President Using Some Administrative Actions Even as He Claims His Hands are Tied

Greg Siskind has posted an interesting piece on one of the ways in which Obama has used his administrative powers to expand immigration programs even as he claims his hands are tied on the issue. Yes, the program Siskind talks about in his post is not as broad-reaching as deferred action for DREAM students, but it does show some tension in his rhetoric and his actions.

http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/201...-students.html

I did'nt get too far on this, any thought on what they are trying to say ?

No, this is just an expansion of those majors that benefit under STEM graduate work permit via the US business request. The program existed since 2008.

If you are a legal college graduate, then you are entitled to a 12 month work permit. If you are a legal college graduate with a STEM degree, then you are entitled to a 27 month work permit before transitioning to H-1B. This action merely expands those majors that should have benefited under this 27 month work permit program, like neuroscience which were left out.

Generally, Republicans don't have a problem opening up immigration to people holding US advanced STEM degrees because of business demand. But such Republican generosity doesn't extend to DREAMers and CIRers.

No they are not. It's the republicans that are pushing this as an alternative to CIR.

And the US wants to keep these people.

Exactly how will Dreamers be able to give back, other than joining the military? STEMers can contribute to the US competitiveness with their skill set that the native-born Americans refuse to acquire(Only 5% of US college degrees are STEM degrees), while the vast majority of DREAMers have no advanced education in Math, Engineering, and Science.

This extension does not require any legislative act and is within DHS's authority.

Hmmmm...most foreign STEM-degree holders are Asian. You are soon to see uproar among the American public when they realize this will do to the scientific fields what it did to the IT sector.

The IT field is saturated with H1B holders and it has brought competition for wages down (I worked in telecommunications IT for 8 years). My sister is in charge of HR global operations of a major mobile apps developer and previously worked at Razorfish (creator of bing) as well as MS. She constantly said the quality of H1B holders was questionable because their experience was with all types of programming NOT used in the U.S. They had to be trained on the job. The same holds for medicine (I work in healthcare now and we waited for a new MD from the UK to get licensed FOREVER. In the end, after about 15 months, either she couldn't pass the medical examination or her qualifications did not meet the U.S. requirements).

Sooooo, my point is I think that STEM holders - overqualified and so in-demand all over the world - should be precluded from qualifying for DREAM. I absolutely agree that it is ridiculous for the Obama administration to continue to create pathways to stay in the U.S for people who have no ties to this country; who can afford to take all knowledge and walk away any minute, and who have been subsidied to come to this country by China et al; while refusing to do all it can to get the DREAM Act to passage.

The drive, determination and ethic of undocumented people to succeed more than compensates for not having a "STEM" degree. By the way, neither my sister nor I completed college. Yet. But she is a U.S. citizen.