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The Pueblo Chieftain

Prevent urban sprawl with immigration reform

By Glen Colton

TheUnitedStateslosesafootballfieldofnaturallandevery30seconds. Not to erosion or rising sea levels. But to a different kind of deluge -- a flood of people moving to theUnitedStates.

Since 1996, the U.S.populationhas skyrocketed from 270 million people to 330 million, primarily due to migration from other countries. That figure could eclipse 440 million by 2065 if current trends continue. Nearly 90 percent of thegrowthwill come from immigration, according to Pew Research.

Asourpopulationexplodes, so does the demand for new buildings, roads, and cropland. Unless we humanely reduce future immigration levels, overdevelopment will irrevocably destroyouropen spaces.

Cities can only hold so many people before developers expand into surrounding areas. This buildout, known as "urban sprawl," has already destroyed vast swaths of countryside. The continentalUnitedStateslost 24 million acres ofnaturallandto development between 2001 and 2017.

At this rate, "a South Dakota-sized expanse of forests, wetlands, and wild places in the continentalUnitedStateswill disappear by 2050," according to the Center for American Progress.

Developers swallow up farmland too. Between 1992 and 2012, they converted 31 million acres of agriculturalland-- the equivalent of all the farmland in Iowa -- into subdivisions, office parks, roads, and other man-made structures. By 2050, there will be a mere 0.7 acres of farmland per U.S. resident. That's a 63 percent decrease from the level in 1980.

When developers cannibalize former farmland, it leaves farmers with two environmentally damaging options.

They can either raze more open spaces -- including existing forests and unplanted fields -- and turn it into viable new cropland. Or they can boost yields on existing plots of farmland by using more pesticides and fertilizers, which ultimately polluteourwaterways and the food we eat.

Rapidpopulationgrowthalso causes terrible traffic congestion. As people get pushed further away from city centers, they're forced to drive longer distances and sit in traffic for hours on end. In 1980 -- when the country had 100 million fewer people -- the average American spent 20 hours a year stuck in traffic jams. Now, the average American spends 54 hours a year -- more than a full weekend -- dealing with congestion.

This congestion isn't merely annoying -- it's poisoningourplanet. The longer people sit in traffic and idle their cars, the more emissions they generate. Sprawling urban areas are responsible for 80 percent of thegrowthin vehicular carbon emissions since 1980. Those emissions -- which account for 28 percent of total fossil fuel emissions in theUnitedStates-- exacerbate climate change, which threatens to devastate much of the planet via floods, wildfires, storms, and droughts in the coming decades.

Fortunately, there's still time to prevent this environmental catastrophe. More than 11,000 scientists recently warned that "the worldpopulationmust be stabilized . . . [to lessen] greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss."

Americans are already embracing sustainability and choosing to have fewer children. Ifpopulationgrowthwere driven solely by birthrates, the U.S.populationwould barely budge in the coming decades.

Unfortunately, Congress hasn't held up its end of the bargain. Since lawmakers expanded annual immigration levels in 1965, immigrants and their descendants have accounted for 55 percent ofpopulationgrowth. America's foreign-bornpopulationhas more than quadrupled over the last five decades. Today, more than 45 million immigrants live here. And in the coming decades, immigration will cause nearly all of the projectedgrowthin the U.S.population.

The vast majority of immigrants are good people. They'reourfriends and neighbors.

But it's possible -- in fact, it's essential -- for environmentalists to welcome the immigrants already here while pushing for humane limits on future migration. It's the only way to protectouropen spaces from overdevelopment.

Curbing overall immigration levels needn't be a partisan issue. Sixty-three percent of Americans, including 53 percent of Democrats, support cutting annual legal migration to less than 500,000, according to a Harvard/Harris poll. Currently, the government admits about 1.1 million new immigrants each year.

The American public is already trying to stabilize thepopulationand protect the environment. It's time forourleaders to follow suit.

Glen Colton is an environmentalist and long term sustainability activist who lives in fast growing Fort Collins, Colorado.

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Columnist: Prevent urban sprawl with immigration reform - Pueblo Chieftain

The presidential election likely means a new perspective on immigration policy. But a potentially divided Congress means that it may be difficult to enact immigration reform legislation that addresses the major problems in Americas immigration system.

One area where most observers normally think an obvious fix exists would be the restoration of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that the current administration had slated for termination. The problem, however, with such a quick fix is that there is an existing lawsuit in a Texas federal court challenging the legality of DACA for not having been issued with notice and comment rulemaking and also for violating the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The same court previously invalidated the Obama administrations Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program for the same reasons the DACA program is being challenged, and the Supreme Courts composition has changed since 2016 such that many more immigration cases have been adjudicated in favor of the enforcement position.

In addition, even at its most ambitious, the DACA program only helps a very small percentage of the estimated 10 to 12 million undocumented individuals living in the United States.

There is, however, a statutory program that grants unreviewable discretion to the president that could help almost all of the undocumented individuals in the United States on day one of a new presidency. Title 8 Section 1254a of the U.S. Code specifically authorizes a U.S. president to grant any foreign national Temporary Protected Status (TPS) if there is an earthquake, flood, drought, epidemic, or other environmental disaster in the foreign nationals home country. Pursuant to the statute, a grant of TPS provides: a) relief from removal; b) the ability to work in the United States; and c) the ability to become eligible for lawful permanent residency if the foreign national has a qualifying relative (spouse, parent or child) or U.S. employer who will petition the individual for a green card.

A proposal available under the INA that could address the flux of DACA recipients would be that, on day one of a new administration, the president would grant TPS to every foreign national without status who was present in the United States prior to March 13, 2020, which was the date the current administrationdeclared a national emergency regarding the coronavirus outbreak. The current administration has already laid the groundwork for such a global granting of TPS by having had the director of The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)issue a memorandum pursuant to Title 42 Section 265 of the U.S. Code that bans foreigners from entering the United States by identifying the existence of a communicable disease throughout the world and stating that COVID-19 is a global pandemic that has spread rapidly.

This TPS announcement would allow all people already present in the United States to immediately gain 18 months of legal status, and would place many people already here on a path to gain lawful permanent residency, which they cannot now gain by virtue of being in undocumented status. It would also not be subject to being overturned by the courts given how clearly the statute permits the granting of TPS for nationals of a country where there is an epidemic, and given that the current administration itself has recognized a global epidemic in its orders banning people from entering Americas land borders due to this epidemic.

The manner most conducive to removing the uncertainty for DACA recipients and others in precarious immigration statuses would not involve running the risk of: a) waiting for Congress to pass legislation given that might not ever pass; b) reinstating a deferred action or parole program that is likely to be stricken by the courts for not going through the formal regulatory process; nor c) spending over a year in the formal regulatory process trying to craft a regulatory program that may still be stricken by the courts.

The most effective solution if the goal is to provide certainty is often the easiest one, and the TPS solution simply uses the road that the current administration already paved when it excluded all foreign nationals from the United States on the basis of the existence of a global pandemic. It is axiomatic that if it is too dangerous to accept foreign nationals from countries where the COVID-19 pandemic is rampant, it is equally dangerous to remove foreign nationals in the United States to countries where the COVID pandemic is rampant.

Consequently, a new approach should be considered that involves the use of TPS and it is the more certain path to achieving the relief that was intended by the DACA program, but for a larger group of individuals.

Leon Fresco is a partner in Holland & Knights Washington, D.C., office where he focuses his practice on providing global immigration representation. Before joining Holland & Knight, he was the deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Immigration Litigation at the U.S. Department of Justices civil division.

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Temporary Protected Status solution for undocumented immigrants - The Hill

By Rosanna Berardi

Law360 is providing free access to its coronavirus coverage to make sure all members of the legal community have accurate information in this time of uncertainty and change. Use the form below to sign up for any of our weekly newsletters. Signing up for any of our section newsletters will opt you in to the weekly Coronavirus briefing.

Law360 (November 16, 2020, 6:12 PM EST) --

While immigration issues have been a focal point of countless U.S. presidential elections, this superficial rhetoric only serves to complicate the problem. The only solution is for Congress to act.

Much like the current state of U.S. immigration policy, its history is complicated. Even though the U.S. is known as a melting pot founded by immigrants, the country hasn't always experienced mass immigration. U.S. immigration has historically alternated between permissive and restrictive policies since the first immigration laws were enacted in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Until recently, those changes were always driven by Congress.

So what's changed? With so many pressing immigration issues including the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, sanctuary cities, illegal immigration, temporary workers and restrictions in response to the global pandemic Congress has all but disappeared when it comes to meaningful changes in immigration policy.

In 1965, Congress made what are arguably the last significant changes to the U.S. immigration system to date. In the 55 years following these amendments, Congress has been relatively silent, even though several major components of the current immigration system no longer work as intended.

Presidents continue to act, or rather attempt to act, on immigration, but these are merely stopgap measures typically politically motivated attempts to pander to their base rather than effective legislative changes. As a result, U.S. immigration policy has become a political quagmire in desperate need of an update.

U.S. immigration law is antiquated and faulty. It fails to reflect our economic, social or as of recently public health concerns. The application process is difficult to navigate, the number of available employment and family-based immigrant visas isn't enough to meet demand, and the costs associated with filing applications are now reaching unaffordable levels.

In some instances, the backlog for U.S. immigration is so great that the government is currently processing petitions that were filed in the late 1990s, meaning applicants are facing delays of over 20 years.

The pandemic added a new layer of complexity to an already decaying immigration model. Pandemic-related immigration restrictions abounded in a desperate, and misguided, attempt to bolster the U.S. economy prior to a hotly contested election. Immigration restrictions were painted as an America-first path toward healing the U.S. economy, but employment shortages continued in both technology and health care.

Both are industries desperate to hire additional workers and there aren't enough skilled American workers to fill those roles. Without a congressional solution, employers will move abroad to fill empty roles, as legal immigration seekers are barred entry from communities in the U.S., in which they would buy homes, settle down and invest in local economies

One study found that H-1B visas will create an estimated 1.3 million new jobs and add around $158 billion to gross domestic product in the United States by 2045.[1] The U.S. government is essentially throwing away money and jobs that could be created by simply increasing the amount of H-1B visas allocated each year.

To make matters worse, the 85,000 lucky individuals chosen in the H-1B lottery each year are slapped with thousands of dollars in government filing and processing fees, and are subject to inconsistent adjudications by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.[2]

The problem is further aggravated when individual agencies attempt to take matters into their own hands, bypassing normal legislative processes. For instance, in early October, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published new rules in an attempt to restrict and curb the issuance of H-1B visas and employment-based green cards.

One rule significantly increased the required wage that must be paid to H-1B workers by changing an already inferior mathematical formula for computing the minimum or prevailing wage paid to the professional. Specifically, an entry-level professional H-1B status must now earn a salary paid to the 45th percentile of workers in the geographic area of that occupation, rather than the formerly assigned 17th percentile of workers.

Take the example of an entry-level H-1B professional software developer in Chicago making $70,000 annually. Where the former minimum wage rate for H-1B purposes was set at $63,190, the minimum is now $85,010.

This sudden change in wage requirements rolled out under the guise of COVID-19-related economic recovery is putting H-1B employers in an impossible position. Even more notably, this particular wage rule bypassed the regulatory review process and became effective immediately upon publication, without any input from stakeholders and businesses. Not surprisingly, lawsuits were immediately filed, and many stakeholders are hopeful for a nationwide injunction.

These are only a few of the ways Congress' lack of action has negative impact on the U.S. economy.

Politicians have a difficult time preserving U.S. jobs while maintaining the American legacy of a welcoming nation. No politician wants to campaign for more foreign workers unions, lobbyists and special interest groups would have a field day with this type of campaigning.

The fact remains, however, that a large portion of the U.S. economy, especially in the tech and medical fields, is largely dependent on foreign labor and that there are too few temporary work visas available to address the need.[3] So how do you address and fix such a complicated problem while taking all of these points into consideration? The answer is deceptively simple.

Reassess Quotas and Increase Annual Ceiling

Congress should reassess the current quota system and increase the annual ceiling on Eastern and Western hemisphere immigration. Even if the number of available family and employment-based visas was increased temporarily, it would alleviate pressure on the government agencies processing petitions and drastically reduce backlogs that are in place for those who have been approved and are just waiting for a visa to become available. It would be a win-win for everyone.

Further, the U.S. immigration law needs to contain a guest worker program, outside of the current H-2 visa program. As a nation, we need to create a system that allows temporary workers entry to provide critical agricultural services. The current procedure for this type of entry is complex, inefficient and expensive. A less formal program is needed to allow foreign nationals to enter the U.S. for agricultural and skilled labor positions while cutting down costs and inefficiencies.

Changes will be coming down the pipeline under the new Biden administration. Biden has already vowed to start work on his first day in office to reverse Trump's agenda by reuniting children and parents who were separated at the border, restoring asylum laws at the border to protect those fleeing persecution, and reversing anti-Muslim travel bans.[4]

As part of this, Biden will also immediately release a 100-day ban on deportations.[5] However, no matter what Biden has in store, Congress will be key to making those changes permanent.

To create lasting, impactful change, we need Congress to focus on fixing the system as a whole instead of relying on questionable stopgap measures implemented from the White House. Immigration issues will continue to dominate the headlines the DACA saga alone has been ongoing since 2012 because, ultimately, the power to determine the future of U.S. immigration lies with Congress. It needs to create a solution now. America can't afford to wait another 55 years.

The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm, its clients or Portfolio Media Inc., or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

[1] https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/h1b-visa-program-fact-sheet.

[2] https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-1b-specialty-occupations-and-fashion-models/h-1b-fiscal-year-fy-2021-cap-season#:~:text=Congress%20set%20the%20current%20annual,subject%20to%20this%20annual%20cap.&text=H%2D1B%20workers%20in%20Guam,31%2C%202029; https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/07/31/h-1b-fees-to-jump-visa-dependent-firms-targeted-homeland-security-says/.

[3] http://research.newamericaneconomy.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/pnae_h1b.pdf; https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/healthcare/nursing-shortage-hits-crisis-levels-but-immigrant-nurses-may-provide-relief-if-they.

[4] https://joebiden.com/immigration/.

[5]https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/8/joe-biden-immigration-plan-grants-citizenship-11-m/.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.

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Congress Should Take Responsibility For Immigration Reform - Law360

November 20, 2020

This week, Arizona State UniversityPresident Michael Crow spoke about the impact of immigration on higher education institutions at the National Immigration Forums virtual conference Leading the Way 2020, a multiday conference attended by a variety of influential speakers who engaged in critical conversations about one of the most pressing challenges our country faces: immigration.

Crow sat on a panel with Dan L. Boone, president at Trevecca Nazarene University, to discuss the higher education pipeline with moderator Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education.

American colleges and universities have long been at the forefront of immigration issues, said Mitchell. Whether those are issues of undocumented students, DACA students and Dreamers, or whether at the other end of the academic pipeline, with graduate students who leave American colleges and universities with newly minted PhDs and aim to enter the entrepreneurship economy and need to be able to immigrate successfully in order to do that.

ASU is at the forefront of diversity and access and is often in the news for demographic shifts in the state. Crow has experienced firsthand the unique challenges facing undocumented, DACA and Dreamer students at ASU. He related the story of a student who was in tears as he found out he was going to be deported back to Taiwan because he was an undocumented student whose parents had died.

Ive always viewed this as moral duty, said Crow. Its a moral duty for us to find a way to advance children who find their way into this democracy to full achievement. Thats been something that we have tried to do all along.

ASU serves DACA and Dreamer students from over 20 countries, and the Arizona Constitution guarantees the right of every child to have access to a free education through high school and an affordable university education.

What weve tried to do is be the warm, welcoming democracy thats built on immigration in particular, said Crow. That doesnt mean we dont need immigration policy, or immigration law, or immigration procedures. We do. But, in this case, relative to these students, were talking about people that are children. Were talking about people that need to be treated justly. And thats what we at ASU have decided to do.

Mitchell asked both panelists what advice they would have for the new presidential administration to help support DACA students, Dreamers and the universities they attend. Crow encouraged the new administration to consider their actions in context with higher educations core mission: to move students forward and build them up to succeed.

We need to be enabled and empowered to do that, said Crow. We need clear definitions, we need policies that are just and equitable, and then we also need, in the bigger picture, immigration reform so that we have a system that works. There are all kinds of ways to solve these issues; we just need to make decisions so we also need leadership.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and the related economic downturn, which has been particularly hard on university students (particularly DACA and Dreamer students), Crow said that ASU had stepped in to provide resources to help.

Mitchell asked the panelists what higher education can do to send a message to DACA students, Dreamers, undocumented students and first-generation students that they have a place in higher education and that high education institutions are there for them.

Were empowering these students and their families to help shape the outcome of our socioeconomic structure, said Crow. I tell people that the economy is only going to work if we can find talent everywhere, empower that talent and that energy and that creativity, and move it forward. If we dont do that, then we are going to be left with an underperforming economy, high social welfare costs, and high expenditures for low outcomes. Were going to be left with lots of underrealized potential, were going to be left with social instability, and possibly with social unrest. All of those things are going to be derivative. Or we can take all of this talent and all of these kids who come from families where no one has ever been to college before and these DACA kids and help all of them to move their lives forward. Thats our choice.

Top photo courtesy of pixabay.com

Original post:
ASU President Michael Crow addresses the impact of immigration on higher education - ASU Now

Clement Brown, Fall River| The Herald News

Clement Brown lives in Fall River.

There is election fraud going on!And President Donald Trumpis committing it!

Yes, Trump, the man who presumed to tell us how the country was going to vote before a single vote was cast.The man who had the gall to tell us -- in the midst of a devastating pandemic -- that we did not have the right to vote by mail, something that he has repeatedly done in the past.The man who, before any voting began, told us there would be massive fraudunlesshe won.

Trump's 2017 Commission on Election Integrity, hand-picked to find the three million instances of voter fraud he baselessly alleged took place during the 2016 election, disbanded in 2018 without issuing any findings or report and spending millions of taxpayer dollars. Now, with the help of his minions, Trump is peddling similarly made-up stories and blatant falsehoods to overturn the decisive results of the election and to ignore the peoples will.

The country has spoken loud and clear.The country is tired of Trump's chicanery.The country is tired of his lies.The country is tired of his deliberate divisiveness, the deliberate dog whistles to racism and every other kind of extreme prejudice, his deliberate demonization of any contrary view.The country is tired of his indifference to its real problems: the fast-changing weather; the crumbling infrastructure; the unhealthy health care system (after five years of promises, where is his plan?); the need for real immigration reform.The country is tired of being the laughingstock of the world.

This president has done enough damage to our government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and it is time for him to go. He has worn out his welcome.The personal qualities he prizes and epitomize -- greed, lust, pride, venality, avarice, anger, and extreme dishonesty -- no longer titillate and charm the majority of his fellow citizens.

The country is tired of it and badly in need of healing.We are in the midst of our countrys greatest health crisis in exactly one hundred years and Trump's continuing response has been to deny that it is happening and to show an utter lack of compassion for its many victims, for the hundreds of thousands affected who did not have a large team of doctors to care for them round-the-clock with the latest medicine, but instead quietly passed away.

We are sick and we need healing and all Trump hasdone is pour gasoline on the destructive fires that burn in our bellies.

The majority has spoken.The time has come for Trump to go.

Clement Brown

Fall River

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Sure there's fraud, but it's Trump who is committing it - Fall River Herald News