces Interim Rules on H-1B Filings

March 19, 2008 - USCIS sent an interim final rule to the Federal Register that prohibits employers from filing multiple H-1B petitions for the same employee. The changes will ensure that companies filing H-1B petitions have an equal chance to employ an H-1B worker under the congressionally mandated numerical H-1B caps. A Fact Sheet, Questions and Answers, and a copy of the interim rule are also available. For more information click link below
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=fcb76962447c8110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD